New report finds Kindle greener than physical books - is that really so?

On August 19 Cleantech Group published a report that was supposed to put an end to an ongoing debate on the question if the Kindle and other e-readers are actually greener than physical books. The release's title was "E-readers a win for carbon emissions."

It was supposed to be the life cycle analysis many people, including myself were waiting for. I have to admit I was very excited to read about it as we follow this debate for a long time. I decided to read it and see if this is really it. If it's really over.

The report, entitled 'The Environmental Impact of Amazon's Kindle' was written by senior reporter Emma Ritch. I read the executive brief (7-page long) and was happy to find a well-written analysis that integrates many pieces of information that together create a more coherent picture. At the same time I wasn't that sure about the validity of the findings.

There were two main issues that bothered me mostly: the carbon footprint of a single Kindle and the assumption about the number of e-books the average user is reading. As you'll see these are important factors in the analysis and have significant influence on the findings.

Here are my thoughts about them in more details:

1. What's the carbon footprint of a single Kindle?
This is an important part of the analysis - you can't have a comparison between physical books and the Kindle without this figure. But fortunately the report has it:

"...the second-generation Kindle represents the same emissions as 15 books bought in person or 30 purchased online. That would yield a range of between 60.2 to 306 kg of CO2, or an average of 167.78 kg of CO2 during its lifespan."

The problem is with this estimate (Kindle has the same emissions as 15 books bought in person or 30 purchased online). This is not a figure provided by Amazon. The report is explaining that "Amazon declined to provide information about its manufacturing process or carbon footprint". This report takes this figure from a "Los Angeles-based architecture and construction firm Marmol Radziner Prefab used the IDC lifecycle analysis calculator."

I went on to check how Marmol Radziner Prefab come out with this number if Amazon doesn't provide any data and found on their website that "One of our architects recently gave the calculator a whirl by estimating the carbon footprint of Amazon’s new Kindle Wireless Reading Device. " OK, but how did he do it? they explain: "He answered a few questions and found that the Kindle has the same footprint as 30 paperbacks ordered from Amazon’s store. So if you’re going to read more than 30 books on your Kindle, it’s greener to purchase the digital reader than the paper copies."

Given the fact that Amazon doesn't provide any data (well, we have to say the report mention that Amazon has established a recycling program by mail for Kindle and its batteries to prevent the improper disposal of e-waste), this figure looks to me as a guestimation. In any case, an experimental use of an architect with the IDC lifecycle analysis calculator is far from being something you can take into an account in an analysis, especially when you don't have any second or third sources to verify it.

You can see how vague this figure is from the attempts of Green Inc. blog to figure it out. They tried to check it with Amazon and got no response (why is Amazon so unresponsive about it? would it be easier and better for them to be transparent about it??)

They also checked with 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. “In terms of the Kindle or other similar e-book gadgets, I don’t know what chemicals are in or out,” Mr. Harrell said. “Companies will want to brag about their eco-credentials, so if you don’t see any mention, they’ve probably not been eliminated.”

To show you how game changing this figure is let's say the figure is not 15/30 books but 30/60 books. Then an average Kindle will emit 335.6 kg of CO2 instead of 168 kg during its lifespan. The meaning of the change of this figure is that the number of actual physical books offset per year per e-reader jumps from 22.5 to 45. It means that each reader will become greener than paper books only after it will replace 45 books and not 23 books.

The author, Emma Ritch, said to Green Inc. blog about the e-books that “The key is they displace the purchase of 22.5 physical books.”Following the uncertainty about the Kindle's carbon footprint, we have no way to know if this figure is the right key. Right now it looks like only Amazon has the right key and we still don't know what it is.

2. The number of e-books the average user is reading?

This is also an important figure required for the analysis, as it helps to estimate the effectiveness of the Kindle in replacing paper books. The author decided to use the estimation of Forrester, which is that each consumer purchases three e-books a month, or total of 36 e-books a year. She then explains:

"..so by adopting Forrester’s rate of three e-books a month, we forecast that the average consumer would purchase 144 e-books in four years, potentially displacing 1,074 kg of CO2."

Based on that number and the assumption that every 1.6 e-books purchased replace 1 paper book, she gets to the figure of 22.5 books a year which is the breakeven point - you read more on your Kindle and you're making it officially a greener alternative.

But will users read so many e-books? I doubt. This number is related to the number of books readers read (unless your assumption is that readers will read much more when they switch to e-books which is not the case here) and the number of books read in average tell a different story.

