eBooks vs. paper books

The links are brought to you in a chronological order. We hope you will find them useful!

Is Apple's "recyclable" iPad really green? Do you care?, Green House - USA Today, February 1, 2010 - "The new sleek iPad has created such a frenzy, as Apple touts its gadget's green credentials and buyers clamor to plunk down their greenbacks for it. But wait: is the iPad really eco-friendly? This is not a trick question, although it might seem like one."

iPad "green" but not sustainable, Super Eco , Lisa Poisso, January 28, 2010 - "Yes, the iPad is green—but it's not sustainable. It offers nothing that actually replaces existing electronic tools...the iPad is another toy in the endless parade of electronic consumerism . We'll take a pass until a truly greener apple worth picking comes along."

The Apple iPad’s Green Grade: B, earth2tech, Pedro Hernandez, January 27, 2010 - "All things considered, and given the laundry list of things it can do, the iPad is a pretty green little machine. Maybe even green enough to impress Al Gore (who was in attendance at the launch today)."

Green Features We Love in Apple's New iPad, Treehugger, Jaymi Heimbuch, January 27, 2010 - "All in all it's a game-changing device and while far from perfect when it comes to sustainable design - or even pushing into new areas of sustainability in its features like using recycled aluminum or glass for the casing - it still hits a few sweet spots. We're hoping new versions will only be more and more eco-friendly"

Apple's new iPad is Deep Green, but a Planet-Saver? Nope., greencomputing.com, Matthew Wheeland, January 27, 2010 - "In a nutshell, the iPad is a nifty little gadget, I'm sure it will do wonders for how people engage with technology, and hopefully will give a boost to the flagging newspaper- and book-publishing industries, but it is still another resource-intensive gadget that will be an add-on rather than a replacement."

Is there an eco-angle to an Apple tablet?, Green Tech - CNET News, Martin LaMonica, January 26, 2010 - "From an environmental point of view, that shift is a mixed bag, depending as much on user behavior as on technology... Overall, an Apple tablet, or the host of electronic readers expected this year, can bring many benefits of digitized content and even change how we read, day to day. Whether it brings a net environmental benefit, though, has more to do with the owner than the device."

The Apple Tablet: Better for the Environment?, thedailygreen.com, The Daily Green Staff, January 26, 2010 - "..there is some real potential for the Apple Tablet (or whatever it might be called, or whatever tablet manufacturer wins the hearts of the most users) to reduce the strain on the environment caused by both our print and electronic habits ... if, that is, it is built smartly and responsibly and we change our existing habits."

Solar Powered E-Reader Makes E-Books Eco-Friendlier, ecogeek, Megan Treacy, October 14, 2009 - Clean energy for e-readers? Devices still require charging from the grid, but LG's new e-reader is different (and greener) - it's outfitted with its own integrated solar panel, allowing it to run on clean, renewable, solar power.

New report finds Kindle greener than physical books - is that really so?, Eco-Libris blog, September 5, 2009 - I was hoping this report is the final word on the debate on how green the Kindle is. Unfortunately I am afraid it's not. The two main issues that bothered me mostly in the report are the calculation of the carbon footprint of a single Kindle and the assumption about the number of e-books the average user is reading.

Are E-Readers Greener Than Books?, Green Inc. Blog (NYTimes.com), Joe Hutsko,, August 31, 2009 - Green Inc. blog is taking a look at the Cleantech Group's report and is also focusing on one of its weaknesses - the measurement of the Kindle's carbon footprint. They quote for example Casey Harrell, an international campaign coordinator for Greenpeace, which monitors the environmental impact of consumer electronics, who said e-readers remain something of an unknown variable.

The environmental impact of Amazon's Kindle, Cleantech Group report, August 19, 2009 - New report conducts lifecycle analysis of Amazon's Kindle, suggesting significant environmental advantages compared to the publishing of books, magazines and newspapers. The new study finds that e-readers could have a major impact on improving the sustainability and environmental impact on the publishing industry.

Are ebooks really more environmentally friendly?, Brad's Reader, July 13, 2009 - Brad's Reader's conclusion is that ebooks are very much more friendly to our earth than print books. "Are ebooks perfect? No. There are still problems with energy consumption, raw materials used to make the ebook reading devices, properly disposing of old devices and so forth."

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 physical 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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