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While decidedly not for everyone, tree-free e-books let you cozy up—or commute—with a good read, whether it's a nonfiction investigation into climate change or a steamy bodice-ripper. E-books, still stuck in an infancy stage but picking up momentum, are ideal for eco-conscious bookworms looking to end the cycle of environmental degradation inherent in the manufacture of paper.

How to read e-books

• Be aware that not all books available in print are also available in a digital format, although often both digital and print versions are released simultaneously. Thanks to a growing number of online e-booksellers and interest from major publishing houses, an increasingly vast selection of titles, along with magazines and newspapers—not just classics culled from canon, pulpy romances, and tech manuals—are just a click and quick download away.

• Literate Luddites or those skeptical about the e-book world should conduct a reconnaissance before investing in a pricey e-book reader and purchasing e-books. E-booksellers vary in selection and what file formats and software (like Adobe Reader, for example) they support. And remember, you don't necessarily need an e-reader to read an e-book; many can be accessed from a PC, laptop, or handheld device by companies like Palm. The point: be cautious that everything matches up before entering your credit card number. If the thought of changing a printer cartridge makes you break out in a cold sweat, then you may want to stick to old fashioned paperbacks. Fortunately, there are many online guides like All About eBooks to answer any lingering questions. Many e-booksellers also have FAQ sections and tutorials to help you get rolling and reading.

• A little extra green. Many who have chosen to reduce paper use around the home or office—opting for paperless billing, reviewing documents online rather than printing them out, sending e-cards, and the like—have found there are financial perks in going paperless. E-books are no different. For example, Amazon.com's Kindle (which does not require a computer—books can be directly downloaded to the device) offers Stephen King's Duma Key for $9.99. The print list price for the book is $28. The New York Times, available for daily delivery on Kindle for $13 a month, also offers significant savings when compared to the print version (although you wouldn't want the dog fetching it). Many might become fainthearted when considering a device like the $400 Kindle, but for insatiable readers it can be a significant investment. What's more, a slew of websites offer free e-books, Project Gutenberg being a notable one.

• Looking to unload lit-clutter? A key benefit of e-books is that hundreds of titles can be stored electronically without taking up valuable real estate in your home or apartment. Your bookshelves might feel a bit lonely, but after making the switch from paper to digital, you may want to purge yourself of all those dead tree scrolls. Don't trash 'em. Make the rounds at a used bookstore or donate them to a local library, church, shelter, jail, nursing home, or another organization or business that may accept used books and periodicals. Offering old reads on Freecycle is another option, as is using them for arts and crafts projects or even seating. If you and your neighbors and/or friends decide to go digital at the same time, consider holding a used book fair to ensure that those oldies but goodies don't enter the waste stream.

Find it! E-book readers and e-book sellers

Reading e-books helps you go green because...

• You circumvent the cycle of environmental strain (think trees, water, and energy) and waste associated with printed paper materials. Each book, magazine, or newspaper you buy comes attached with an eco-impact of some degree—e-books eliminate it.
• Firing up the engine to drive to a bookseller or having a book shipped across the country (or further) to your home, both acts with negative eco-effects, become unnecessary.
• Receiving your news wirelessly on a device like an e-reader or on a computer instead of traditional delivery requires up to 140 times less carbon dioxide, the consumption of 26 to 67 times less water, and significantly less greenhouse gas.[1]

E-publishing is a phenomenon that's had its ups and downs. It's currently thought to be on an upswing as the market for trade releases rocketed from $11 million in 2005 to $20 million in 2006.[2] Although major publishers have been quick to jump on the e-book trend in recent years, it's been met by resistance from the general public because e-book readers aren't, well, books. To many, e-readers just don't offer the intimacy of words on a printed page no matter how close they come to mimicking the real thing or how easy they are to transport. Even Amazon.com's Kindle, "the i-Pod of books," was greeted by lukewarm reviews. It has, however, opened the floodgates further for e-reader technology.[3]

Researchers at the Finnish Forest Research Institute agree that advances in e-reader technology, along with environmental consumer consciousness, could lead to traditional printed materials being replaced: "The more consumers accept electronic media as a substitute for printed media, the easier it is for politicians and environmental authorities to regulate media that are environmentally more damaging."[4]

Whatever the future holds for e-books and whether or not the public embraces it, there's no denying that they are an environmental boon. Read on for more about the eco-advantages of going paperless:

So how am I cutting paper use?

Books

It's estimated that 30 million trees are used each year for books sold in the US—1,153 times the number of trees in New York's Central Park. In response to the environmental and social damage that stems from book publishing, over 160 publishers have adopted environmental policies or signed The Book Industry Treatise on Responsible Paper Use.[5] Behind petroleum, chemical, and coal products, the manufacture of paper products, including books, emits the fourth greatest amount of carbon dioxide.[6]

Magazines

According to findings by Co-Op America's Magazine PAPER Project, magazine production in the US requires 2.2 million tons of paper on an annual basis. Nearly all magazines are printed on paper sourced from virgin timber—around 5 percent is recycled content paper—resulting in the cutting down of over 30 million trees per year, the use of massive amounts of energy and water, and the generation of pollution.[7]

Newspapers

The amount of virgin fiber used annually for newsprint—around 6 million metric tons—is greater than the book, magazine, and catalog sectors combined. In 2007, the newsprint industry emitted 49 billion pounds of greenhouse gases, consumed 95 million trees, and released 126 billion pounds of wastewater.[8] Twelve million pounds of newspaper waste was generated in 2005, according to estimates projected by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).[9]

Drawbacks

While the Internet allows you to read sans paper waste, it isn't devoid of negative environmental impact. In 2006, the five leading search engines consumed five gigawatts of energy; that's enough to power the Las Vegas metro area on the hottest day of the year.[10]

External links

• Gizmodo
• MobileRead Wiki
• Epublishers Weekly
• MartinStabe.com - What’s worse: dead trees or energy-hungry computers?
• New York Times - Forecasts of an E-Book Era Were, It Seems, Premature
• USATODAY.com - E-book readers by Sony, Amazon have their charms
• TeleRead: Bring the E-Books Home "Advocating Well-Stocked National Digital Libraries"