According to the report 1 billion books are sold every year in the U.S. With a population of about 300 million people it means every person in the U.S. is reading about 3.3 books a year (including babies which actually have many books, sometimes more than the average adult..). So as you can see there's some difference between 3.3 books per a person, which is based on real figures and the estimation of the report - 36 books per a person.

Now, it might be that Forrester's estimation (36 books) is correct, but it relates only to the avid readers which are the early adopters of the Kindle devices. What can happen to this number of books when 14.5 million units of e-readers will be sold in 2012? the report explains:

"Forrester estimates that each consumer purchases three e-books a month but that the average will drop when lower e-reader prices entice casual readers. Alternately, average purchases could increase as more books become available in electronic forms."

Still, is it OK to use the figure of 36 books per a year as the average number of books read by users? how many people you know who read 3 books every month? I decided to further check it and found a survey of AP in 2007 that found the following: "A quarter of US adults say they read no books at all in the past year, according to an Associated Press-Ipsos poll. The typical person claimed to have read four books in the last year and, excluding those who had not read any books at all, the usual number of books read was seven."

Another source is the 'Environmental Trends and Climate Impacts: Findings from the U.S. Book Industry', which mentions that 3.1 billion books were sold in 2006, which is an average of about 10 books per a person.

So even if we take the higher alternative estimation of 10 books per a year, we get that instead of getting fully offset after the first year of use, a Kindle is getting offset only after 2.25 years of use.

The bottom line of the report is very clear:

"The roughly 168 kg of CO2 produced throughout the Kindle’s lifecycle is a clear winner against the potential savings: 1,074 kg of CO2 if replacing three books a month for four years; and up to 26,098 kg of CO2 when used to the fullest capacity of the Kindle DX. Less-frequent readers attracted by decreasing prices still can break even at 22.5 books over the life of the device."

So is the debate over? I'm afraid not. As much as the report contributes to clarify the debate on how green are e-readers, there are still some issues that need to be finalized as I showed here. I'm afraid that declaring the Kindle as a clear winner is still too early. The key to the podium is still in hands of Amazon - if they'll provide us with their data on the Kindle's footprint and maybe even life cycle analysis it would be then the right time to claim a winner.

For more information on ebooks vs. paper books visit http://www.ecolibris.net/ebooks.asp

If you are interested in studying the environmental impacts of materials and processes or other environmental topics, check out onlineuniversities.net

Yours,

Raz @ Eco-Libris
www.ecolibris.net

Green printing tip no. 13: Are you looking for back to school environmental ideas?

Today we have another new tip on our weekly series of green printing tips, where we bring you in collaboration with Greg Barber, an experienced eco-friendly printer.

Everyone is occupied these days with back to school issues and so are we! Our tip today talks about ways to green it up whether you're a student, parent, teacher or a school staff member.

Are you looking for back to school environmental ideas?

Tip #13

We have couple of ideas today for parents, students, teachers and the school's staff:

Students - When you need to do a short thesis or major report, we can help you. we have an On Demand printing department, which can be useful for printing from one small book report, up to as many as you need. We stock 100% post-consumer waste paper, and we print with 100% non toxic toner.

We can wire-o, saddle stitch or perfect bind your report. All you need to do is supply us with a PDF in hi res. If you need help with your files, we have a pre-press department. We lay out books or thesis reports, from supplied word documents. We can even design a cover for you.

Parents - Green education can definitely begin at home with parents teaching their kids to be conscious of their environment, and they can make a difference. At the same time, there are tons of ideas if you want to reduce your kid's footprint at school and even make them look cooler at the same time!

Start with how you pack their lunches. Try putting their water or juice in a reusable canteen made from recycled, stainless steel, that weighs only 27 ounces. Recycled, stainless steel eliminates the harmful chemical, Bisphrnol, found in plastic bottles. You will be helping the incredible build up of plastic bottles in our landfills.

Speaking of recycled materials, check out TerraCycle's offers for schools - they have great and unique stuff made from recycled materials such as pencil cases made of cookie wrappers, or backpacks made of drink pouches, and they're all in a very affordable price.

Teachers - Green Planet published a great guide on how to green for school teachers with many creative ideas. Check out this guide and here's one more idea - how about bringing people who are involved with green practices to talk with your class? it can be a green architect, organic farmer and even your local green printer (we can help you find one!). We're sure the kids will find it interesting to hear about experiences of people who chose a sustainable career.

School Staff - How about sending paperless memos and updates to parents? you don't have to do it on on Twitter or Facebook, but you can definitely email memos to parents, send them periodically newsletters and even post on a website or a blog. Not only that you will be saving money on paper, toner and copy machine usage, but such a step can be a great fit with the the digital world your students (and their parents..) are living in.

