Are eReaders Really Green?

[flipreads]

http://www.themillions.com/2012/05/a...lly-green.html

Some of you might not like the answer..

[K. Molen]

Originally Posted by flipreads

Some of you might not like the answer..

I don't know about that...

He's saying it takes 32.5 books on the same e-reader for that device to become green. At that rate I'm thinking most people here have a green e-reader within a year, two tops. Not five like the apparent average.

What flabbergasts me most about that article is this piece:

...most eReaders are used for only two years before being discarded, replaced, lost or broken...

I don't doubt the veracity of that claim, but it's really astonishing to me. Two years? If it got lost or broken I'd of course replace it, but I'm hoping I can use my Kindle for at least 10 years, hopefully more.

[danskmacabre]

Seeing as I have 200 books on my ereader and I've had my ereader for less than a year.
I think I'm green enough.

My wife has an ereader and has owned it for about 6 months and has about 50 books on it.

I will use this ereader until it fails and is not repairable or I lose it somehow.
Well that is unless I give it to my kids who are voracious readers as well, then I will have an excuse to buy a new one, but my old one will still be used a lot.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by K. Molen

I don't doubt the veracity of that claim, but it's really astonishing to me. Two years? If it got lost or broken I'd of course replace it, but I'm hoping I can use my Kindle for at least 10 years, hopefully more.

The limiting factor is the battery. Lithium batteries such as the one in the Kindle have a typical lifetime of about 5 years.

[Yapyap]

I admit to having put aside my working Sony 505 when I got my Kindle 3 with its much better screen and much more comfortable page turn buttons, but as I've bought several hundred ebooks (probably at least 300, plus a lot of free books, and read at least 200 of them) since first getting the Sony, instead of buying new paper books and importing every single one of them from overseas, I'm not feeling massively environment-unfriendly about keeping the Sony as a backup.

[danskmacabre]

Originally Posted by HarryT

The limiting factor is the battery. Lithium batteries such as the one in the Kindle have a typical lifetime of about 5 years.

How is that calculated?
From what I have read you can get 500-800 charges out of a Lithium battery.
If you have to recharge your ereader say every 2 weeks (about how often I have to recharge my Kobo Touch), that means it should last for (base it on the lower 500 charges end) that's theoretically 18 years..

OK so lets say someone who uses Wifi/3g (for a kindle) a lot and say recharge every week.. that's still 9 years...

I'm betting the battery will still be running at a reduced capacity after 500 charges anyway..

[danskmacabre]

I would also argue that those who buy an ereader are probably way above that average in books per year.

My 9 year old daughter reads about 1 book a week from her school library and her rate of reading is increasing.
My 11 year old son takes out about 8 books a week from his school library. All books are text only and ranging from 120-300 pages each.
I expect if/when they get ereaders they will probably read more as more books become available to them.

Perhaps if someone bought an ereader on a whim or got it as a gift and hardly read books I think would likely sell, give away or just never use it after the novelty period wore off and probably never bother again getting an ereader.
It's likely if it was sold on that the new owner would be a more keen reader.

[K. Molen]

Originally Posted by HarryT

The limiting factor is the battery. Lithium batteries such as the one in the Kindle have a typical lifetime of about 5 years.

Originally Posted by danskmacabre

From what I have read you can get 500-800 charges out of a Lithium battery.

This is what I've heard too, which is why I figured I should have at least 10 years use out of my Kindle. HarryT, do you know something we don't about the specific batteries used in the Kindle?

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by danskmacabre

How is that calculated?
From what I have read you can get 500-800 charges out of a Lithium battery.
If you have to recharge your ereader say every 2 weeks (about how often I have to recharge my Kobo Touch), that means it should last for (base it on the lower 500 charges end) that's theoretically 18 years..

No, there are two factors at work.

1. As you rightly say, there is a factor of the number of charge cycles.

But...

2. A Lithium battery also has a natural lifespan of about 5 years regardless of how often it is or isn't charged. The clock starts ticking when the battery is first charged, and nothing will halt it.

For a laptop, which is charged daily, factor 1 generally outweighs factor 2, but for an eInk reader, factor 2 completely dominates. Your battery almost certainly WILL die in about 5 years, regardless of how little or how often you recharge it.

[Joshua.P]

I didn't buy my ereader to be "green" so I don't know what 'yall worrying about.

[applesauce]

you do know you can buy the replacement batterys and tool to do it on ebay for a kindle. I hate things that are disposible because of this built in battery rubbish. It is a ploy to make you purchase new products. It is like ipods and iphones. Once you have done it once it is very easy to do. Well that is what my husband who does those things around the house says. He has done the ipod and iphone.

applesauce

[applesauce]

now when they make a solar charger I can go live on a dessert island nobody to constantly say I am not giving them my full attention, husbands and teens hmmmmmmm.

applesauce

[danskmacabre]

Originally Posted by HarryT

No, there are two factors at work.
1. As you rightly say, there is a factor of the number of charge cycles.
But...
.

Ah that's interesting.. I don't suppose you have any links detailing that?
Not that I don't believe you, just curious as to the reason behind that.

[danskmacabre]

Originally Posted by applesauce

you do know you can buy the replacement batterys and tool to do it on ebay for a kindle.

I've seen similar instructions for a Kobo Touch.. A bit of soldering involved from what I've read tho, but doable.
If I haven't passed my KT onto my kids or lost or broken it, I might give that a go when the battery dies.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by danskmacabre

Ah that's interesting.. I don't suppose you have any links detailing that?
Not that I don't believe you, just curious as to the reason behind that.

According to Wiki:

The internal resistance of standard (Cobalt) lithium-ion batteries is high compared to both other rechargeable chemistries such as nickel-metal hydride and nickel-cadmium, and LiFePO4 and lithium-polymer cells.[50] Internal resistance increases with both cycling and age.[51][52][53] Rising internal resistance causes the voltage at the terminals to drop under load, which reduces the maximum current draw. Eventually increasing resistance means that the battery can no longer operate for an adequate period.