Are ebooks greener than paper books?

To tell you the truth, we don't know yet. Really!

The debate is still going on and we believe the final word haven't been said yet. As we're very interested in the answer, we follow the discussion very closely, looking for articles, researches and other sources of information that address this issue.

If you want to look at the data we collected so far, you're welcome to visit our website at www.ecolibris.net/ebooks.asp.

Here are some examples of the materials you will find there:
New report finds Kindle greener than physical books - is that really so?, Eco-Libris blog, September 5, 2009 - I was hoping this report is the final word on the debate on how green the Kindle is. Unfortunately I am afraid it's not. The two main issues that bothered me mostly in the report are the calculation of the carbon footprint of a single Kindle and the assumption about the number of e-books the average user is reading.

Are E-Readers Greener Than Books?, Green Inc. Blog (NYTimes.com), Joe Hutsko,, August 31, 2009 - Green Inc. blog is taking a look at the Cleantech Group's report and is also focusing on one of its weaknesses - the measurement of the Kindle's carbon footprint. They quote for example Casey Harrell, an international campaign coordinator for Greenpeace, which monitors the environmental impact of consumer electronics, who said e-readers remain something of an unknown variable.

Are ebooks really more environmentally friendly?, Brad's Reader, July 13, 2009 - Brad's Reader's conclusion is that ebooks are very much more friendly to our earth than print books. "Are ebooks perfect? No. There are still problems with energy consumption, raw materials used to make the ebook reading devices, properly disposing of old devices and so forth."

Are e-books an environmental choice?, Green Living, Christopher Mims, March 2, 2009 - Christopher Mims is also doing the comparison. His conclusion? "The short answer is almost certainly yes but only if you're comparing e-books to new books".

It's Easy Being Green: How to Be a Greener Reader, Center for American Progress, February 25, 2009 - "With the proliferation of e-book readers and online news, it seems an appropriate time to ask: What’s greenest way to read? In short: we’re not sure, and it depends."

Dear Science, The Stranger, Jonathan Golob, February 3, 2009 - Jonathan Golob is checking if reading The Stranger online actually is any greener than reading the printed-in-Yakima hard copy. His conclusion: "Still, on the whole, online is probably greener. (If 100 percent postconsumer recycled paper were used, print would be greener.)"

Ask Pablo: I've heard reading online uses more energy than printing documents. Can that be true?, Salon.com, Pablo Päster , September 8, 2008 - Pablo is replying to the following question: My parents are from the typewriter generation and insist on printing every document before they read it. Their argument is that reading it on the computer uses more energy than printing it out and turning the computer off. Is this true?

Would you like that book in paper or plastic?, Environmental Science & Technology, Erika Engelhaupt , May 7, 2008 - E-book readers save paper, but can a piece of plastic really be better for the environment? ES&T reporter Erika Engelhaupt is determined - very determined - to find out.

Screening environmental life cycle assessment of printed, web based and tablet e-paper newspaper, Center for Sustainable Communications at the Royal Institute of Technology, Asa Moberg, Martin Johansson, Goran Finnveden and Alex Jonsson, 2007 - Reading the newspaper 30 minutes a day on e-paper instead of a regular newspaper is environmentally preferable. If you read a Web-based newspaper instead, you can only read for ten minutes to produce the same load on the environment. This has been calculated in a study at the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, Sweden.

Printed Scholarly Books and E-book Reading Devices: A Comparative Life Cycle Assessment of Two Book Options, Center for Sustainable Systems University of Michigan, Greg Kozak , August 24, 2003 - This paper presents the findings of a life-cycle assessment (LCA) of two different book options - electronic and print. It compared the life-cycle burdens and impacts of a college student reading 40 scholarly books and the equivalent amount of digitalized information using dedicated e-book reading device.

We invite you to check out the full list of materials on www.ecolibris.net/ebooks.asp, and of course if you're aware of an important article or research we somehow missed, please let us know!

