A 14-year-old from Pittsburgh says he’s found a way to save taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars, and his idea started as a school science fair project.
Suvir Mirchandani was still in middle school when his science fair project showed that changing the typeface on printed documents could save a lot of ink — and, ink, it turns out, is much more expensive than paper. By following Suvir’s font style recommendation, 24% less ink would be used and $20,000 per year could be saved in a single Pennsylvania school district.
Editors at the Journal of Emerging Investigators which publishes scientific papers by teenagers urged Mirchandani to go further and estimate the savings for the federal government if it switched from Times New Roman to Garamond, a similar serif typeface but more sleek and streamlined.
In 2012, the General Services Administration has already estimated savings of $30 million by a switch in fonts to those that are more cost-efficient. However, the government report recommended using Times New Roman, Garamond, and Century Gothic.
The teenager’s study shows a much greater savings with Garamond and a much worse outcome for the Century Gothic choice.
(WATCH the video below or READ the story at CBS News)
LEARN More about the government’s response in CNN video at the bottom: