I'm actually curious about this point. I wonder about the actual environmental comparison between, say, going through 3-4 notebooks a year vs. a tablet with a 3-5 year span. A notebook "costs" trees, and in theory is use-once and disposeable, but it's biodegradable, the ingredients are relatively easily accessible, and the manufacturing process is pretty refined by now. A tablet, on the other hand, has a whole world of exotic and toxic materials and manufacturing, doesn't break down nearly as cleanly in the end, and costs energy along the way...
Not to mention paper has a recycling rate of ~68%! [1]
I'm just not sure if more energy is consumed by (1) a computer/tablet using a word processor or (2) manufacturing and recycling the equivalent amount of paper.
Then there's also the matter of what type of electricity is used to power the computer or manufacture/recycle the paper (eg. hydroelectric, natural gas, etc).
Wish there was a way to track all of this...
Not exactly the same, but I did some research a while ago on the environmental impact of ereaders vs paper books. They're actually quite close, though it depends on how much you read; the overall impact of the ereader is ~100-140x that of a single paper book. A full-on tablet is probably worse, as the display is more expensive to manufacture.
It’s a shame that the reading experience gets worse as you go from book to e-ink to tablet, at least for me. Like many HN readers I’m already staring at screens for many hours per day. Using the library for books seems like the way to go!
I see bookshelves in so many houses and wonder, realistically how many of those will ever be opened again? I have books that will comfort or challenge me for decades to come, but more than a couple of shelves seems like hoarding. Maybe it’s more of a signal to guests that they’re well-read.
Check out rocketbooks. It's erasable notebook basically. I don't use the scan feature but they have the option to have an app, take a pic and get it categorized.
I usually just need something written down for a few days/weeks as I work on projects and don't need it anymore.
I'm actually curious about this point. I wonder about the actual environmental comparison between, say, going through 3-4 notebooks a year vs. a tablet with a 3-5 year span. A notebook "costs" trees, and in theory is use-once and disposeable, but it's biodegradable, the ingredients are relatively easily accessible, and the manufacturing process is pretty refined by now. A tablet, on the other hand, has a whole world of exotic and toxic materials and manufacturing, doesn't break down nearly as cleanly in the end, and costs energy along the way...