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: promoting green reading!

Free paper cups - win-win or maybe a BIG lose-lose?

I read on Springwise about the latest innovation in the office's kitchen: paper coffee cups provided to corporate customers across the US for free. How come? they come with sponsors' messages on them.

Springwise thinks it's another example of "a win-win-win for everyone involved", but is it? maybe, if we just forget for a minute the environment.

Yes, Disposable paper cups affect the environment negatively. The manufacturer, FreePaperCups is writings on its website that by using them you "say goodbye to those Eco-Unfriendly styrofoam cups", which is true - they're better than Styrofoam cups.

BUT, as you can read on the thorough analysis on Sustainability is Sexy "besides creating a steady supply of waste, disposable cups also demand a large consumption of natural resources and emit high levels of climate-changing green house gases. Because so many disposable paper cups are used throughout the world, the actual environmental affect can be staggering."

And we're talking about trees here that are cut down to produce these cups and not just a few - Americans consume more than 16 billion paper cups every year, which in tree terms equals almost 6.5 million trees a year!

And there are better alternatives of course, even for the corporate office's kitchen. Reusable coffee cups reduce the impact disposable cups have on our environment. Sustainability is Sexy reports that "waste, natural resources, and damage done by green house gases are all decreased by reusable cups after only 24 uses."

So I don't think this is a win-win, if anything it's a lose-lose: the corporates that use it harm the environment and the brands that advertise on the cups and make them free are actually funding it.

Almost all companies that advertise on these paper cups are companies that have major green initiatives and claim that the environment is very important for them, like FedEx ("FedEx is committed to providing global connections while minimizing our environmental impact. We have integrated responsible environmental practices into our daily operations") or Dell ("Dell systems are "Green by Design"; we consider the environment in all aspects of the product lifecycle, from design and engineering to packaging and recycling")

Are these the same companies that pay for free paper cups for corporate America??

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris
www.ecolibris.net

The Secret Life of Paper

How is paper production related to forest destruction and global warming? Why is recycling and buying recycled paper important? Some of the replies to these questions can be found below in a video called "The Secret Life of Paper".

Thanks to the Green Initiative Press' last newsletter I learned about this interesting video of INFORM. It is part of INFORM’s Secret Life Series, which is a collection of videos that highlight the environmental impacts of everyday products we all use.

INFORM is an organization that is "dedicated to educating the public about the effects of human activity on the environment and public health. Our goal is to empower citizens, businesses and government to adopt practices and policies that will sustain our planet for future generations."



You can find more important information on the environmental impacts of paper production, paper recycling, alternative fibers, and policy at the Secret Life Series website.

Enjoy the video,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Plant a tree for every book you read!

How green is the book publishing industry? An interview with Tyson Miller, Director of the Green Press Initiative

After I wrote here about the publication of the of 'Environmental Trends and Climate Impacts: Findings from the U.S. Book Industry', and reviewed some of the most important findings, it's time of the third (and last) part of our coverage of the report.

Today I am very excited to bring you an interview I conducted with Tyson Miller, the Founder and Director of the Green Press Initiative (GPI). The Green Press Initiative, together with the The Book Industry Study Group (BISG), initiated and prepared this impressive report that presents and analyzes the book industry's ecological footprint.

Not only that Tyson Miller is one of the people who led the work on the report, but he is also one of the most knowledgeable people about the issues brought up in the report. In the last seven years he directs the Green Press Initiative (which he also founded) – a program which is catalyzing environmentally responsible book publishing in the U.S. He initiated the Book Industry Treatise on Responsible Paper Use, which more than 150 publishers have signed so far, and is also involved in the efforts of big publishers, such as Simon & Schuster and Scholastic, to develop green policies.

Therefore, I was very happy for the opportunity to have this interview with Mr. Miller, shedding more light on the report and its implications. I hope you'll enjoy it as well!

