iPad is coming! How about paper reduction?
Coming soon to stores on April 3rd, the iPad is causing quite a stir. Will it be “all that”?
The most interesting part about the iPad, the Kindle, and other tablet PCs and e-readers (and yes I know e-readers and tablet computers are really different things!) is what it might actually do to the print (newspapers and books) industry. It seems logical to me (someone who reads quite a bit online, but not much printed material) that we may finally see less trees being converted to paper. I bold the “may” because people have predicted the paperless office in the past.
It will be hard to fully get rid of paper, but the e-reader/tablet idea might reduce some paper usage. We shall see how this all progresses in the next few years.
While office documents ought to be easily replaced by electronic means (since most are tossed or recycled within a few weeks to a year), books are just fine in print as most last for decades. Find me an e-reader that’s as good on the environment as that (taking into account fabrication, energy to charge, and energy to recycle in 2 years when you upgrade).
Ian - March 31, 2010 at 3:10 am |
Good point, Ian! Electronics production can be a dirty business, and can be counter-productive if the life-time of the device is only 1 to 2 years. The good ‘ole book may have a long life yet, but I still think newspapers may not fare so well.
TigercatTomorrow - March 31, 2010 at 9:15 am |