The big flaw is the assumption that people who don't read would buy ebook readers. That's kind of like assuming that people who don't drive would buy cars. I'm sure there are some (they hire drivers) and I've even met one, but they're a trivial percentage of the car-using ecosystem. If your typical ebook reader needs to read 32 books for break-even, that's not even three books a month for a year. Even if we were to figure two books a month (it's more than that for me, and sometimes two books a day) I've already gone beyond that point on mine. (when we moved, we brought about two cubic yards of books ... that's after winnowing; it nearly sprained the P.O.D.S. forklift when they unloaded our container from the truck) So while his carbon footprint estimate may be correct, his estimate for the actual use of an ebook reader is, I think, wildly incorrect. In terms of hours of use per day, I use my 505 more than my car.
|