Kindle vs. Printed Book An Environmental Analysis
Year: 2012
Type: dissertation
Abstract: The focus of this thesis was to investigate digital technology in the print industry in order to better understand the environmental impact of certain digital devices. For this research, the Amazon Kindle was selected, and a secondary source was used for a comparison of a printed book. A Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) was performed on the Kindle using a software called SimaPro. The results were then compared to an adjusted version of the data from a secondary source on printed books. Results indicated that in the three primary areas examined, Global Warming Potential, Ozone Depletion, and Terrestrial Acidification, with only one user per book, the Kindle may have less environmental impact. As the number of users per book increased, the data suggested that the printed book tends to have less of an environmental impact. While it was necessary to have a variety of assumptions in order to perform this analysis, these same assumptions caused the final data to have a large area of uncertainty. More research into this field is needed in order to delve deeper into the impact of digital devices such as the Kindle.
Author: Dealva Jade Dowd-Hinkle
Language: English
Subfield: Environmental Engineering
Field: Environmental Science
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W833042514