Should you buy an e-reader as a gift this holiday season? Here's a green perspective

Julie Bosman wrote yesterday in the New York Times that "In a recent Consumer Reports poll, 10 percent of the adults surveyed said they planned to give an e-reader as a gift this year, up from 4 percent in 2009." According to Forrester Research, these plans are estimated to be translated into purchases of 1.3 million e-readers by American shoppers in the upcoming holiday season.

While I was reading it, I thought to myself that e-reader can be a nice gift, but what about the environmental impacts of such act? Should people really consider giving an e-reader as a gift?

Now, I'm trying to look at it from a realistic "green" point of view. I mean, we all know that the holidays is a celebration of shopping, which generates a lot waste and is far far away from any sort of sustainability. Having said that, I know that people like to give gifts, so I'm not going to preach here about giving just a card you made by yourself (which is not a bad option by the way), but instead I'll try to add into your considerations a green perspective.

The good news is that as you'll see there's no contradiction between a good gift and a green gift. When it comes to e-reader it's actually (almost) the same thing. You will see that in a minute.

As I mentioned in my article 'Is E-Reading Really Greener?', when comparing the carbon footprint of the iPad Wi-Fi + 3G Model provided by Apple (130 kg CO₂) with the carbon footprint of an average physical book (7.46 kg CO₂, as provided by Cleantech report), I found a breakeven point of 17.4 books, meaning that in terms of carbon footprint, the iPad becomes a more environmental friendly alternative option for book reading once its user reads the 18th book on it.

Now, let's generalize this finding and apply it for the rest of the e-readers. It means that in general if you buy an e-reader to an avid reader, or someone that reads at least 6-7 books a year, then there's a good chance this gift will reduce hers or his reading's carbon footprint - if and when they will start reading books on the e-reader instead of buying physical ones.

So the first question you need to ask yourself is how much of a reader the person you want to buy him the e-reader is? If she or he doesn't read much, then not only you didn't buy them a green gift as they might not reach the breakeven point of 18 books, but you also bought them something that is not that useful for them, which means you can think of other gifts that can be more useful and enjoyable for them.

Another question you should ask yourself is about the chances they'll start reading using electronic format. Some people might do it very easily, while other won't as they like too much physical books or just not interested in changing their reading habits.

Remember that the worst thing is if you're buying an e-reader that will become sooner than later another piece of electronic junk that will end its life inside a drawer, or to become part of the 40 million tons of e-waste are produced globally each year according to the UN (see Annie Leonard's excellent 'Story of Electronics' to learn more about it).

This also brings us to the last two questions you should ask yourself - first, is the person you want to buy e-reader to likes to update or replace gadgets quite often? If we're talking about someone who (like most Americans) reads only six to seven books a year and switches to a newer e-reader version within three to four years, your gift isn't that green anymore.

And the last question, what is the chance they will recycle the e-reader when they'll stop using it? According to the EPA, in 2007, approximately 18 percent (414,000 short tons) of TVs and computer products ready for end-of-life management were collected for recycling. Even if you take Apple's figures into consideration ( In 2008, Apple recycled 33 million pounds of electronic waste, achieving a worldwide recycling rate of 41.9%), you will find out that there's a good chance that the e-reader you bought won't be recycled. Why it's important anyway to make sure the e-reader will be recycled? 'Story of Electronics' provides some good answers as well as on Electronics TakeBack Coalition's website.

To sum it up, you should ask yourself 4 questions about the person you want to buy e-reader to:
1. Is she an avid reader?
2. Is there a good chance she will start reading books in an electronic format?
3. Will she keep the e-reader for at least 3 years?
4. Is there a good chance she will recycle it properly when she will replace it or just stop using it?

If you replied 'Yes' to all 4 questions, you can go ahead and search for an e-reader, knowing you'll bring this time a useful gift that is eco-friendly from many perspectives. If you don't answer 'Yes' to at least 3 of these questions, you may want to look for another gift.

Next week we will discuss the next important question - which e-reader to buy from a green point of view?

More resources on the e-Books vs. physical books environmental debate can be found on our website at www.ecolibris.net/ebooks.asp.

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: Promoting Sustainable Reading!

Amazon is doing well this holiday season. Is it also good news for the environment?

Amazon.com announced yesterday that the 2008 holiday season finished as its best ever, with record sales of 108 million products from Nov. 1 to Dec. 25. The company did not report holiday sales figures last year.

Many books were purchased on the holiday season (although Amazon.com don't disclose figures), and it got me to think if the fact that Amazon is doing well is good not only for its bottom line but also to the environment, or in other words - is it more eco-friendly to purchase a book online?

Firstly, let's take a look on what the top sellers were on the holiday season - well, according to the press release "top sellers in books included "The Tales of Beedle the Bard" by J.K. Rowling (standard edition, hardcover), "Eclipse" by Stephenie Meyer (The Twilight Saga, book 3, hardcover) and "Breaking Dawn" by Stephenie Meyer (The Twilight Saga, book 4, hardcover)."

One bit of information Amazon did release was that "Amazon.com sold enough "Breaking Dawn" books that stacked end to end they would reach the summit of Mt. Everest eight times." You're welcome to do the math and figure out how many copies were sold..

And back to our question - are online purchases of books as well as other items on Amazon.com greener than driving to a local store and making the purchase there? well, it depends.. yes, it seems it's very difficult to give here an unambiguous answer. But we'll do our best :)

One good source I found on this question is 'Ask Umbra' of Grist. On her column last year "Mall me: on online shopping" she explains that "driving alone to a faraway place to buy very little is worse than having a few things shipped". But what about driving to a nearby local store? well, that's more complicated, especially when you add to the green equation the "local economy factor", which is the support your dollars provide to the local economy and to your community when you buy local. With Amazon it might work out if you live in Seattle but not otherwise.

Umbra's bottom line back then was "The jury is out. Follow your common sense until the jury comes back in. Don't take long, single-occupancy, single-purpose car trips for lightweight consumer items. (I leave you an out for picking up a potter's wheel or an anvil.) Avoid shipping by air -- plan ahead and don't be impatient when online shopping. And bundle shopping, shipping, and driving with others when possible."

This year Umbra was asked again about this issue ('The Click and the Dread', Nov 19, 2008). Umbra mentions a new research prepared the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, which basically says that (and this is a quote of the ORNL's environmental scientist Jesse Miller) that "using several assumptions and data from several authoritative sources, we can reasonably estimate that nearly half a billion kilograms of carbon dioxide are kept out of the atmosphere by shopping on-line."

Another source I found is AskPablo of Triple Pundit. On his column "Online Shopping", Pablo is also trying to solve this riddle. He is examining a Digital Europe Project study entitled "The Environmental and Social Impacts of Digital Music," which published in July 2003, as well as some other studies.

His conclustion? "My conclusion is that dematerializing services that were previously delivered through the purchase of a physical good (CD's, books, movies, etc.) is less materials intensive. Additionally, delivery of purchased items in fully loaded semi trailers is much more efficient than driving to a store with an otherwise empty personal vehicle." So Pablo is leaning more towards online purchasing but also for him it's still not a clear cut.

Our conclusion? it looks like in general buying online is making more sense in terms of the purchase's footprint, especially if the alternative is driving by yourself for a relatively faraway store. But buying local is also important and therefore our advice would be to check local bookstores for books, see what they have to offer on their websites, compare prices and then make your decision.

This process might take a little bit longer but it will give you a much better chance to make the decision you will be the best fit for you and what you believe in.

And what about the sales of e-Books this year?? about that we'll talk tomorrow..

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