Algae Hub

AlgaeHub is an attempt to implement an alternative consumption structure for the everyday printing of short-term documents through a shared infrastructure with alternative printing ink. 
The printer provided by the manufacturer AlgaeHub, which is intended for short-term printing, can be set up in semi-public spaces such as stairwells in apartment buildings. With the subscription model: printer, ink and paper plus a wide-ranging service from the manufacturer, printing can begin in the building community. The concept differentiates between two different ways of accessing the service: The first option is self-organized – a committed person from the house community contacts the provider and expresses interest in AlgaeHub. Once a group of members has been found in a house community, one of the people takes on the role of “caretaker”. This person is the contact person for repairs by the manufacturer and for replacing consumables such as paper and ink. For performing this role, the person is entitled to a quota of free prints, as well as cheaper follow-up printing costs. In the second option, tenant communities can make use of the AlgaeHub service via the property management company. In this case, the property management acts as a “caretaker” and bills the service costs via the service charges of the building community. Subscribers can choose between three different packages (Basic, Smart and Pro Print) to cover the different print volumes required in everyday life. These cover the spectrum from occasional printing to frequent printing. During the AlgaeHub subscription period, users regularly receive the required quantities of ink and paper from the manufacturer. The “caretaker” – be it an individual resident or the property management company – takes care of replacing the consumables and returning the empty ink cartridges, which are refilled by AlgaeHub. The printer location can be chosen flexibly: it can be integrated into a letterbox or placed as a stand-alone device. The infrastructure remains the property of AlgaeHub, which enables a longer service life through recycling. The reduced design compared to conventional printing systems improves maintainability, reduces electronic waste and delivers a print image that meets the requirements of everyday printing. This print image is created by the larger printer nozzles built into the AlgaeHub, which are seldom used in a conventional inkjet printer.

In addition, the “dot-on-demand” principle has been adapted to enable printability with the prototype low-tech ink. Furthermore, the use of piezo printing technology (which uses mechanical vibrations of a piezo element to transfer ink droplets to the paper) eliminates the need to heat the ink (thermal inkjet technology) in order to achieve on-demand printability with the low-tech ink used by AlgaeHub. The ink used in the AlgaeHub printer is designed to match the lifespan of printed materials, making it more sustainable than conventional ink. The ink consists of water as a base, phycocyanin as a colorant, which is obtained from spirulina and is also used as a food colorant, propanediol (1,3-propanediol) as a bio-based and CO₂-neutral humectant that can be produced from corn sugar, potassium sorbate as a biodegradable preservative and ethanol, which acts as a viscosity regulator and allows the ink to dry faster. The printing process with AlgaeHub is comparable to conventional network printing systems. Thanks to the network module built into the AlgaeHub printer, files can simply be sent to the printer, approved and then torn off after printing. The tear-off principle not only makes printing independent of traditional DIN formats, but also reduces paper waste by printing only the area of paper that is actually needed. For high-quality, long-lasting prints, each subscription model includes a credit for local copy shops that act as AlgaeHub partners. They benefit from a steady flow of orders and in return pass on a small portion of their turnover to AlgaeHub. AlgaeHub is more than just a printing service – it is a sustainable, shared printing system. The combination of resource-saving design, low-tech ink and user-friendly network integration creates a circular solution for everyday life. Whether self-organised or via the property management company: the flexible subscription reduces electronic waste, extends the service life of devices and makes printing more efficient and environmentally friendly.