Last year Ricoh Americas Corporation, with local offices in Malvern and Wilmington, helped American families and businesses save $297 billion on their utility bills and prevented more than 2.1 billion metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions.

Those figures have captured the attention of the federal government, and on April 29 the company will be recognized by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in Washington D.C. for its green initiatives. The EPA plans to name Ricoh a 2014 ENERGY STAR award winner for outstanding efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions through its energy-efficient product designs.

The Japanese multinational imaging and electronics company is also being recognized for educating consumers about energy efficiency. Ricoh Americas has been an ENERGY STAR (the government-backed symbol of energy efficiency) partner for nearly 20 years

Ricoh says its design philosophy is to provide energy efficient imaging equipment without compromising business productivity. Many Ricoh devices deliver superior energy performance by adopting unique technologies and features such as Quick Start-Up (QSU), energy efficient toner and low sleep mode electricity consumption.

Ricoh played an active role in the ENERGY STAR Version 2.0 specification development process, which resulted in allowing consumers to select a device with minimum recovery time to enhance business productivity while achieving energy savings.

Also, as part of an ongoing commitment to fight climate change, Ricoh has developed the Green Mode Activated program – an awareness campaign to minimize environmental impact with the smart use of the features of the device.

“Ricoh is deeply committed to our partnership with ENERGY STAR – it is a very important component of our business,” said Dominic Pontrelli, Ricoh’s senior vice president for marketing. “Our customers benefit greatly from using ENERGY STAR products, which can save them energy and money, while helping to protect the environment.”

The 2014 ENERGY STAR awards for excellence are given to a variety of organizations in recognition of their contributions to reducing greenhouse gas emissions through superior energy efficiency. Award winners are selected from the 16,000 organizations that participate in the ENERGY STAR program.