Online content not only allows you to build additional revenue from your existing content - it also helps protect our environment by consuming lesser resources. This month, iPublishCentral can show you how to convert your content and help save the environment!

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Towards a greener future How green is book publishing industry? Ebooks and Environmental Impact Environmental Impact of Ebooks and Printed Books

How do ebooks help people conserve energy?

There has been a bit of a debate whether e-books are really greener than paper books. The conclusion after research and analysis points towards the fact that the impact e-books have on the environment is far less than that of printed books.

Just look at the evidence.

e-books are created electronically - no trees are cut down to produce them, no ink is used, no fossil fuel to run the printing presses or power trucks to move them around the country. E-books are sent electronically – they don't need warehouses to store them and they are disposed of by using the delete key, without ever taking up room in a landfill. Now look at the more traditional printed version. A printed book leaves a bigger carbon footprint than an e-book. Every aspect that goes into making a traditional book impacts the environment, from the ink and paper used to create a book, to the energy used to publish it and then the packaging and transportation. Some overwhelming facts about the printed book provides more food for thought -

It takes twelve trees to produce a ton of printing paper. Twenty-four trees for higher grade writing paper

A mature tree can produce as much oxygen in a season as ten people inhale in a year

More than 30 Million trees are cut down annually for virgin paper used for the production of books sold in the U.S. alone

Only 5% of the paper used in the book industry is recycled

Up to 35% of books printed for consumers are never read. They are returned to the publisher and end up in landfills

71% of the world's paper supply comes from natural forests, rather than tree farms

Adding fuel to the fire is the pollution emitted by the pulp and paper industry. However, in all fairness, even e-books consume some energy but nowhere near the destructive nature of the printed version. Pablo Plaster did an excellent analysis of the energy consumed while reading on computer.

"My laptop uses about 30 watts (more during start-up). In the time it takes to read a page (8.5 x 11), let's say two minutes, the computer will use 0.001 kWh (kilowatt-hours) of electricity. For a 100-page document this adds up to 0.1 kWh of electricity, costing you less than 2 cents on your electricity bill. The generation of electricity creates about 1,000 pounds of greenhouse gases per MWh (megawatt-hour), or 1 pound per kWh, depending on where your electricity comes from. This means that reading a 100-page document on your laptop causes about one-tenth of a pound of greenhouse gas emissions. Pretty small. But how does that compare to paper?"
http://www.salon.com/env/ask_pablo/2008/09/08/printers/

The comparison is in favor of e-books, which stand out as being the more environmentally friendly choice. The lower carbon footprint for e-books is an enormously important component and one that could potentially help promote the widespread use of e-books. As apprehension about global warming increases, it has become progressively more important to save trees, reduce pollution and save the planet. The 3 Rs – Reduce, Reuse and Recycle should now become the rule rather than the exception.

Reference:
http://envimpact.org/
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2007/08/shopping_is_cos.php
http://envirostats.files.wordpress.com/2007/07/fiber_cycle_communications_deck.pdf
https://www.greenpressinitiative.org/about/bookSector.htm
http://www.cutyourfootprint.com/index.php