Apple reduced the iPad 2 carbon footprint by 20 percent

Last week the environmental report of the iPad 2, where we learned that its carbon footprint is 105 kg CO2e, a reduction of 19.2% comparing to the footprint of the first model.

This is the first out of two posts where we'll analyze the differences between the iPad and iPad 2 from a green point of view. Today we'll focus on the carbon footprint.

So, here's the carbon footprint of the iPad 2:



And here's the carbon footprint of the iPad:


Now let's look at figures instead of percentages as part of the total footprint:

	iPad	iPad 2	Change
Production	75.4	63	-16.4%
Transport	14.3	10.5	-26.6%
Customer use	39	30.45	-21.9%
Recycling	1.3	1.05	-19.2%
Carbon footprint:	130	105	-19.2%

As you can see, we have a reduction in the footprint of each one of the 4 components in the life cycle of the device. The greatest reduction is in transport, followed by customer use, recycling and production.

What's the reason for these changes and does this 20% reduction in the carbon footprint means that the iPad 2 is green? We'll try to answer in these questions on Thursday, on the second part of this analysis.

Comparing the iPad 2 it to paper books:

For this comparison, I'll use the figure of 7.46 kg of CO2 to represent the lifecycle carbon emissions of an average book. This is also the figure I used for the comparison made for the first model of the iPad.

This figure was presented on the Cleantech report (The Environmental Impact of Amazon's Kindle) and according to the report based on three independent studies that used life cycle analysis calculators to assess the impact of raw materials (I know it's much higher from the figure of 4.01 kg presented on the 2008 Environmental Trends and Climate Impacts: Findings from the U.S. Book Industry report, but I believe it helps to make the comparison more balanced).

So, comparing between the two gives us the following breakeven point: iPad 2 = 14.1 paper books.

It means that if you put aside all the other uses of the iPad, then from a carbon footprint point of view, it becomes a more environmental friendly alternative option for book reading once you finished reading your 14th book on your iPad (or 15th book if you want to be more accurate).

If you make the comparison based on the 4.01 kg CO2 per book (provided by the Environmental Trends and Climate Impacts: Findings from the U.S. Book Industry report), the breakeven point is 26.2 books (comparing to 32.4 books for the first iPad).

This is of course a conservative estimate since the iPad, as a tablet computer, has many other users and actually reading ebooks is not the most popular use of these devices. If you take other uses in consideration, the breakeven point may be lower.

Last but not least, although I criticized Apple many times here and in other places, I think they deserve kudos for publishing this report and making it available just within a week of the release of the iPad 2. Right now they're the only ones doing it - Amazon or B&N don't disclose any sort of environmental reports on the Kindle or the Nook, so thank you Apple and I truly wish Amazon and others will try to imitate you not just in technological innovation but also in the level of transparency you're presenting.

More resources on how green is the iPad can be found on our website at www.ecolibris.net/ipad.asp

More resources on the ebooks 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!

Earth Day Campaign - 41 Reasons to Plant a Tree for Your Book: Reason #2

Yesterday we started our Earth Day Campaign - 41 Reasons to Plant a Tree for Your Book, where we share with you 41 reasons provided by readers to celebrate the upcoming 41st anniversary of Earth Day.

With more than 180,000 trees planted so far on behalf of readers, authors and publishers working with Eco-Libris, it's no surprise that we think planting trees to green up books is a great idea.. But we also want to hear what readers think about it and why they believe planting trees for their books is a good idea.

So for 41 days until Earth Day, we will publish the 41 best answers we receive on the blog, one reply a day. All replies will be gathered and presented on the campaign's page.

Reason no. 2:

Planting a tree for you book represents the circle that life is supposed to be. We give and take and that balance is what keeps everything working the way it is supposed to. It is when one end of the teeter-totter weighs heavier than the other that system doesn't work. Or when one side rows and the other doesn't, we go in circles instead of moving ahead. - Jen Forbus

Thank you Jen for sharing with us your thoughts on planting trees for your book!

