I’ve been meaning to write about this for some time, and Rod’s great post (loved the cow pic!) about second-hand books has really pushed me to do it: I got a kindle for Christmas, basically because it was a way of taking lots of books to Switzerland, where I would be for over three weeks, without worrying about overloading the suitcase. And from that point of view it really worked (luckily it was in my pocket when the case was stolen!) and I have added to my kindle store since coming back, particularly while convalescing from my recent virus (nice bit of escapism there!)
The question is, how okay is it from the carbon point of view to download books? As far as I can tell (see ‘How Bad are Bananas?’), you have compensated for the initial carbon production costs of the kindle once you have downloaded 67 books (comparing them with the carbon cost of a Penguin paperback). Well, I’m a quick reader and I’ve already passed 67, the electricity use of the kindle is extremely low, and the carbon cost of a downloaded book is much less than a paper book BUT the fact remains that, although I love reading, I would never buy as many new books as I am now downloading onto my kindle. So it is a real indulgence, just not as carbon-heavy as buying new books. I have to think about this, now I have recovered from my flu and the orgy of downloading. Having the Guardian downloaded every day to save me getting an actual newspaper seems a good idea, but I’m really not so sure about the other reading – once my legs are better, I really need to get out more! (But now that I have the kindle, with the download carbon costs being so low, might as well download a bit……Hmm)