Sustainability in education is no longer confined to curriculum, buildings or recycling programs. It increasingly extends to the everyday technology institutions choose to power teaching, administration and communication.
Across schools and universities, print fleets and display infrastructure remain essential parts of daily operations, yet they are often overlooked in sustainability planning. That is starting to change. As education providers work towards environmental targets while still needing reliable, high-quality learning tools, the question is shifting from whether technology is necessary to how it can be made more efficient, lower impact and better aligned with institutional values.
This is where Epson is making a strong and practical contribution.
Through its business inkjet printing and laser projection technologies, the company is helping the education sector rethink two of its most widely used technology categories. Rather than asking institutions to compromise between sustainability and performance, Epson is positioning both as achievable together.
Epson projector solution at Swinburne University
Its WorkForce Enterprise AM-C Series and L-Series laser projectors show how equipment that supports learning and administration every day can also reduce energy use, maintenance demands and waste, delivering benefits that are environmental, operational and financial at the same time.
In print environments, the argument is particularly compelling. Schools and universities continue to depend on printed materials for administration, learning support and communication, even as digital platforms expand.
Epson projector solution at Swinburne University
Research commissioned by Epson found that 71% of teachers and 63% of parents surveyed wanted a greater focus on hard copy materials such as textbooks and worksheets (1) , reinforcing the continuing role of print in increasingly digital learning environments. That matters because sustainability in education is not simply about using less paper or less technology. It is about choosing systems that support effective teaching while operating more intelligently and efficiently.
Epson’s Heat-Free business inkjet technology is central to that case. Unlike conventional laser printers, which use heat to fuse toner to the page, Epson’s business inkjet devices avoid that heat-intensive process, enabling significantly lower energy use.
Epson’s Heat-Free technology uses 75% less energy than conventional laser printers (2) , while also requiring fewer replacement parts and reducing packaging waste through high-capacity ink packs (3) . For education institutions managing large print fleets, these characteristics matter in practical terms. Fewer parts can mean fewer points of failure, less servicing and less disruption for staff, while zero warm-up time allows printing to start immediately without waiting for devices to reach operating temperature.
The environmental impact becomes even more meaningful at scale. Printers and multifunction devices typically account for around 2% of total energy use (4) , which may sound modest until it is multiplied across a campus or network of schools.
To help quantify that opportunity, Epson developed its Optimisation Tool, which analyses an institution’s existing print fleet and estimates the energy and emissions reductions that could be achieved by moving to Epson Heat-Free models. Since its launch in 2023, the tool has assessed more than 30,600 printer fleets (5) , identifying potential savings of more than 16,500 MWh of energy over five years, equivalent to 11,400 tonnes of CO 2e . On average, that represents an estimated emissions saving of 88% compared with customers’ previous printing solutions.
Those broad numbers become more tangible in real education settings.
At Pulteney Grammar School, the challenge was not just sustainability in the abstract, but a pressing need for dependable, efficient printing that integrated well with the school’s systems and reduced waste. The school needed compatibility with PaperCut and mobile printing, while also addressing the cost and complexity of managing consumables and a failing device fleet. Epson’s
business inkjet devices offered a strong fit because they use fewer parts in the printing process than laser printers, reducing potential failure points and supporting more reliable operation.
Pulteney also implemented a tailored supply and billing model that shifted away from a traditional cost-per-page structure. Based on the optimisation audit conducted for the school, Epson estimates Pulteney could save up to 6,036 kWh and cut CO2 emissions by 84% (6) over five years by using Epson WorkForce business inkjet devices.
That result highlights an important truth about sustainable technology investment in education. It is rarely only about carbon. It is also about whether equipment works dependably, integrates cleanly and reduces pressure on already stretched administrative and ICT teams.
As Daniel Bartholomaeus, SA State Manager at Compnow, put it, the Epson solution “couldn’t be beaten” for Pulteney’s requirements because it integrated easily with the school’s ICT environment, proved reliable and significantly reduced the school’s print-related carbon footprint.
That combination of lower environmental impact and better operational performance is where sustainability becomes genuinely valuable to an institution, rather than merely symbolic.
Projection technology offers a parallel story. In classrooms, lecture theatres and active learning spaces, large visual displays are central to how educators engage students and communicate ideas.
Epson’s EB-L Series laser projectors are designed to support those environments with large, bright and scalable displays while reducing the maintenance burden associated with conventional lamp-based projection. Instead of relying on lamps that require regular replacement, Epson’s laser light source is built for long life, cutting maintenance needs and helping institutions avoid the ongoing waste and interruption tied to lamp changes.
