eBooks vs. paper books
Are e-books better than paper books in terms
of environmental impact? the debate is still going on and the
final word haven't been said yet. Eco-Libris is following closely
the discussion and provides you with links to articles, researches
and other sources of information that address this issue.
The links are brought to you in a chronological order. We
hope you will find them useful!
Are
e-books an environmental choice?, Green Living, Christopher
Mims, March 2, 2009 - Christopher Mims is also doing
the comparison. His conclusion? "The short answer is
almost certainly yes but only if you're comparing e-books
to new books".
It's
Easy Being Green: How to Be a Greener Reader, Center
for American Progress, February 25, 2009 - "With
the proliferation of e-book readers and online news, it seems
an appropriate time to ask: What’s greenest way to read?
In short: we’re not sure, and it depends."
Dear
Science, The Stranger, Jonathan Golob, February 3,
2009 - Jonathan Golob is checking if reading The Stranger
online actually is any greener than reading the printed-in-Yakima
hard copy. His conclusion: "Still, on the whole, online
is probably greener. (If 100 percent postconsumer recycled
paper were used, print would be greener.)"
On
e-books, Grist - Ask Umbra, Umbra Fisk, December 10,
2008 - Jonathan from Scotland asks Umbra the ultimate
question ("Which would be the more eco option?")
and she tries to provide him with the ultimate answer.
eBooks
- A Greener Choice or Not?, Eco-Libris blog, Angela
Wieck , November 2, 2008 - Angela is comparing eBooks
and paper books. Her conclusion? ebooks are greener, at least
when you remove the eBook readers from the equation.
Want
to Green Your Addiction to Books? Buy Ebooks, Sustainablog,
Jeff McIntire-Strasburg, October 27, 2008 - Jeff, a book
addict, is digging into the subject of ebooks, their footprint
and the gems you can find at EcoBrain, a small company dedicated
to selling ebooks on environmental topics.
Ask
Pablo: I've heard reading online uses more energy than printing
documents. Can that be true?, Salon.com, Pablo Päster
, September 8, 2008 - Pablo is replying to the following
question: My parents are from the typewriter generation and
insist on printing every document before they read it. Their
argument is that reading it on the computer uses more energy
than printing it out and turning the computer off. Is this
true?
E-books
Vs. Newspapers, Fat Knowledge, August 21, 2008
- The article compares the energy usage and co2 emissions
of reading the New York Times for one year in paper vs. e-book
form.
Paper
vs. paperless: Which makes reading greener?, Emerald
City Los Angeles Times, Siel , June 2, 2008 - Are e-books
like the Kindle and Sony Reader more eco-friendly than paper
books? Siel writes about the debate and the need to make a
lifecycle analysis of the e-reader to get to riddle solved.
Would
you like that book in paper or plastic?, Environmental
Science & Technology, Erika Engelhaupt , May 7, 2008
- E-book readers save paper, but can a piece of plastic really
be better for the environment? ES&T reporter Erika Engelhaupt
is determined - very determined - to find out.
Screening
environmental life cycle assessment of printed, web based
and tablet e-paper newspaper, Center for Sustainable
Communications at the Royal Institute of Technology, Asa Moberg,
Martin Johansson, Goran Finnveden and Alex Jonsson, 2007
- Reading the newspaper 30 minutes a day on e-paper instead
of a regular newspaper is environmentally preferable. If you
read a Web-based newspaper instead, you can only read for
ten minutes to produce the same load on the environment. This
has been calculated in a study at the Royal Institute of Technology
in Stockholm, Sweden.
Amazon's
E-Book Reader: Kindle, EcoGeek, Hank Green, September
11, 2006 - EcoGeek presents some of the environmental
aspects of the Kindle's specifications.
Environmental
Implications of Wireless Technologies: News Delivery and Business
Meetings, Environmental Science & Technology Vol.
38 No. 11, Michael Toffel and Arpad Horvath, 2004 - This
paper compares the environmental effects of wireless technologies
to the traditional applications for which they can substitute.
It includes an examination of the impacts of reading newspaper
content loaded onto a personal digital assistant (PDA) compared
to the traditional way of reading newspaper.
Printed
Scholarly Books and E-book Reading Devices: A Comparative
Life Cycle Assessment of Two Book Options, Center
for Sustainable Systems University of Michigan, Greg Kozak
, August 24, 2003 - This paper presents the findings
of a life-cycle assessment (LCA) of two different book options
- electronic and print. It compared the life-cycle burdens
and impacts of a college student reading 40 scholarly books
and the equivalent amount of digitalized information using
dedicated e-book reading device.
More information on the carbon footprint of paper made books
can be found on:
Environmental
Trends and Climate Impacts: Findings from the U.S. Book Industry,
Eco-Libris 3-part coverage of the new report on the book industry's
environmental footprint.
Toward
a Greener Future, Publishers Weekly, Jim Milliot,
March 10, 2008 - New industry study puts carbon footprint
at 12.4 million tons and outlines measures to reduce publishing's
environmental impact
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