Yep. A printed journal issue can sit on a shelf for years and years consuming zero energy and requiring zero raw materials. Yet the entire time it is accessible and usable.
To keep a PDF of that issue online and accessible(assuming you have an account, remember your password, charged your tablet) requires constant energy usage to power the servers in the datacenter. It also require periodic hardware replacement in the data center.
I suspect that over the lifetime of the paper journal it's PDF copy will require the consumption of far more energy and materials than the paper one did.
Electronic documents are great. I've got nothing against them. But let's not fool ourselves(or let ourselves be fooled) by all the greenwash pumped out by people trying to please investors.
To keep a PDF of that issue online and accessible(assuming you have an account, remember your password, charged your tablet) requires constant energy usage to power the servers in the datacenter. It also require periodic hardware replacement in the data center.
I suspect that over the lifetime of the paper journal it's PDF copy will require the consumption of far more energy and materials than the paper one did.
Electronic documents are great. I've got nothing against them. But let's not fool ourselves(or let ourselves be fooled) by all the greenwash pumped out by people trying to please investors.