Jen, just like all the other readers whose replies we'll publish, is winning one of the great 41 prizes we give away on this campaign, courtesy of our partners. Winners can choose their prize from a great list of gifts including a $25 gift card for Strand Bookstore, audiobooks from Simon & Schuster Audio (such as The Half Life by Jennifer Weiner, American Assassin by Vince Flynn and Essence of Happiness by the Dalai Lama) and great books, like Planet Home by Jeffrey Hollender, books from the Little Green Books series, Menu Dating by Tristan Coopersmith and The Story of Stuff by Annie Leonard. You can see the full list of the prizes on the campaign's page.

If you want to participate in the campaign, we still have some spots available so please send us your reply, either by adding a comment here or sending it to info@ecolibris.net. We look forward to hearing from you.

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: Promoting sustainable reading!

Our Earth Day campaign, 41 Reasons to Plant a Tree for Your Book, is beginning today!

Eco-Libris celebrates the 41st Annual Earth Day with a new campaign, where we ask readers to tell us why planting a tree for their book is a good idea.

With more than 180,000 trees planted so far on behalf of readers, authors and publishers working with Eco-Libris, it's no surprise that we think planting trees to green up books is a great idea.. But we also want to hear what readers think about it and why they believe planting trees for their books is a good idea.

So for 41 days, starting today culminating with Earth Day on April 22, we will publish the 41 best answers we receive on the blog, one reply a day. All replies will be gathered and presented on the campaign's page.

Reason no. 1:

I would plant a tree for my book so that people have a nice shady spot where they can read my book and watch the wildlife that helped inspire my book! - Juliet

Thank you Juliet for sharing with us your thoughts on planting trees for your book!

Juliet, just like all the other readers whose replies we'll publish, is winning one of the great 41 prizes we give away on this campaign, courtesy of our partners. Winners can choose their prize from a great list of gifts including a $25 gift card for Strand Bookstore, audiobooks from Simon & Schuster Audio (such as The Half Life by Jennifer Weiner, American Assassin by Vince Flynn and Essence of Happiness by the Dalai Lama) and great books, like Planet Home by Jeffrey Hollender, books from the Little Green Books series, Spit That Out! by Paige Wolf and The Story of Stuff by Annie Leonard. You can see the full list of the prizes on the campaign's page.

If you want to participate in the campaign, we still have some spots available so please send us your reply, either by adding a comment here or sending it to info@ecolibris.net. We look forward to hearing from you.

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: Promoting sustainable reading!

Top Ten Books to Read in Your Garden

Believe it or not but it's almost spring and this is definitely the time to start thinking about what you want to plant this year in your garden, buy seeds and get ready to do some gardening work. To celebrate the return of the garden to our life (although it's always in our heart, even when it's covered in snow for weeks..), we have a guest post with recommendations on 10 great books to read in your garden.

Top Ten Books to Read in Your Garden

This guest post was contributed by Garden

Gardening is invigorating, dirty, tender, satisfying work and nothing quite compares to sinking your teeth into a sun-warmed, just-picked tomato, its juice dripping down your chin. One that you planted months prior, first indoors then transplanted out in your composted soil - preparing a plot being an art in itself. Then staking it and pinching its first flowers so seedings establish before fruit production, and finally weeding and mulching and watering and doing it all over again, and again.

Reading a book is a similar, delicious commitment, and one perhaps best enjoyed in your garden.

The following ten books all celebrate the outdoors, some in a grand way, others more quietly. May their contents inspire you to breathe your air more deeply, embrace your environs more fully.

THE BIG PICTURE

Planet Earth - Alastair Fothergill

Maybe you saw the Discovery Channel's program and are already familiar with the wondrous footage, shot over five years, of the world's wildlife and their habitats. Page turn at your leisure through these awe-inspiring images and accompanying text. A particularly enthralling section is a feature on the otherworldly Lechuguilla Cave, it's top-secret entrance and then strenuous subterranean descent.

HOW PLANT PASSION CAN TURN CRIMINAL

The Orchid Thief - Susan Orlean

New Yorker writer Orlean decides to explore the world of John Laroche, awaiting trial for stealing endangered orchids from Florida's Fakahatchee Swamp, after reading about him in a local newspaper. What follows is an eccentric, funny, and revealing story about an orchid-infatuated subculture.


LIVING OFF YOUR LAND

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle - Barbara Kingsolver, with Steven L. Hopp and Camille Kingsolver

A family's good-humoured and enlightening story about eating food only grown by them or from their local area for a whole year. It also includes recipes and sidebars on industrial agriculture.


AN OVERSEAS GARDEN

French Dirt - Richard Goodman

An enchanting account of Goodman's move from New York City to a French village, and what he discovers from gardening there - about the village's inhabitants and himself.

DREAM BIGGER

The Dirty Life: On Farming, Food, and Love - Kristin Kimball

City girl moves upstate to start a cooperative farm with the man who will become her husband. The memoir, while initially idealistic, is refreshingly honest about the hard work necessary to build and maintain a farm.


NO DIRT, JUST BUGS

National Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Insects & Spiders - Lorus and Margery Milne

A wonderfully authoritative visual guide - includes 702 photographs - with detailed descriptions of habitats, ranges, food and life cycles of North American insects and spiders.

YUM

Eat Your Yard - Nan K. Chase

Chase details the 35 different trees, shrubs, vines, herbs and flowers that you can grow on your property then enjoy at your next meal!





PERHAPS INSPIRING YOU TO FARM

The Seasons on Henry’s Farm - Terra Brockman

Brockman expertly - and with tremendous heart - writes about the cycle of a year on her Illinois sustainable farm.





MARTHA THEY AREN'T

The Bucolic Plague - Josh Kilmer-Purcell

A hilarious read - and true story - about a gay couple who make a go of the rural life before they became Planet Green's Fabulous Beekman Boys.




THOUGHTFULLY EARTH-MOVING

In the Company of Stone - Dan Snow

Waller Dan Snow builds, yes, walls, but also dams, grottos, pathways, spheres, staircases, terraces, even softball field bleachers, all with found stone and without mortar or nails. Called dry-stone construction and completely hand built, Snow's art is celebrated in Peter Mauss's gorgeous photographs while Snow's prose - equally practical and poetic - are as engaging as his works.

Barnes & Noble Bankruptcy Index: No one seems to be interested in buying B&N

This week our B&N bankruptcy index is moving permanently to Thursday and will be published from now on on Thursdays. Just a short reminder - As Borders filed for bankruptcy, we look at Barnes & Noble, the nation's largest book chain to see if they will follow Borders and also go into bankruptcy and if so, when exactly.

To do it more analytically we launched few weeks ago a new B&N Bankruptcy Index, which is based on 10 parameters, which receive a grade between 1-10 (1 - worst grade, 10 - best grade). Hence we receive a 0-100 point index scale, which we divide into several ranges as follows:

90-100: B&N is in an excellent shape. Couldn't be better!
80-89: B&N is doing great. Bankruptcy is no longer a real threat.
70-79: B&N could do better and has to be cautious of bankruptcy.
60-69: B&N doesn't look too good and bankruptcy is becoming a more realistic threat.
50-59: Bankruptcy is a clear and present danger.
49 and less: Red alert! Bankruptcy is just around the corner and is likely to happen within a short time frame.

We will check the B&N Bankruptcy Index every Thursday, updating each one of the parameters included in the index and will analyze the trend. You can follow the weekly changes in the index from the day it was launched on the Barnes and Noble Bankruptcy Index page on our website.

So here's our update for this week (in brackets is last week's grade):

1. Confidence of the stock market in B&N
This parameter will look at the performance of the B&N stock (symbol: BKS) in the last week. The performance of B&N's stock is an indication of the confidence the market has in the ability of B&N to maintain a viable business.

So let's look at last week's figures:

3/2: $13.20
3/9: $11.81
Change: -10.5%

As you can see, B&N's stock continued to fall down last week with a decrease of 10.5% in the stock's price. Just for comparison, the S&P500 Index rose slightly during this period (+0.9%) and Amazon fell in 1.7%. It looks like the stock continues to fall because B&N has no luck in finding a buyer for the company, which implies they might be a good reason why they're not that attractive.

eChristian Investing offered this comment on the stock's free fall:

Even with top competitor Borders Group (BGP) filing for bankruptcy and closing 200 stores, it is going to be challenging for Barnes & Noble to execute a turnaround. Of course everyone loves a comeback story and if Barnes & Noble succeeds I’m sure it will be stocking that book in stores and on the Nook. However, for now the stock is desperately looking for a catalyst that will stop the free fall.

