The other publishing revolution

Related articles

We’d like to focus, cheerfully and constructively, on

new media and their enormous potential in building relationships

Click on the titles below to read some of the articles at June 2010 issue of the Living City
about the role of digital media in the way we live.

How much do we value a free Internet?	How to use new media for building unity	A producer’s story	Using the web to spread the good news

How technology is making the printed word greener than ever

Like those iPads rolling off the shelves? You might think that they are an environmental step in the right direction since they’re paperless, but let’s take a closer look.

Every means of communication has an impact on the environment. Whether we send an e-mail or send a letter, we consume energy and resources. Few may know that a person reading a daily printed newspaper uses 20% less carbon dioxide than a person reading web-based news for 30 minutes a day.

The paper and forest products industry (Abundant Forest Alliance of North America) replenishes the natural resource it consumes in three ways: it plants 1.7 million trees every day, more than three times what is harvested, and the waste from paper is fully recoverable through recycling into new paper. Nearly 60% of all paper used in the U.S. is recycled, and more than 63% of the fiber used to make new paper products comes from recycled sources.

Energy consumption is another factor: 60% of the energy used to make paper in the U.S. comes from carbon-neutral renewable resources and is produced in on-site mills, making the carbon footprint and environmental impact less than when using electronic devices.

Using eco-fonts could further the revolution. With eco-fonts, each letter contains tiny “holes” where no ink or toner is applied. These resemble microscopic Swiss cheese but there’s no effect on legibility.

Commercially available software or free downloadable fonts from the Internet could also potentially save a lot of money.
People and institutions are giving it a try and finding other alternatives as well.

At the University of Wisconsin in Green Bay, computer technicians are finding another way to save ink. Using the Century Gothic font, readily available on most computers, users can save up to 30% more ink than using Arial. This is because Century Gothic has thinner print lines. This font, however, may take a little more space, and since it is wider and if the document is over a page, using this font may require more paper.

For a university campus that spends about a $100,000 a year on toner, even if the 30% savings is not fully achieved, a small change in font could mean thousands of dollars in savings.

Fossil fuel use and purchased energy is steadily decreasing as well, but, by linking the power of paper with the efficiency of electronics, communication can maintain the best environmental balance possible.

Read related articles in Living City at: Articles by topic

Share on Facebook. Click here!