Citizen Printer

Printed books impact on environment - print your own at home, or buy used copy online.?

I'm wondering what has less impact on the environment. If a book is on project gutenburg, is it better to print it on my printer (double sided), or buy a used copy of it from powells/amazon/etc. I would think the delivery of the book would make a big imprint, but then again using the paper to print a fresh copy is wasting paper when there is already a printed version out there. Thoughts?

Public Comments

1. How harmful is the delivery of the book compared to all the other issues? Printing the book yourself not only uses a lot of paper, but also ink and power. Moreover, the paper had to be transported from wherever it was made to your house, perhaps via a warehouse and a store. I don't think it's even close but I can't prove it.