At Swinburne University of Technology, this benefit has already played out on a large scale. The university replaced an ageing fleet of lamp-based projectors with more than 300 Epson laser models, standardising on the technology across its campus. The decision was about more than replacing old equipment. It was also about improving the quality and reliability of the student experience.
Research has shown that audiences miss important content when viewing presentations on a 70-inch flat panel compared with a 100-inch projected image (7) , underlining the educational importance of large-format display in lecture and teaching spaces. By upgrading to 110-inch Epson laser projectors, Swinburne has been able to create brighter, more engaging learning environments while also reducing downtime and maintenance.
For Swinburne’s AV team, the operational value was immediate. Scott Doyle, AV Manager, said one of the university’s first initiatives was upgrading to laser projectors because the existing fleet was ageing, the new image quality was better and the move would reduce downtime and maintenance.
This is a useful reminder that sustainability in technology is often most successful when it is embedded in decisions that also improve service quality. Institutions are far more likely to embrace greener infrastructure when it strengthens, rather than complicates, the learning environment.
Taken together, Epson’s printing and projection technologies suggest a broader model for sustainable innovation in education. It is not a model based on doing less. It is based on doing essential things more intelligently. Printed resources still matter in the classroom. Visual communication still matters in lecture theatres and shared spaces. What can change is the way those functions are delivered.
Lower energy use, fewer replacement parts, longer-life components, reduced maintenance and more efficient infrastructure all contribute to environmental progress, but they also create real-world value for institutions in the form of lower intervention, stronger reliability and better use of budgets.
That combination is what makes Epson’s approach especially relevant today.
Sustainability stories resonate most when they move beyond aspiration and into implementation. In education, Epson is showing that sustainable technology does not have to sit at the edge of operations. It can sit at the centre, in the print room, the classroom and the lecture theatre, helping institutions reduce impact while continuing to support creativity, collaboration and high-quality learning.
In a sector under growing pressure to meet both environmental and educational expectations, that is not just innovation. It is a practical blueprint for how sustainability can work in the real world.
Notes
(1) Epson, Restoring Balance in Education: Addressing the Need for Hybrid Learning – Balancing Digital and Paper-Based Resources for Classrooms, 2024. Research commissioned by Epson and conducted via Focaldata.
(2) Compared with typical laser printers. Product performance may vary. For more information, visit www.epson.com.au/am-c-series/
(3) High-capacity ink packs print up to 86,000 mono and 50,000 colour pages without ink replacement. Approximate yields based on WF-C879R.
(4) Navigating a dynamic energy landscape: A briefing for office-based businesses, Energy Efficiency Council, December 2020.
(5) Printer fleets: the number of printers and multifunction devices deployed across a business or organisation.
(6) Projected savings over 60 months by replacing laser printers and copiers with Epson’s Heat-Free technology.
(7) Leading 70-inch class 4k resolution flat panel in a 22" (width) by 27" (depth) classroom-style arrangement. When asked to copy down six short items of information from slides being displayed, 58% of students ages 12-22 copied at least one item incorrectly. Based on an independent, quantitative study conducted by Radius Research in multiple U.S. markets.
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About Epson, Epson Australia and Epson New Zealand
Epson is a global technology leader whose philosophy of efficient, compact and precise innovation enriches lives and helps create a better world. The company is focused on solving societal issues through innovations in home and office printing, commercial and industrial printing, manufacturing, visual and lifestyle. Epson’s goal is to become carbon negative and eliminate use of exhaustible underground resources such as oil and metal by 2050. Led by the Japan-based Seiko Epson Corporation, the worldwide Epson Group generates annual sales of more than JPY 1 trillion.
Epson Australia offers an extensive array of award-winning image capture and image output products for the commercial, industrial, consumer, business, photography and graphic arts markets, and is also a leading supplier of value-added point-of-sale (POS) solutions for the retail market. Epson is the market leader in Australia and worldwide in sales of projectors for the home, office and education. Established in 1983 Epson Australia is headquartered in North Sydney, NSW and is a subsidiary of the Epson Group headquartered in Japan.
Epson New Zealand offers an extensive array of award-winning image capture and image output products for the commercial, industrial, consumer, business, photography and graphic arts markets, and is also a leading supplier of value-added point-of-sale (POS) solutions for the retail market. Epson is a market leader in New Zealand, Australia and worldwide in sales of projectors for the home, office and education. Epson New Zealand is headquartered in Auckland and is a branch of Epson Australia Pty Limited, a subsidiary of the Epson Group headquartered in Japan.
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