Anteneh's Green Printer

This project is about building white ink printer that scans paper to find colors other than white color so that it prints white ink on top of it to reuse the paper multiple times before it’s used beyond repair.

1 tone of coated magazine paper consumes over 15 trees and 1 ream of paper (which is 500 sheets) will use 5% of a tree to be manufactured. When you consider how many magazines, newspapers and office papers are used or printed and distributed across the world, it is difficult to visualize the number of trees being used. According to precise statistics estimations over 2 million trees are felled every day for global paper consumption, meaning over 4 billion trees are cut every year to serve our paper needs. To solve this problem there are a few ways the world implements, which are the following  

• Recycling - Some percentage of the papers are recycled worldwide except some like thermal papers, and sticky notes. 
• Reduce consumption - Using digital forms, print on both sides, think before printing, reduce printing font and adjust margins. 
• Reuse - Shred and reuse it as packing material, reuse for decoration, reuse for gift wrap and other.

But all these approaches are not working because trees are being destroyed at faster rate than being replaced. Even if we plant many trees we are providing more raw materials for paper manufacturers; not solving the problem.

This project is about building white ink printer that scans paper to find colors other than white color so that it prints white ink on top of it to reuse the paper multiple times before it’s used beyond repair. First the scanner search any ink other than white color on the paper and when it finds it automatically tells the data to the white printer information like kind of color, the strength of that color and the location of the color on the paper. The white printer receives this information and prints white ink on top of the colors accordingly. This will save white ink consumption because not all colors consume same amount of white ink to be completely covered. For example printing on top of yellow color takes much lower amount of white ink than black color. Knowing the locations and strength of each color is also important because it prevents printing white ink on unnecessary spots with needless strength.  This will transform us from high to low paper consumption and low to high ink consumption. It’s a green transformation because inks are made via inorganic pigment dissolved in chemical solvent and papers can only be made from trees.   

According to “X” toner specifications, you can print around 2,300 pages before a white toner runs out which is basically 13¢ per page. This price can be even lowered at large variation if ink manufacturers were not greedy because the material they use is very cheap and the total manufacturing cost of ink reaches from 20€ to 40€ per litter depending on brand. This indicates that if printing ink (only white color) is sold at appropriate pricing, turning a printed or used paper in to new usable paper prior to recycling and reusing for other purposes is financially feasible and Anteneh’s green printer will achieve just that task 

This project have a very strong connection with thriving biodiversity ecosystem because it reduces the amount of the number of trees cut for paper production which is the base for insurance of health of all living things on earth. This will directly affect economy, social and all other factors that affect living things on earth.

I am currently working on building the prototype by integrating printer with scanner so that the scanner feed data to printer which act as a reset machine for papers to return them back to their initial condition after manufacture.

Currently I am th the only one who is running the project.

I have dedicated my life for invention and research because not only I have big dreams but also it is my only way out of poverty. We all have a talent we know or did not find out yet. Mine happens to be inventing. So, until now I have invented more than 70 inventions. 

https://hackaday.io/projects/h... https://contest.techbriefs.com... https://www.herox.com/crowdsou... https://desall.com/User/Antene... https://challenges.openideo.co... 

international honors

• Winner of Mechanical maker challenge by NASA/ JPL- 2019 with my design invention “Mechanical eye”
• Finalist in the TIC AMERICAS 2020 contest with my project “Caribbean Sargassum Problem”
• Finalist in TKF plastic innovation challenge 2019 with my invention “Smart green washer”
• Top 100 inventions of 2019 by create the future contest by tech briefs with my project “Cone solar panel”
• Top 10 winner of TIA challenge 2019 with my multiple unique solutions and invention  
• Finalist in Enel challenge on MV & LV distribution challenge 2019 with my invention “Turbine for avoiding birds in MV & LV distribution lines”
• In the recent Hawaii natural problem challenge which is the saving the Ohi’a challenge (https://conservationx.com/challenge/invasives/ohia), I submitted more than 30 possible solution which you can see via https://conservationx.com/chal...
• I have developed more that 20 inventions for solution, management and prevention of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) which you can see via https://solve.mit.edu/challeng... or https://contest.techbriefs.com... 
• In 2020 I have invented more than 15 technologies related to increasing efficiency of energy generation, transmission and utilization through a clean environmentally friendly way

The level of harm it causes from excluding a person based on the skin of their color or race, gender, sexual preference, disability, socioeconomic status and other factors has a very big negative impact not just on the person who is being excluded but also on the excluding party as well. So I always believe in giving fair and equal opportunity for all kind of people irrespective of their identity. And I can assure you that all opportunity from the employee of this project to vendors are selected based on their ability to deliver their skill and commitment they will show for the project. 

Funding oopportunities and potential partnership are the two main reasons for me. This two key components are the only things holding me back from success.

The main support I need at this time is capital funding to progress my self from struggling inventor to a start up company with some budget.

Any big firm with appreciation for invention will do.

The project has direct connection with the funder goal.

The project has direct connection with the funder goal.

The project has direct connection with the funder goal.

The project has direct connection with the funder goal.

The project has direct connection with the funder goal.

The project has indirect connection with the funder goal.

The project has direct connection with the funder goal.