If you have any further questions following our tips, or you have a specific question you want us to address, please email us to info@ecolibris.net .

Links to the last three green printing tips:

Green Printing Tip #12 - How to prepare files for your next Green Digital printing?

Green Printing Tip #11 - What are your green options when it comes to promotional items?

Green Printing Tip #10 - Are you buying environmentally sound business cards?

You can find links to all the tips we published so far on our green printing tips page, which is part of our green printing tools & resources.

You can also find further valuable information on Greg Barber Company's website - http://www.ecofriendlyprinter.com and you are welcome to email Greg directly at greg@ecofriendlyprinter.com.

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: promoting green printing

Write Bloody Publishing is partnering with Eco-Libris, starting with a poems collection by Taylor Mali

Write Bloody Publishing, which publish and promote great books of fiction, poetry and art, is collaborating with Eco-Libris to plant a tree for every book printed!

The first book we're working on with Write Bloody is the LAST TIME as WE ARE by Taylor Mali, which was released on Tuesday.

This is a new collection of poems from the author of "What Teachers Make," the Most Forwarded poem in the world! Taylor Mali captures in his irresistible persona and highly engaging poetry the experience of the independent school teacher that he once was: part inspiration, part nag, part coach and friend, part disciplinarian. Kids love him and his poetry...and so do adults, a combination of approbation that is unusual in today's world.

We're very happy to work with Write Bloody Publishing, which as started in 2004 by traveling poet and former paratrooper Derrick Brown. Write Bloody is a small press with a snappy look dedicated to quality literature. They have offices in LA, NYC and Murfreesboro, TN.

If you check out their website (http://www.writebloody.com/), I'm sure you won't miss their unique style which is created by utilizing modern painters, photographers and rock album designers for all of their book cover art. They publish and promote 8-14 tour savvy authors per year. They're are grass roots, DIY, boot strap believers . Their employees are authors and artists so they call themselves a family. And this is a unique family with a unique lit footprint as you can see from the list of books published by Write Bloody.

“the LAST TIME as WE ARE “ is available now on Write Bloody's online store and on Amazon. You can also read a preview of the book here.

You are also welcome to see Talyor Mali on this video:



Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: promoting sustainable reading!

First birthday book giveaway to Tania Hershman's "White Road and Other Short Stories"

Congrats to Tania Hershman! Her wonderful book 'The White Road and Other Stories' first birthday was celebrated yesterday.

Not only that this collection of short stories, published by Salt Modern Fiction, is a great read (you can check out the reviews here), but Tania is also collaborating with Eco-Libris to plant a tree for every copy printed. So it's also the first birthday to our collaboration with Tania!

Tania is celebrating the book's first birthday with a great giveaway - she is giving away THREE signed copies of The White Road and Other Stories - to anyone, anywhere in the world. If you'd like one, just leave a comment on her birthday's post on the blog (click here - http://titaniawrites.blogspot.com/2009/09/first-birthday-book-giveaway.html) saying "Pick me!" (inspired by Caroline!) or something similar. You have until Sept 8th, and then Tania will pick three winners out of a hat.

Wow. What a year! And here I am, sitting at my new desk in my new study in our new city. Who would have thought?

To find out the biggest surprises of the last 12 months, and more, pop in to writer/blogger colleague and friend Nik Perring, who has interviewed Tania about that first year over at his blog. Here's a part of it brought on Tania's birthday post:

Because I am published by a small press, Salt, even though they are amazing and they made me this beautiful book, most of the marketing and promotion was and is down to me. And I have no clue about selling a book! Well, perhaps now I have a bit more of a clue. So, basically, I made it up as I went along. I built a website for the book, I set up a Facebook Page, I organised a hectic 11-stop Virtual Book Tour where I was interviewed on 11 blogs over 11 weeks about everything from my love for science to writing and religion.... I cajoled as many people as possible into writing reviews....I obsessively checked my Amazon rankings, searching for some indication of whether what I was doing was working. And whirring through my mind, all the time, was: “How can I sell the book? How can I sell the book?”

So check it out and don't forget to write a comment on Tania's blog and get a chance to win a free copy of the book!

More related links:
The White Road and Other Stories is No. 1 on Salt Publishing's bestsellers list!

Great achievements to our partnes Tania Hershman and Lynn Montgomery!

Walking The White Road with Tania Hershman on her virtual book tour (and a giveaway!)

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: promoting sustainable reading!

Visit with Sustainable Harvest International's Panama Office

Last weekend I had the pleasure of visiting, for the second time since moving to Panama, the folks of Sustainable Harvest International (SHI, or CSI, as the Spanish abbreviation of Cosecha Sostenible Internacional goes) and travel with them around the field in the Coclé province of Panama, to see how sustainable reforestation really happens.

When I first explained to some friends in Panama City that I am about to visit an organization working on reforestation with local communities in “El Interior” (Panamanian for “Boondocks”), to say they were skeptics would be an understatement. There is a reason for that of course. Slash & burn agriculture is widely practiced here and the humble day to day subsistence standard of living of many agricultural communities is regarded as a hindrance to seemingly lofty consideration of environmental impact and global warming. The work of Sustainable Harvest in Panama proved to me that change is possible, and is happening. All it takes is resolve and a lot of hard work. Sustainable Harvest has the dubious pleasure of never preaching to the choir, and making change happen where its most needed.

We first met with country director, Rodrigo Rodriguez, and field trainer Diomedes Arrocha at SHI's office in Penonomé, the regional capital. Since this time of the year the rains come down hard and heavy in the afternoon, we decided to head right out to the field and reserve the presentation about the recent activities to later. We started south on the Inter-American highway from Penonome and after about 5 minutes turned left towards the inland communities of Juan Diaz, San Juan de Dios and El Entradero.

Our first stop on the road was at the farm of Sebastian Arauz at the small community of El Chumical. Arauz planted with SHI's help 500 coffee plants and 500 guayacan trees in June. He was initially skeptic when SHI began working in the area two years ago, but the benefits demonstrated by his neighbors convinced him to give it a try. So what's the lure of reforestation? In a nutshell, by understanding the needs of the community and families, SHI is able to provide solutions, and while at it encourage sustainability, reforestation and organic farming. In this case for example, SHI is working with Sebastian Arauz on several levels. First of all they offer him free organic seeds of the shade loving coffee plant to create a commercially viable crop. They also provide him with the seeds of the beautiful native Guayacan that will provide the shade for the coffee plantation.

(Farmer Sebastian Arrauz (left) and Diomedes Arrocha of SHI (right)

However, it does not end here. In tropical Panama there are basically only two seasons. The rainy season and the dry season. In the area of El Chumical, where Arauz's farm is located, generations of unsustainable farming, burnings and tree cuttings along the rivers dwindled the natural water resources. Watering the plants during the dry season is not a trivial task, and SHI is helping with innovative manual pump designs, and know-how. The reforestation work being done upstream in other communities will eventually help Arauz and his farm as well.

For us at Eco-Libris it will be interesting to keep on following these coffee and Guayacan trees over the years and see them grow and transform the quite dreary landscape around them.

In the next blog installation I will tell more about SHI's organic farming and reforestation work in the communities of El Entradero, where they also introduced a more sustainable woodstove design that helped reduce the community's usage of firewood for cooking significantly.

To be continued...

Green Grades 2009 - which company earned top grade for paper policy and what was Amazon's score?

One of the most interesting reports was released few days ago by ForestEthics and Dogwood Alliance. The report, entitled "Green Grades 2009" looks at and grades the paper sourcing policies of 12 office retail, general retail and wholesale/distribution companies.

Among the evaluated companies you can find FedEx Office, Office Depot, Staples, Target, Costco and Amazon.com. The report evaluates the companies environmental performance in six crucial forest-related categories: Chain of Custody, Endangered Forests, Plantations and other controversial sources, responsible Forestry/FSC certification, recycling and education and
other leadership.

The companies were rated in accordance with their performance in these categories. The best scores were given in the office retail sector - FedEx Office got A- and Office Depot got B.

FedEx Office excelled especially in the categories of responsible Forestry/FSC certification and other leadership as the report details:

"The company was also the first with a solid preference for credibly-certified paper (i.e., FSC), and has just announced that most of the paper used in its copy centers will be from FSC sources in the US. FedEx Office has also done the most to encourage its suppliers and governments to manage their forests more sustainably."

Office Depot also got kudos from the report's authors:

"Office Depot does the best job of tracking its forest sources, has the most detailed paper policy, has been the most systematic about avoiding paper from Indonesian Endangered Forest logger Asia Pulp & Paper (APP), and does the best job of tracking its use of post-consumer recycled paper."