Can you tell us about the work on the report - how many people were involved, who led it, how much time it took, etc. ?

It took about 9 months and was led primarily by BISG, GPI and our research partner, the Borealis Centre for Environment and Trade Research. We also were very fortunate to have a generous group of report sponsors and a diverse committee of industry stakeholders to help guide the process.

Over 1,000 constituents involved in all segments of the book industry were invited to take part in the survey that was the base for the report. Eventually 104 responded. Were you satisfied with this response rate?

I would have been happier with better participation...but it was the first effort and we were asking for a lot in terms of the time commitment to answer all of the questions. I'm confident that future studies will have a higher participation rate. Nevertheless, the data gathered accurately reflects trends and for publishers, at least, we had 45% of market share responding.

How difficult was the calculation of the book industry's carbon footprint?

Quite a challenge, but our findings were in line with the findings of several large publishers that have done their own carbon audits. I was surprised to see that the CO2 equivalent emissions connected to paper represented over 70% of the industry's emissions. I figured transportation would have had more of an impact.

You report that the average use of PCW recycled paper is 5% - what do you see as the main obstacle that currently stops publishers from using more PCW recycled paper?

We had to use the 5% figure as an estimate for the printing and writing sector. The actual trend for recycled fiber at the mill level was over 13% and had jumped sixfold from just 2.5% a few years prior. But since we only had 17% of mills reporting, we couldn't use the figure. My guestimation is that the industry is likely at about 15% recycled fiber. Either way, the biggest hurdle is cost and with increasing demand and a lack of corresponding infrastructure development, costs could rise.

How many of the trees cut down for the production of books are grown in tree plantations? what can done to stop the conversion of rich ecosystems into tree plantations?

Most of the world’s paper supply, about 71 percent, is not made from timber harvested at tree farms but from forest-harvested timber, from regions with ecologically valuable, biologically diverse habitat. (Toward a Sustainable Paper Cycle: An Independent Study on the Sustainability of the Pulp and Paper Industry, 1996)

Do you think that the effort to go green in the industry should be solely voluntary, or it might be that we need legislation to move faster, for example, a legislation that will tax paper sourced from non-sustainable sources?

I think that market transformations are inherently voluntary initiatives and are moving along at a pace quite quickly without legislation. Legislation could be useful for big-picture objectives like carbon-reduction emission reduction targets across all sectors.

What is the reason that e-books weren't part of the report and is there any plan to further explore the environmental impacts of e-books in the next reports?

In order to address e-books effectively, I'd need to look at a lifecycle comparison that analyzes the impacts of e-readers vs. paper as a medium. I do hope that we can explore much more in-depth in future iterations.

How's the U.S. book industry doing in comparison with the European book industry?

I haven't seen a benchmarking analysis from Europe...but I'd say we're on par or ahead.

What's the most important lesson we can learn from the report?

Likely that the emissions associated with paper constitutes approximately 70% of the industry's carbon footprint and also that the industry is really meaning making meaningful progress - a sixfold increase in recycled fiber at the mill level over the past fours years. I also found it telling that such a significant portion of surveyed companies had environmental policies that are completed or intended.

This report will definitely become an important benchmark in the industry. When we can expect the next report?

Hopefully we can track a reduced number of metrics annually.

What's next? are there any planned actions on an industry scale?

More of the same - we'll keep plugging away and supporting the leaders and those that aren't quite ready to lead.

I read in the report that there's a Book Industry Environmental Council in development - can you tell us more about it?

We felt that it would be great to have industry leaders helping to inform important priorities such as the development of a standardized tracking mechanism for monitoring environmental indicators and progress, determining parameters and protocols for reducing the industry's carbon footprint, guiding future revisions to the Treatise, and developing standards for an on-product environmental label.

Thank you Tyson for the interview! The report can be ordered on GPI and BISG websites. The summary of the findings is also available for view.

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: plant a tree for every book you read!