Quote:
Originally Posted by taustin
It's a lot more complicated than how much power a tablet uses while you're on it. There's a lot more energy involved in making one than in making a book. And green means a lot more than just power consumed. Computer circuit boards are known to involve a lot of very message manufacturing processes, and there's the disposal of the worn out ones afterwards. Paper books can be put in a landfill; computer stuff cannot (especially the lithium based batteries).
I've never seen a clear-cut comparsion that I found plausible on the complete life cycle of paper books vs ebook readers. When you factor in the stuff people do on tables vs desktops, or televisions, I doubt such a comparison is even possible.
Interesting point, though.
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You're correct, of course, its never that simple and the comparison I made is unfair. I think quite a few electronic components can be recycled these days, though, so I'm guessing the edge goes to the e-reader vs paper books but can't really back that up without doing some research.