We are back with a new tip on our weekly series of green printing tips, where we bring you information on green printing in collaboration with Greg Barber, an experienced eco-friendly printer. Today Greg is recommending how to make your next print job, as well as your own operations, carbon neutral.
How Do You Become Carbon Neutral in your next print job and in your own plant?
Tip #30
Most Printers create CO2 that is emitted into our atmosphere. We can reduce these emissions in several ways we talked about in the past: - Use low volatile organic compounds, like Soy or Vegetable Based inks, or 100% Non Toxic Toners
- Print on 100% post-consumer waste paper
- Use Green E certified renewable energy
- Run your jobs efficiently by planning your print work around standard size paper and using standard inks and not metallic inks, etc.
After reducing your carbon footprint as much as you possibly can, you will still be left with some carbon emissions you're generating and the solution you should consider is offsetting them to become carbon neutral.
It's important of course to choose the right provider of carbon offsets and for your own business, we recommend looking at Verus Carbon Neutral Partnership (http://www.verus-co2.com). They audit your organization to determine your Carbon Footprint, and they provide a simple way to reduce or completely offset your CO2 emissions.
We, as your printer, buy Carbon Credits, and we can keep your Carbon Footprint low. You can do the same thing and keep your Carbon Footprint low or Carbon Neutral and we can print the Carbon Neutral emblem on your next print jobs.
For additional information on green printing, please call Greg Barber at (973) 224-1132, or email greg@gregbarberco.com.
Also, if you have any questions you would like us to address in future tips please email us to info@ecolibris.net.
On August 2008 we reported here on an interesting trial of the Canadian National Geographic, whose June 2008 issue was printed using 20% wheat straw. This was an attempt to see how pure agricultural residue - wheat straw can replace trees as a source of paper. As reported last month by Neva Murtha on Better Paper Project, this trial was successful and showed that non-wood papers pass the technical and quality requirements of the North American market. Murtha adds that during last year’s trial was a significant level of interest by large paper consumers in agricultural residue paper alternatives such as the Wheat Sheet.
Canopy (back then known as Markets Initiative) who was one of the forces behind that effort (the others were the Canadian Geographic magazine, Ottawa printer Dollco and the Alberta Research Council) is trying to figure out now for the next steps and has launched an online survey to gather information that will help "shape the next steps in creating a future for a North American agricultural residue pulp and paper infrastructure"
So if you're a publisher, printer, paper merchant/distributor, pulp/paper manufacturer or represents relevant parties please take a couple of minutes of your time and fill it in and contribute your part in making publishing more sustainable. You can find the survey here.
On September 2008 GreetQ, an online greeting card retailer, partnered with Eco-Libris to plant a tree for every 10 greeting cards purchased through the GreetQ's website. Today we're happy to update that 650 trees are being planted as a result of GreetQ's commitments in 2009!
Headquartered in Seattle, WA, GreetQ offers greeting card services that allow customers to personalize and schedule paper greeting cards to be mailed online.This is a unique service: shoppers can buy paper greeting cards online, add a personal message, then schedule the cards to be sent on a specific date. GreetQ then mails the personalized card to the recipient on behalf of their customers on that specific date. The scheduled cards, which can be scheduled for up to one year in advance, are queued online in the customer’s “card-queue.”
GreetQ's founder, Jennifer Taylor, explained back in 2008 that the collaboration with Eco-Libris is motivated by a personal interest in being environmentally responsible, while taking into consideration that each year over 2.5 billion holiday greeting cards are sent in the U.S. alone. As we mentioned, in 2009 GreetQ's commitment translated into 650 new trees that are being planted with our planting partners in developing partners. Actually, since our policy is to plant 1.3 trees for every tree paid for to make sure at least one tree will reach maturity, 845 trees are being planted de facto on GreetQ's behalf following their 2009 commitments!
To learn more about GreetQ's beatufiul made cards and other products, please visit their website: http://www.greetq.com. You can also follow them on twitter (@greetq)
Today we review a green book that not only is a good fit to this tough economic period, but is also a great resource to help you survive the recession by implementing the right green strategies.
Andrew Winston , founder of Winston Eco-Strategies, is the co-author of Green to Gold, the best-selling guide to what works - and what doesn't - when companies go green. He is a globally recognized expert on green business, and has appeared in The Wall Street Journal, Time, BusinessWeek, Forbes, The New York Times, and CNBC. Andrew is dedicated to helping companies both large and small use environmental strategy to grow, create enduring value, and build stronger relationships with employees, customers, and other stakeholders. His clients have included Bank of America, HP, and IKEA.
Andrew bases his work on significant in-company business experience. His earlier career included advising companies on corporate strategy while at Boston Consulting Group and management positions in strategy and marketing at Time Warner and MTV. After these more traditional roles, Andrew pursued his passion to explore the overlap between business and environment. He served as the Director of the Corporate Environmental Strategy Project at Yale's renowned School of Forestry and Environmental Studies.
Andrew received his BA in Economics from Princeton, an MBA from Columbia, and a Masters of Environmental Management from Yale. He lives in Riverside, CT with his wife Christine and two young sons.
Published on: August 2009 What this book is about? (from the author's website) How much money – and how many jobs – could your business save if you reduced energy use and waste by 25%? How would your business be impacted if oil reached $300 per barrel?
These might seem like odd questions to ask in the midst of a global recession–but they're not. Companies that shelve their green strategies until the economy improves will miss a huge opportunity to make their businesses stronger and more profitable.