NakedValue explained on Seeking Alpha what investors might see that frightens them and makes them sell the stock:

• The brick and mortar bookstore business model is dead (see: Borders (BGPIQ.PK))
• Barnes & Noble's dividend cut is an ominous sign
• It's cheaper to buy books online (Amazon.com (AMZN))
• Barnes & Noble is hopelessly behind the eReader curve (Kindle, iPad, Wal-Mart (WMT) eReaders)

NakedValue actually think B&N might be worth a look if you're an investor with an open mind, but apparently right now most investors aren't.

This week's grade for this parameter is also going down to: 6 (6.5)

2. What analysts say on B&N
On Reuters, one retail investment banker who declined to be named, explained that "The stock price isn't the draw or the deterrent. There's no strategic (bidder) out there that would want them. They could appeal to private equity, but there's been no rabid interest so far."

More from this article:

Barnes & Noble has said it will spend $150 million on Nook's development this fiscal year. And those costs will eat into profits for quite some time, analysts warned.

"The investments will continue for the foreseeable future. Combined with declines in physical books, that should continue to pressure earnings," said Credit Suisse analyst Gary Balter in a research note last week.

No other comments or analysis were found. This week's grade stays the same: 7 (7)

3. New strategy to regain sales in the brick and mortar stores
Phil Wahba and Jessica Hall wrote earlier this week on Reuters:

Barnes & Noble remains heavily reliant on traditional, bricks and mortar bookselling at its 705 superstores, the same business model that failed at Borders.So Barnes & Noble has bet its future on the Nook and its ability to generate e-book sales.

But that promises to be expensive against deep-pocketed rivals Amazon.com and Apple. It's an open question whether the stores, which face a longtime book sales decline, can generate enough cash to help fund the main prong of Barnes & Noble's growth strategy: the Nook and the e-books sales it generates.

"It's not only 'how do you compete with iPad 2' on the digital side, but does the bricks and mortar have enough legs to support the growth of the digital platform," said Morningstar analyst Peter Wahlstrom.

We couldn't say it any better. Bottom line: Just like Borders, B&N still doesn't have yet a clear and comprehensive strategy that will transform their brick and mortar stores from a liability back to an asset. This week's grade stays the same: 4 (4)

4. What B&N is saying about itself
Silence this week.. This week's grade for this parameter stays the same: 6 (6)

5. Steps B&N is taking
Nothing much here this week. This week's grade stays the same: 6 (6)

6. Competitors
This parameter will mainly look into Borders and how its problems affect B&N. This week there are no big news on this end and the grade stays the same. 5.5 (5.5)

7. Financial strength
Two weeks ago Barnes & Noble published the results for the third quarter. This week we had no updates. This week's grade stays the same: 7 (7)

8. Strength of the digital business
The iPad2 was launched last week, but it is not a direct threat on the Nook (although we'll definitely have some readers buying the iPad 2 instead of the Nook, but I don't think there would be too many of these). Other than no updates and this week's grade stays the same: 8 (8)

9. Sense of urgency
It looks like B&N still think they have time and are not worried at all, or at least not worried enough to begin doing something (again, we don't believe more toys and extra room for the Nook is a winning strategy) with their brick and mortar stores. If we can learn something from the Borders' case, it's how fast things go bad when your reach a certain tipping point of financial distress or distrust of your stakeholders (consumers or publishers for example). This week's grade stays the same: 5.5 (5.5)

10. General feeling
This parameter will be an indication of our impression of all the materials read and analyzed for this index. Our feeling this week is that things are are looking not too good for B&N with no dividends, no buyer at sight and no strategy for the brick and mortar stores. Still, it could all change if a buyer with the right ideas will appear. Right now this buyer is nowhere to be seen, but never say never.. This week's grade stays the same: 6 (6)

This week's Barnes & Noble Bankruptcy Index: 61 points (61.5)

As you can see, this week's index is set at 61 points, which translates into the scale of 60-69: B&N doesn't look too good and bankruptcy is becoming a more realistic threat. Definitely not a good place to be at and too close to the red alert zone. Way too close.. Still it looks like B&N is still not in immediate trouble. See you next Thursday.

