Print v. E-Media 10 Things You Probably Didn’t Know

Here's a sneak peak of our upcoming Marketing Advisor article:

Print v. E-Media 10 Things You Probably Didn’t Know

Printing usually gets a pretty bad environmental rap. Printing is all about paper and thus all about killing trees and electronic devices don’t use paper so they must be green . . . RIGHT?!

Like everything in life, it just isn’t that simple. Here are some of the facts about e-media and print that Heidi Tolliver-Nigro put forth in a recent issue of Print Solutions.

E-Media

1. 62 trillion spam emails are sent every year. The greenhouse gas emissions from these emails are the same as using 2 billion gallons of gas.

2. The energy used by the average data center would power 25,000 households.

3. Unlike paper, computer components do not lend themselves well to recycling and reuse.

4. In the U.S., a primary driver of deforestation is electrical energy demand and the use of mountaintop coal removal.

5. Data center energy consumption doubled between 2000 & 2006 and could double again by the end of this year.

Print

1. More than half of all paper in the U.S. is recycled.

2. In the U.S., deforestation is not caused by the harvesting of tree fiber.

3. 2.5 billion trees are planted in the U.S. each year and we now have more acres under forest than we did in 1940.

4. The forest industry plants more trees than it harvests.

5. Many print manufacturers and commercial printers are investing in environmentally responsible manufacturing. (See what Flottman is doing at flottmanco.com/responsibly)

This doesn’t that print is the perfect solution and obviously we use plenty of electronics here at Flottman. What it does mean is that BOTH print and e-media have pros and cons when it comes to the sustainability debate and that the real issue is making both even more sustainable.

Thanks for the great articles, Heidi!

Heidi Tolliver-Nigro. "Educate your Customers: Print is Green." Print Solutions. March 2011. Volume 49, Number 3.

Heidi Tolliver-Nigro. "Print vs. Electronic Media: Which Is Greener?" Print Solutions. March 2011. Volume 49, Number 3.