Green Recovery argues that environmental challenges and increasing "green" awareness have not dissipated in the wake of the financial crisis. Business leaders must face both problems simultaneously. Fortunately, some of the same strategies that address environmental issues can help companies survive today's economic conditions and prosper when the good times return.
Going green is essentially about doing more with less. Viewed through this lens, green initiatives transform from costly luxuries to powerful recession-fighting, profit-making tools. This book shows how leaders — including Boeing, Disney, DuPont, Microsoft, Procter & Gamble, Toyota, and Wal-Mart — are ramping up efficiency, innovation, and employee motivation to save money quickly and preserve capital that can be reinvested for future growth.
Green Recovery offers a concise, engaging road map for using green initiatives to:
Get lean: generate immediate bottom-line savings by reducing energy use and waste
Get smart: use value-chain data to cut costs, reduce risks, and focus innovation efforts
Get creative: pose heretical questions that force you to find solutions to tomorrow's challenges today
Get engaged: give employees ownership of environmental goals and the tools to act on them
Green Recovery will help you unleash the power of green thinking to survive today's turmoil and chart a winning path to the future.
What we think about it?
This book is definitely the right book in the right time. Even though the economy seems to be doing a little bit better, many companies are still struggling to survive and continue their operations. I'm sure many of them didn't think "green" is the answer to their problems, but as the book is showing, it can definitely become their road to survival.
Winston is presenting very persuasive arguments and examples in his book for implementing green strategies as a way to survive today's economic conditions. The examples are especially important, because when you read that "following the green path, especially in hard times, can lead your company to higher profits and sustainable advantages", you want some proof. Winston, to his credit, gives you all the examples you want. And good ones too!
Winston knows to talk in the language of the targeted audience (aka business people) and hence is going straight to the bottom line - green don't look at green as extra cost, but as an investment with ROI and payback of usually not more than two years. He also explains how green strategies are always creating a win-win model, making your business not only greener, but also stronger and more competitive.
So if it's so simple, why haven't we seen all the CEOs of companies in trouble doing everything they can to go green? Winston doesn't escape this question and explains that there are two main reasons for that: "first, energy efficiency just hasn't seemed sexy..the second reason is the classic problem of the urgent versus the important. Most capital expenditures go to fix things that are broken. We can't help but focus on what's leaking."
Energy efficiency might not look sexier after reading this book, but you might see the definition of "broken" differently and get a better understanding of how "green" can fix it. As you read this book, you understand that the recession might be a nightmare, but it can also be an opportunity for a prosperous and more sustainable future.
Bottom line: Worth reading even if your company is doing pretty well now!
Disclosure: We received a copy of this book from the publisher.
Want to learn more about the book? Check out this interview with the author:
If you're looking for other interesting green-themed books, you are invited to check out our green books page on Eco-Libris website's green resources section.
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!
This week, maybe due to CES 2010 that is taking place this week, e-Books and e-Readers are getting more attention everywhere and we're on this e-bandwagon as well!
Today we bring you an interesting video we found on Publishing Talk, with author Tom Evans of The Bookright talk with author Jackie Walker about the future of e-Books, especially with regards to the expected launch of Apple's Tablet later on this month.
We're hearing for a while about the potential of multifunctional devices to become the "Kindle Killer", and now we've got one of the first examples unveiled - the enTourage eDGe™.
GalleyCat reported that the new device, described as "combining the functions of an e-reader, netbook, notepad, and audio/video recorder and player in one", was presented on the opening of the Consumer Electronics Show (CES).
The shipping of the enTourage eDGe will begin next month and the price is $490. In return you'll receive "a comprehensive device that lets you read e-books, surf the Internet, take digital notes, send emails and instant messages, watch movies and listen to music anywhere, at any time." The promise as you can see already is that it does it all.
The advantages are many - big screen (9.7 inches), usage of e-Inktechnology, built in WiFi, built-in 3 GB of usable memory, BlueTooth capability to add an external keyboard and much more.
And what about green advantages? well, two months ago, Asghar Mostafa, president and CEO of enTourage System said that "we set out to develop a product that would revolutionize consumer electronics, changing the way we work, live and play". The device definitely look and feel as a revolutionary one, but we can't really say if it's also a sustainable one.
On its webpage it says, for example, that "the lithium ion battery can last up to 16 hours of reading without recharging. One of the big advantages of the enTourage eDGe™ is that the battery can be replaced if it's ever necessary." But actually both the Kindle and the Nook have rechargeable and replaceable battery, so there's not much progress here.
I wish that once we'll see among the presented features of a new device "lower carbon footprint", with examples on its "green" features that make it eco-friendly. This will definitely be a true revolution when it comes to reading devices.
You can see more about the enTourage eDGe on this video:
Founded in 2007, Eco-Libris is a green company working to green up the book industry in the digital age by promoting the adoption of green practices in the book industry, balancing out books by planting trees, and helping to make e-reading greener.
To achieve these goals Eco-Libris is working with book readers, publishers, authors, bookstores and others in the book industry worldwide. So far Eco-Libris balanced out over 179,500 books, which results in more than 200,000 new trees planted with its planting partners in developing countries.
We are back with a new tip on our weekly series of green printing tips, where we bring you information on green printing in collaboration with Greg Barber, an experienced eco-friendly printer.
Most Printers create CO2 that is emitted into our atmosphere. We can reduce these emissions in several ways we talked about in the past:
