Which is the greener option?

Question

What is the more ecologically friendly way of taking notes:

*using traditional pencil and notebook -- uses paper products, bleaches, dyes, and metal resources for the wire spiral; also uses gasoline in the shipping process

*using a laptop -- uses electricity, which is a renewable resource, but is composed largely of plastic which is not; also uses a lot of gas/petroleum products in shipping and manufacturing

Answer 1

Your examples may not be not correct.  The answer depends upon more variables than you considered.

Paper products can be very green and do not have to include many of the bleaches and harsher chemical used in the past.  Often paper is produced locally and requires little shipping energy.  Legal type pads have no metal spiral.  Soy inks are very ecologically friendly.  In addition, used notes can be kept as long as required and then recycled.

Some pulp papers are very good for taking class notes, but might require some time to find.  Do not settle for just any paper.

A laptop computer is a very messy machine to make.  High tech items used in the manufacture of electronic chips and circuit boards often require very toxic chemicals.  High impact plastics are seldom recyclable.  Ni-Cad and Lithium batteries are also very toxic to make and difficult to recycle.

Only wind generated and hydroelectric power are renewable and these are less than 10 percent of the world wide production.  Most electricity production involves burning coal, petroleum, natural gas or the use of radioactive fuels, none of which are eco-friendly.

Answer 2

not comparable, we use them for different things.

Answer 3

I would say a laptop is greener - the old computers can be reused by schools and libraries. I would also like to think, manufacturers will start switching to more eco-friendly plastics for easier recycling.

If you're like me, I always had to rewrite my lecture notes anyway.

Answer 4

I'm not a genius at these things, but from the way you describe 'em, I'd say go with the laptop.