[HN Gopher] The Compressed Book Edition
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       The Compressed Book Edition
        
       Author : skowalak
       Score  : 11 points
       Date   : 2025-03-23 17:31 UTC (5 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (solar.lowtechmagazine.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (solar.lowtechmagazine.com)
        
       | philips wrote:
       | I really appreciate the attempt to compare website carbon
       | footprint vs blog post.
       | 
       | > The book needs to be read by at least two to three people
       | before its environmental footprint becomes smaller than the one
       | caused by reading all Low-tech Magazine articles online.
        
         | tonyarkles wrote:
         | I think one of the reasons they're able to tell you that is due
         | to the pretty neat setup they have for hosting it:
         | https://solar.lowtechmagazine.com/about/the-solar-website/
         | 
         | Divide the total energy consumption over a time period by the
         | total number of page views and you get a decent first cut. That
         | doesn't factor in the transit or the end device that is viewing
         | those pages but it's a neat metric to start at.
        
           | WillAdams wrote:
           | Usually for consumer electronics, lifetime energy usage is
           | negligible, so the carbon footprint is that for producing the
           | device --- last time I looked into it, an e-book reader was
           | slightly more than a hardcover book:
           | 
           | https://www.mobileread.com/forums/showpost.php?p=619831&post.
           | ..
           | 
           | The vast majority of trees which are cut for paper pulp are
           | quick-growing loblolly pines which will be re-planted almost
           | immediately, larger, older, nicer trees are usually cut for
           | lumber, so one should be able to let the 8.85 pounds figure
           | stand for paper products w/o concern for deforestation.
           | 
           | Here's a page which indicates most CO_2 production is for
           | energy: http://www.eia.doe.gov/oiaf/1605/ggrpt/carbon.html
           | 
           | And here's a page which indicates that CO_2 production is a
           | much larger problem for the manufacturing of electronics:
           | http://www.energybulletin.net/node/49730 w/ a ratio of 12 to
           | 1 for energy usage to weight, so my PRS-505 weighs roughly 9
           | ozs., so presumably required 108 ounces of fuel to
           | manufacture (on-going energy usage is not considered)
           | http://www.epa.gov/oms/climate/420f05001.htm gives us a
           | figure of 19.4 pounds of CO_2 per gallon of gasoline which
           | equals roughly 16.36875 pounds of CO_2 to make the ebook
           | reader.
           | 
           | So getting two books for the Sony should make it roughly
           | break even, and each printed book beyond that which is not
           | purchased should result in a net reduction of CO_2 emissions,
           | since the energybulletin.net page indicates that the embodied
           | energy usage for electronics is much greater than the
           | lifetime usage
        
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       (page generated 2025-03-23 23:00 UTC)