The Environmental Impact of a Printing Plate

• Energy. Plate processors all require energy to operate. The most power is used when the plate is being developed or processed. However, the processor also requires power during the non-processing times, to keep the temperature 'ready' for processing, and somewhat less in 'sleep' mode. In our example, this would be weekends and nights. There are very few differences in power consumption by plate. Violet processors tend to have slightly higher energy consumption as they are more powerful to accommodate the pre-heating requirements of violet plate processing. (Plates that require baking naturally use much more energy for the baking oven. Ovens can use 24 kilowatts or more per hour of operation.) The Agfa :Azura is not temperature sensitive. Its wash unit therefore requires less power and uses less energy. With no processor, processless plates consume no additional energy for development.