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Cleantech Group report: E-readers a win for carbon emissions
August 19, 2009 - by Lisa Sibley, Cleantech Group
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Only time will tell if electronic book readers are to become a new standard in the future. But the Cleantech Group takes an in-depth look at the environmental impact of the devices in its recent lifecycle analysis.
The new study finds that e-readers could have a major impact on improving the sustainability and environmental impact on the publishing industry, one of the world’s most polluting sectors. In 2008, the U.S. book and newspaper industries combined resulted in the harvesting of 125 million trees, not to mention wastewater that was produced or its massive carbon footprint.
The Cleantech Group’s report, The environmental impact of Amazon's Kindle, suggests that e-readers are still a niche technology, with a little more than 1 million units sold to date. So they really haven’t had much impact on the environment, be it good or bad.
But with sales projected to see an uptick, reaching to 14.4 million in 2012, the report looks at the emissions that devices like the market leader, Amazon’s Kindle, could produce and prevent.
The report indicates that, on average, the carbon emitted in the lifecycle of a Kindle is fully offset after the first year of use.
The report, authored by Emma Ritch, states: "Any additional years of use result in net carbon savings, equivalent to an average of 168 kg of CO2 per year (the emissions produced in the manufacture and distribution of 22.5 books)."
In the United States, Amazon currently holds a 45 percent market share of e-reader devices, with one main competitor Sony trailing at 30 percent.
The Cleantech Group forecasts that e-readers purchased from 2009 to 2012 could prevent 5.3 billion kg of carbon dioxide in 2012, or 9.9 billion kg during the four-year time period.
However, there are obstacles to overcome for the devices and their content to reach its full potential, the reports suggests.
The publishing industry would need to put standards in place to help speed adoption of the technology. Reductions in emissions are also dependent on the publishing industry decreasing its production of physical books, according to the report.
The report also encourages academic institutions to implement pilot testing of e-readers as a replacement to physical textbooks, citing schools such as Princeton University, the University of Virginia, and Arizona State University already leading the way.
The Cleantech Group’s full report on e-readers can be downloaded for free by members of its Cleantech Network here.
Copyright © 2009 Cleantech Group LLC. All rights reserved, including right of redistribution.
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Comments
You've got to be kidding here....
Submitted on August 20th, 2009 by Unregistered user (not verified)How do you figure...
Paper industry = huge consumer of renewable low carbon energy. 60% of the energy used to make paper in U.S.comes from carbon neutral renewable resources produced on site at mills. Fossil fuel use and purchased energy in this industry is steadily decreasing.
Data Center Servers = Use purchased energy derived from fossil fuels that create greenhouse gases. Power consumption for data centers in the U.S. doubled from 2000 to 2006, and is set to double again by 2011. E-readers use power from the begining to the end of their lifecycles.
Electronics make up on of the most persistent and toxic items in our waste stream.
1st generation E-readers are already functionally obsolete, but my paper based books still work fine!
The footprint of the paper industry
Submitted on August 21st, 2009 by Emma RitchThe report goes into significantly more detail, and the end-of-life disposal is included in our estimates for the carbon footprint of an e-reader, but let me share a few stats with you:
-Paper is responsible for 75 percent of the publishing industry’s carbon footprint, thanks to the consistently high number of trees harvested from virgin forests, the low recycling rates, the water use, and the wastewater production.
-As the biggest industrial water user, the publishing sector demands 11 percent of the freshwater consumed in industrial nations.
-Ink also causes toxins to be released into the air and water.
-The unique technology incorporated in e-readers uses very little power, more comparable to an iPod than a computer. The time spent downloading an e-book (when it interacts with the data center) can be less than a minute.
Please read the report for more details on the manufacturing of both published materials and e-readers.
Regards,
Emma Ritch
Senior reporter, Cleantech Group
I agree but think we could focus on other things
Submitted on August 27th, 2009 by Unregistered user (not verified)I, for one, am all for electronic books taking the place of heavy, paper ones. It saves paper, saves backs, and online versions don't get torn or written in. But I have to say, of all the ways we can save on emissions, this industry is not at the top of the list. Let's focus on the manufacturing that is really tearing into our ozone and polluting the air - least of which is publication companies. Again, I think e-books are mostly a good thing, but in terms of hazardous emissions, there are bigger fish to fry.
Highly unlikely
Submitted on August 21st, 2009 by Unregistered user (not verified)I find this pretty hard to believe. Trees in North America (a renewable resource) are harvested sustainably and converted into wood products for construction, and much of the paper that goes into books and newspapers comes from the scraps left over from the sawmills. Plus a book and newspaper can be read several times without consuming energy like an e-reader, then can be 100% recycled, unlike an e-reader when it breaks down or is replaced by a "new-improved model", which is made of nonrenewable materials such as metal and plastic and burns up carbon-emitting electricity during its use. Unfortunately, I'm not willing to pay $2200 in order to read the LCA report and find out the details.
MASSIVE cost and pollution reduction possible -end returnability
Submitted on August 24th, 2009 by Unregistered user (not verified)Immediate and massive (= billions annually in the USA alone) reductions of wasted time, money, energy, resources, pollution are all possible through a simple change to the underlying business model of the book publishing industry. Currently publishers sell printed books ON CONSIGNMENT TERMS (called "returnability") to retailers. Unsold books are returned without penalty. This practice has led to between 40% to 80% overprinting, depending on the genre. You can read my analysis at BookIndustryBailout.ca.
Re: footprint for reading devices... I suggest that upcoming devices will be multi-purpose, and will accomplish what now requires a mobile phone, iPod music player, gaming console/Wii, notepad computer, PDA, etc., etc. The book industry is simply too small to support cutting-edge single purpose device creation. Look to defense, pornography, gaming, gambling, health care, video entertainment, web surfing and so on for the financial justification of development of the future devices -- then eBooks will be just one of many "apps".
-- Bruce T. Batchelor
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