Are ereaders really that green?

[emoorman]

Here's the link to an article I found that talks about that question.

http://blogs.zdnet.com/doc/?p=771

I don't have enough data to personally state one way or the other. I do know we use a lot of paper. The digital revolution has not resulted in a paperless office. Rather it has given us the ability to print many more copies and make many more changes, resulting in an excess use of paper.

As environmentalists have slowed down the harvesting of crop forests (those grown by large corporations specifically for making paper), the US has turned to foreign sources for pulp wood. This has resulted in a more rapid cutting of the Amazon rain forest and other areas. We have saved an owl, but are we cutting off our oxygen in the long run?

[dmaul1114]

Yeah, I've never bought the green argument too much.

Paper use isn't a huge issue in my mind, as long as forests aren't being clear cut, trees are being replanted etc. Especially if people are recycling all the paper they don't need to keep.

Vs. e-readers which have to be charged (though that's not much power usage), have plastic, metal etc. in them. And with the batteries are terrible for the environment if they get chucked in a landfill rather than recycled.

So really, either can be pretty green if people are recycling and not being wasteful, paper companies aren't clear cutting and are replanting etc. So I've never bought into the e-reader are greener point so much.

[Bremen Cole]

Paper breaks down in a landfill very quickly, so not such a big deal. But of course all the equipment and energy to produce it could be an issue if one were so inclined..... Back in the day we used paper bags at stores, again it quickly breaks down... but plastic takes about 40,000 years.... progress.....

[Rootman]

I would say NO, it would take a LOT of paper to make up for the raw materials and total cost to the environment to make up for an ereader. It does save on space though and may balance out SOME carbon emissions by lack of printing, distributing and ultimate destruction of paper books.

Paper however lasts a LONG time in a landfill too because they environment is typically anaerobic (lacks air). You can commonly find newspapers from DECADES that look almost as fresh as when printed. Best way to get rid of excess paper is to shred it and compost it.

[emonti8384]

Where I live recycling isn't that common. In order to recycle it is made extremely difficult, and information on how to properly contact the proper channels is scarce. I think education is just as important as the actual recycling process, b/c if you are not taught how are you going to know how important it is?

Who knows, the earth has been here longer than us. it's funny, I was listening to Geroge Carlin and he was saying that humans are just visitors on this planet and when it's time, the earth will just shake us off like a bad case of fleas.

It concerns me that the knowledge isn't available to us. For example, I have no idea where to throw my old cell phone away, or my old reader. I know where to buy new ones tho!

[SCION]

Originally Posted by emonti8384

...For example, I have no idea where to throw my old cell phone away, or my old reader.

Neither do I. I do take plastic bags to the local supermarket for recycling and paper products to a bin at a local school. Plastics are picked up at the curb and ink cartridges dropped off at Best Buy.

[desertgrandma]

Originally Posted by emonti8384

It concerns me that the knowledge isn't available to us. For example, I have no idea where to throw my old cell phone away, or my old reader. I know where to buy new ones tho!

Try this link

http://www.epa.gov/osw/partnerships/plugin/cellphone/

[JerseyBiker]

Originally Posted by SCION

ink cartridges dropped off at Best Buy.

You can get $3 a piece for ink cartridges at Staples. They send you a coupon for up to 3 cartridges at a time. They use to give you $3 off per cartridge up to $9 when you shop but they change it to sending the coupon. It's a good way to recycle and get something in return

~eddie

[taglines]

emoorman, good post, good questions.

A sometimes reader of this website, who has requested anonymity,-- and it's not me, my mind doesn't move in this direction very well but his does, -- has coined a very interesting word, maybe interesting, maybe not, --VAPORPAPERS -- As far as I can tell, given that the end of originality is always near in word-minting worlds, especially given the speed and bandwidth of the Internet, it appears at this moment in Internet Time that the newly-minted term VAPORPAPERS has not reached any of Google's spiders -- at least not in the sense that it has been coined.

Electronic print fans, especially green ones, might take umbrage at the coining of VAPORPAPERS, true. But you must admit, there's still no plan for the long-term preservation of e-book contents. Is there? If so, dish here.

And think about this too: The environmental and disposal costs of producing and recycling rapidly obsolescent e-readers is likely to be more serious than the well-established system of sustainable forests. The coiner of the word VAPORPAPERS asked me to ask anyone who knows......just what ARE the actual components (and future environmental impacts) of an iPad or a Kindle or nook?

Emoorman, since your initial post was about green issues here, I posted part of my thread frm another thread here here. Feel free to delete if you feel it's off-topic... or go to the "vaporpapers" thread if it hasn't sunk to the bottom of the page already....

[rmm200]

I would have to say my Sony is definitely not Green. The bezel is black, with silver trim along the sides.

Robert

[Ervserver]

the end of clear cutting - priceless

[astra]

Are ereaders really that green?

Who cares? They are convenient to use. That's it. Period.

[K-Thom]

I've read a study once that reading devices need about 25% of the energy or ressources it takes to produce paper. Got to look if I do find it again and how they really compare it.

[WillAdams]

I ran the numbers on this in a previous post:

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=24868

To repeat:

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/emer...vs-paperl.html

which noted, ``That report concludes each paper U.S. book releases 8.85 pounds of carbon dioxide.''

The vast majority of trees which are cut for paper pulp are quick-growing loblolly pines which will be re-planted almost immediately, larger, older, nicer trees are usually cut for lumber, so one should be able to let the 8.85 pounds figure stand for paper products w/o concern for deforestation.

Here's a page which indicates most CO_2 production is for energy:
http://www.eia.doe.gov/oiaf/1605/ggrpt/carbon.html

And here's a page which indicates that CO_2 production is a much larger problem for the manufacturing of electronics:
http://www.energybulletin.net/node/49730
w/ a ratio of 12 to 1 for energy usage to weight, so my PRS-505 weighs roughly 9 ozs., so presumably required 108 ounces of fuel to manufacture (on-going energy usage is not considered)
http://www.epa.gov/oms/climate/420f05001.htm
gives us a figure of 19.4 pounds of CO_2 per gallon of gasoline which equals roughly 16.36875 pounds of CO_2 to make the ebook reader.

So getting two books for the Sony should make it roughly break even, and each printed book beyond that which is not purchased should result in a net reduction of CO_2 emissions, since the energybulletin.net page indicates that the embodied energy usage for electronics is much greater than the lifetime usage.

William

[kwjones]

Originally Posted by Ervserver

the end of clear cutting - priceless

Clear cutting does not equal deforestation.