Two issues that got the authors attention were usage of the Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI), Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC), or other certification labels that according to the authors greenwash Endangered Forest logging and other controversial practices (examples for SFI users: OfficeMax, Xpedx), as well as sourcing paper from International Paper, which according to the report is involved with controversial Endangered Forest logging and has a role in converting forests to sterile tree plantations (examples for customers: Costco, WalMart/Sam's Club).

I was very interested in the scores of Amazon.com, which is the most related company among the companies evaluated to the book market. Unfortunately their scores were disastrous, or in other words their score was F. Here's what the authors had to say on Amazon.com:
"Amazon.com does not have a meaningful paper policy or other key paper- and forest-related sustainability measures, but appears to have no problem with buying and selling paper from Endangered Forests and other controversial sources in the Boreal, Southern US, and Indonesia. The giant online retailer ignored our survey, so questions remain about their paper sourcing practices."

Although I'm not sure how much paper Amazon purchases I have to say these results are disappointing and far from what one can expect from Amazon.com. I was especially disappointed from the fact they totally ignored the survey - that's not the way to treat stakeholders.

In all, though we get a mixed updates - some companies are better, some are worst - the bottom line is optimistic. The authors see the half full glass.

"Companies are using their purchasing power to benefit the environment. Most of the retailers are making large shifts away from controversial sources to Forest Stewardship Council (FSC)-certified paper. Several companies took steps to avoid using paper from endangered caribou habitat, and to encourage Canadian governments and forestry companies to better protect caribou in the Boreal Forest."

It looks like there's still a lot to be done, especially when it comes to wholesalers, distributors and retailers. Still, my hope is that this report will follow the example of Greenpeace's Guide to Greener Electronics which gave the companies evaluated in it a real incentive to better their practices. We promise to follow it closely and report as soon as the fourth report will be released.

Thanks again to ForestEthics and Dogwood Alliance for this ongoing effort and for providing us with this important information.

You can find the repot at

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: promoting sustainable reading!

Scholastic make an impressive progress to meet their sustainable paper procurement goals

Good new from Scholastic - the global children's publishing, education and media company announced that significant progress has been made toward the company-wide sustainable goals!

Scholastic announced in January 2008 the following goals for 2012: to increase its purchase of FSC-certified paper for its publications to 30% and its use of recycled paper to 25%, of which 75% would be post-consumer waste.

Their progress toward these goals is impressive as you can learn from the data detailed on their press release (and thanks to Environmental Leader for the link):

FSC-certified paper (goal: 30% of all paper purchasing)

In 2008, Scholastic purchased 89,378 tons of paper of which 17,608 tons, or 19.7%, was FSC-certified, up from 4% in 2007.

Recycled paper (goal: 25%, of which 75% would be post-consumer waste)

In 2008 13,496 tons, or 15.1%, of the paper purchased was produced from recovered fiber, up from 13% in 2007, and of that amount, 11,258 tons, or 83%, was produced from PCW fiber, up from 77% in 2007.

In other words they're already made two thirds of the way toward their goal and have 3 years to do the remaining third. In other words, they can reach it earlier if they'll continue to move forward so rapidly.

Corey Brinkema, President of FSC-US is quoted in the press release saying "Last year Scholastic made an industry-leading commitment to forest stewardship with its goals for sourcing FSC-certified and recycled paper". Is Scholastic's goals can be considered "an industry-leading commitment"? well, the answer is actually Yes.

Scholastic's mean that more of half of the paper they will use in 2012 will come from sustainable resources (FSC-certified or recycled paper). This is more ambitious than the commitments of other big publishers such as Random House or Simon & Schuster (see more details on their commitments on our book publishing page).

Scholastic's commitment is also similar to the one defined by the Green Press Initiative on their Industry Treatise, which was signed so far by 180 publishers, merchants and mills and include among others the following goals:

• Shifting the book industry's collective average use of recycled fiber from an estimated 5% recycled average at present to a 30% recycled industry average by 2012 (a majority to be postconsumer).
• Shifting to book industry’s collective average use of paper certified by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) or equivalent certification system to 20% by 2012.

The only piece of data missing is how much carbon emissions have Scholastic manage to reduce so far. They don't have a goal in terms of carbon reductions but I'm wondering if following the announcement of the Book Industry Environmental Council last April on goals for cutting the U.S. book industry's greenhouse gas emissions in 20% by 2020 (from a 2006 baseline) with the intent of achieving an 80% reduction by 2050, Scholastic will add it to their set of goals. In all, it looks like they're in a good position to meet and even exceed this goal.

So kudos to Scholastic for their ongoing efforts and achiements and we hope to see many more of the big publishers following suit.

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: promoting sustainable reading!