Carbon Footprint Ebook Vs Book

It shows us that the manufacture of a paper book produces 7 5 kg of co2 followed by the numbers for ipad and kindle 168 kg.

Carbon footprint ebook vs book. The result is the same for resource and energy usage though the threshold to break even is lower. If you upgrade before that time your carbon footprint actually increases compared to reading printed books. A single e reader s total carbon footprint is approximately 168kg and for a book this figure is somewhere in the range of 7 5kg.

They save space and thus transport and co2 per kg when it comes to distribution. While printed books require paper and create c02 emissions e books are an obvious alternative to printed books and are becoming more accessible and affordable by the year. Of course readers still need to consume energy to use the devices.

The e reader s manufacture along a vast supply chain of consumer electronics is relatively energy hungry using 100 kilowatt hours of fossil fuels and resulting in 66 pounds of carbon dioxide. They hardly need any light when it comes to reading. They do not use paper.

The pros of ebooks include the following. The results show that the production of 400 000 books mainly distributed in north america would generate 1 084 tonnes carbon dioxide equivalent co 2 eq or 2 71 kilograms kg co 2 eq per book. A recent new york times feature examines the carbon footprint of e books in relation to print books.

A new study analyzing the amazon kindle electronic book reader s impact on the environment suggests that on average the carbon emitted over the life of the device is offset after the first year. If the ipad is used only 25 percent of the time for reading textbooks this threshold is assessed at somewhere between four and eight average five university textbooks. Their waste includes toxic components such as zinc or arsenic.

Therefore if you read a limited number of books the paper book will most likely limit your ghg emissions. Book lovers are opting for both so we are going to delve into the pros and cons of each and their carbon footprint. Cons when it comes to ebooks.