To view the weekly changes in the index visit Barnes and Noble Bankruptcy Index on our website.

You can find more resources on the future of bookstores on our website at www.ecolibris.net/bookstores_future.asp

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: Working to green the book industry!

How green is your iPad 2? Check out my article on Triple Pundit

How green the iPad 2 really is? That's a question I'm asking myself following the release of the iPad 2 by Apple last week.

If you want to know the answer, or at least my thoughts about the answer, you're welcome to read my article about it at Triple Pundit.

Here's the first paragraph of the article:

Last week Apple unveiled the iPad 2, which immediately became the center of a heated debate. No, I’m not talking about how amazing or totally disappointing its specs are; the debate centered around how green the iPad 2 really is.

Some argue that this version is thinner and lighter and therefore it’s not only a better iPad but also a greener one, while others replied that no matter how advanced the iPad 2 is, an upgrade of a device launched less than a year ago cannot be considered green.

The full article is available at http://www.triplepundit.com/2011/03/green-ipad-2/

Last but not least, check out this clip making fun of the iPad 2 and Apple. It doesn't say anything directly about how green the iPad 2 is, but it's really funny :)

For information and resources about this issue please go to how green is your iPad page on our website.

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: Promoting sustainable reading!

You can win American Assassin, The Half Life and other great audiobooks on our 41 Reasons Campaign!

Our Earth Day campaign, 41 Reasons to Plant a Tree for Your Book, will begin on Sunday and you are invited to participate in it and send us your reply to our question: Why plating a tree for your book is a good idea.

With more than 180,000 trees planted so far on behalf of readers, authors and publishers working with Eco-Libris, it's no surprise that we think planting trees to green up books is a great idea.. But we also want to hear what readers think about it and why they believe planting trees for their books is a good idea, and so for 41 days, starting on March 13 and ending on April 22, Earth Day, we'll publish on our blog 41 of the best answers we'll get, one reply every day!

We are giving away 41 great prizes to all the readers whose replies we'll publish, including 10 copies of 5 audiobooks (2 copies each), a gift of Simon & Schuster Audio.

So how you can win one of these audiobooks? Very simple - add a comment to this post with your reply or send it to us to info@ecolibris.net. We will provide all readers whose replies we'll publish with the opportunity to choose their preferred prize, so you've got a good chance to win the audiobook you like mostly!

The audiobooks are:

1. The Half Life by Jennifer Weiner - From Redbook’s Red-Hot Read series, a short story by the New York Times #1 best-selling author of In Her Shoes and Fly Away Home.

"My life is over," Piper DeWitt thinks to herself, awaiting departure in the overcrowded International Terminal of the Philadelphia airport for an overseas business trip, to romantic Paris no less. She watched as her husband, Tosh, put his own suitcase into the trunk of a taxi the day before. He’d been telling her for months that he wasn’t happy, and though she still wants to believe it is just a phase, after a call to her mother from the Admiral’s Club, she can no longer deny that he’s left her, left their home, left their four-year-old daughter in her mother’s sole care.

Piper met Tosh when she was only twenty-two, just the way self help books said she would – when she wasn’t looking. Now at forty, she wonders how, through all those years, they’d gotten to this place in their marriage. When her flight is canceled due to volcanic ash spreading from Iceland across Europe, and when a handsome stranger offers her an invitation to share a cab, she realizes she can take a departure from her own life. And after a day of living like a tourist in her own city, she hopes she can still find her way home…

2. American Assassin by Vince Flynn - #1 New York Times bestseling author Vince Flynn introduces the young Mitch Rapp on his first assignment, a mission of vengeance that made him a CIA superagent— and a terrorist's worst nightmare.

Two decades after the Cold War, CIA Operations Director Thomas Stansfield must prepare his people for the next conflict. The rise of Islamic terrorism is coming, and it needs to be met abroad before it reaches America's shores. Stansfield directs his protÉgÉe, Irene Kennedy, and his old colleague, Stan Hurley, to form a new group of clandestine operatives—men who do not exist—who will work outside the normal chain of command. Kennedy finds the ideal candidate in the wake of the Pan Am Lockerbie bombing terrorist attack. . . .

