Is Digital As Green As We Think?

This article that Nicole put together for our company’s intranet gives a great example of how we often assume something to be true without giving it a second thought:

“Please consider the environment before printing this e-mail.”
“Sign up for paperless billing, help the environment and save trees.”

In the ongoing quest to be green, these types of phrases are seen daily. And as a publisher of various print publications, McMurry deals with clients everyday looking to go digital, not just to save money, but to improve their image with the community as an environmentally conscientious organization.

However, a recent article on MediaShift, a PBS website dedicated to the “digital media revolution” shows a very different point of view on the paperless topic and asks the question, “is it possible that digital media could be more destructive to the environment and a greater threat to trees, bees, rivers and forests in the United States than paper-making or printing?”

Before screaming out an emphatic, “No way!” the article is definitely worth a read. The author, Don Carli, is not out to deter the reader from using digital media as may first be suspected or assumed. What he is suggesting is that consumers should be more aware and informed about the energy sources for both digital and print, rather than making assumptions and uneducated decisions.

The article goes on to show how the energy used by digital media technologies can be as destructive in its creation as cutting down trees for paper. In the article, Carli points out that in the U.S. alone, electricity consumption by data centers has doubled from 2000 to 2006 and will likely double again by 2011. With coal mining and coal-fired power plants still being a major source of electrical power in the U.S., digital media and its ever-increasing use of that electrical power are thus, substantial contributors to deforestation, loss of wildlife and pollution in the U.S.

In fact, while print media has been in the spotlight for “killing trees” for years, leading printer and paper manufacturers to initiate sustainable forestry, renewable energy projects and environmental performance certification, digital media and the energy consumed to manufacture and use it has gone virtually unchecked.

So, check out the article and become more informed about what going paperless and using digital products more frequently may mean for the environment.

Story submitted by McMurry Senior Production Manager Nicole Dean.