What did you do in the garden today?

[deepbluesea]

"Does anyone know how much electricity we use to substitute?"

Oooh! I can actually give you an answer to this. :O I've done a lot of sustainability comparisons because a lot of folks who chat with me about it are like "Man! Modern tech draws sooooo much power!" etc.etc. But the reality is the actual power draw is VERY small.

So some facts I can pull real quick;
Production of 20 sheets of printing worthy paper uses about 1.4 KWH. So your average 20 page catalog (once you factor in the printing/binding) probably uses about 2KWH just to make, not to ship, not including manufacturing errors post paper production.
Using a laptop computer for 8 hours uses about .6 KWH and puts about .4lbs of CO2 in the air. A desktop would be about double that.

The CO2 balance of paper is trickier because it puts about .5lbs of CO2 into the air (minimally more than 8hrs computer usage) BEFORE printing and shipping (so the actual number is probably a bit higher) for 20 pages. But the older a tree is, the more CO2 it captures to build it's own bulk, sequestering it and it's exponential. So a 50 centimeter wide tree captures a third the carbon of a 100 cm wide tree. So the longer trees are allowed to grow, the better they work as carbon sinks. The average tree absorbs 48lbs of CO2 a year, but older trees may absorb many times more that. So the less area we are regularly harvesting, the more carbon sinks into trees. Trees also contribute to climate in other ways, such as weather patterns. Having forests literally creates rain, stores water in the air and soil around the tree, provides wildlife homes, etc. In places that have been heavily logged, like Haiti, they have really severe drought because they literally have no trees left.

I know around here (Ohio) a lot of our wood and pulp comes from people purchasing an old, cheap deer-hunting type property and having it timbered, sell the trees off, and then offload the cleared land to some farmer who has less work to turn it into a field now or to a deer hunter who will just plant a forage plot.

Also, over their lifetime, solar panels produce 1/3rd the emissions of current average CO2/per KWH from electricity production now. So as we move into renewable electric sources it will become wildly impractical for people to print paper catalogs every year.

TL;DR
Computers are better.
Computers release a slightly smaller amount of CO2 and uses half the electricity of a 20-page paper catalog. Each tree NOT cut this way also sequesters an additional 48+lbs of CO2 each year on average.
When you start crunching that across hundreds/thousands of people, it adds up a lot. The math gets even more dramatic if electricity is produced from renewable sources.
And that doesn't take into account water usage and other effects.

SOURCES! :O
https://www.energuide.be/en/questio...-use-and-how-much-co2-does-that-represent/54/
http://cua6.urban.csuohio.edu/~sanda/syl/envpol/materials/GREEN FACTS.pdf
https://environment-review.yale.edu/carbon-capture-tree-size-matters-0
https://cwsglobal.org/drought-and-climate-change-in-haiti/
https://www.mnn.com/green-tech/research-innovations/blogs/how-much-co2-does-one-solar-panel-create
https://www.epa.gov/energy/greenhouse-gases-equivalencies-calculator-calculations-and-references

Yer smart--thank you!

 

[deepbluesea]

@penny1960 , I'm glad it was helpful! I always hear people complain that our modern electricity use must be crazy high because of how much time we spend on computers, etc... And that was very true about 20 years ago. But modern appliances have made great strides in efficiency.
Incidentally, if you browse your seed company's website on a tablet, phone, etc. the electricity usage doesn't even come close. The average smart phone uses 1KWH per YEAR. Pretty exciting IMO.

It is really helpful, but but but--I really really heart my catalogs. I only get three (*picture me whining here*). I'm a member of seed savers, and I go paperless for the yearbook.

I do all my chicken ogling online, so there's that.

 

[dan26552]

I told them they’re on their own next year

 

[ChocolateMouse]

Haha, I just have actually researched this stuff and know how to pull up the data. All of this is public info. In this day and age if you want to learn about something you just have to know how to effectively manipulate search results. Many university, company and government research papers are available online these days even.
Oh, don't get me wrong. I love the feel of paper in my hands. There's something very old timey and earthen about it. There's something to be said about the joy it brings... Not to mention that it is easier on your eyes.
But in terms of pure power usage and carbon emissions, paperless is just better. I think it's more important for companies that use huge amount of papers otherwise. Like legal files are largely digital these days. It's shocking how much paper doesn't get used because of it.

 

[lazy gardener]

My eyes are better with paper.

 

[pennyJo1960]

I really need large print here, I use a 32 inch monitor to see the web pages

 

[chickmom3941]

It is really helpful, but but but--I really really heart my catalogs. I only get three (*picture me whining here*). I'm a member of seed savers, and I go paperless for the yearbook.

I do all my chicken ogling online, so there's that.

Me too, just love holding the catalogs in my hands and looking through them cover to cover (over & over). Also, you can fold over the corners of the pages you like with catalogs. I've yet to figure out how to do that with a computer!

 

[pennyJo1960]

Me too, just love holding the catalogs in my hands and looking through them cover to cover (over & over). Also, you can fold over the corners of the pages you like with catalogs. I've yet to figure out how to do that with a computer!

have to admit there is that but can use bookmarks

 

[Susannah4040]

I like the tactile feeling of paper - in a lovely book, especially...the only thing I did today in regard to gardening, was to purchase 10 punnets of flowering plants...yesterday James and I completed one more panel of the privacy screen for around our BBQ area - two more tomorrow, I hope...

 

[lazy gardener]

I'm working my way through my Fedco catalog. Peruse a couple pages per night, listing the "might want to try" varieties. I'll then be forced to look at the seeds I already have stashed away, and slash the "want" list until it is a reasonable size.