Among the thousands of family and friends grieving the victims is Mitch Rapp, a gifted college athlete, who wants only one thing: retribution. Six months of intense training prepare him to bring the war to the enemy's doorstep, and he does so with brutal efficiency, leaving a trail of bodies from Istanbul and across Europe, to Beirut. But there, the hunter becomes the hunted: the enemy has prepared a trap, and the American assassin will need every ounce of skill and cunning if he is to survive the warravaged city and its deadly terrorist factions.

3. Essence of Happiness by the Dalai Lama - Meditations and Spiritual Wisdom on Achieving Lasting Happiness from His Holiness the Dalai Lama

The Dalai Lama inspired millions around the world with his wisdom and compassion in The Art of Happiness. Now, in The Essence of Happiness, some of His Holiness’s most unforgettable insights are presented in a meditative audiobook that listeners will return to again and again. Offering sage advice on defeating day-to-day depression, anxiety, anger, jealousy, and other emotions that get in the way of true happiness, The Essence of Happiness contains transforming reflections on overcoming suffering and obstacles to create a fulfilled, joyous life.

The Essence of Happiness is truly an indispensable guide for living.

4. Gideon's War - Howard Gordon - the longtime executive producer of the hit TV series 24—makes his fiction debut with a tale of political intrigue and international terrorism. Gideon Davis has just 48 hours to bring his rogue agent brother in—before a twisted global conspiracy turns deadly.

GIDEON DAVIS, whose behind-the-scenes negotiating skills have earned him the role of peacemaker in conflicts around the globe, knows more about hush-hush discussions in Capitol corridors than he does about hand-to-hand combat. But his more practical, tactical skills come into play when he’s called on by family friend and government bigwig Earl Parker to chaperone a rogue agent from Southeast Asia to D.C. The agent, Tillman Davis, has promised to turn himself in— but only to his brother, Gideon.

Although the two brothers have been estranged for years, Gideon cannot fathom how his brother could have turned into so ruthless a man. But when the plan for Tillman’s surrender goes awry and Earl Parker is taken hostage, Gideon is forced to embrace his dark side in order to evade hostile locals in war-torn Mohan to make his way to the Obelisk—the multimillion-dollar, state-of-the-art oil rig that has been seized by terrorists led by Tillman himself. It is with the help of oil rig manager Kate Murphy that Gideon launches an unlikely one-man rescue.

5. Bird Cloud: A Memoir bt Annie Proulx - "Bird Cloud" is the name Annie Proulx gave to 640 acres of Wyoming wetlands and prairie and four-hundred-foot cliffs plunging down to the North Platte River. On the day she first visited, a cloud in the shape of a bird hung in the evening sky. Proulx also saw pelicans, bald eagles, golden eagles, great blue herons, ravens, scores of bluebirds, harriers, kestrels, elk, deer and a dozen antelope. She fell in love with the land, then owned by the Nature Conservancy, and she knew what she wanted to build on it—a house in harmony with her work, her appetites and her character, a library surrounded by bedrooms and a kitchen.

Proulx's first work of nonfiction in more than twenty years, Bird Cloud is the story of designing and constructing that house—with its solar panels, Japanese soak tub, concrete floor and elk horn handles on kitchen cabinets. It is also an enthralling natural history and archaeology of the region—inhabited for millennia by Ute, Arapaho and Shoshone Indians— and a family history, going back to nineteenth-century Mississippi riverboat captains and Canadian settlers.

Proulx, a writer with extraordinary powers of observation and compassion, here turns her lens on herself. We understand how she came to be living in a house surrounded by wilderness, with shelves for thousands of books and long worktables on which to heap manuscripts, research materials and maps, and how she came to be one of the great American writers of her time. Bird Cloud is magnificent.

So how you can win one of these audiobooks? Very simple - add a comment to this post with your reply or send it to us to info@ecolibris.net. We will provide all readers whose replies we'll publish with the opportunity to choose their preferred prize, so you've got a good chance to win the audiobook you like mostly!

You can see the full list of the prizes on the campaign's page.

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: Promoting sustainable reading!