#EcoMonday tip 19: Get An E-reader!

#EcoMonday tip 19: Get An E-reader!

It must come as no surprise to you that the print industry (books, newspapers and magazines) has a huge carbon footprint due to the production (cutting down trees for raw material) and distribution. You are already taking a step in the right direction by reading TechTheFuture (hopefully from your laptop or mobile device? :P ).

But of course there are more rigorous ways to take action. One of them would be to start using an e-reader to replace your paper books! However, like our collegues at Ecogeek I wondered how the e-reader’s carbon footprint, resulting of the production (raw material and sending small parts around the world) and distribution of it, compares to that of paper books. Luckily for both of us, a company called the Cleantech Group crunched the numbers, and came with the answer: by buying 22½ e-books, you compensate for the e-reader’s production and power usage. Any book over this magic number and your carbon footprint starts to shrink! (This particular study was conducted with Amazon’s Kindle, but I think it’s safe to say it won’t differ much between different e-readers. Go e-ink!)

Photo by ceslava.com
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    About David Graus

    David Graus used to write on popular science for (very) traditional media. After wrapping up his job, traveling for a couple of months and returning to university to get his Master's degree he made the leap to the blogosphere! He likes science and techy stuff. You can follow David on Twitter: @dvdgrs