I think that is literally an impossible thing to calculate.

The footprint of actual news print can be found; however, web based would be very difficult. Part of this is because it would depend greatly on the scale and target devices. As the target devices become smaller and more energy efficient and you use better/cheaper servers for mass distribution you shrink your footprint.

Let's use a VERY small example.
Let's say your using 1 computer to serve 100 people a news blog. You have to calculate the cost of the server, the network equipment between you and them, and the end user device for all 100 people. The end user device is where you can really run into problems. The carbon footprint of an iphone is VASTLY smaller than say somebody using a gaming PC to read web pages.(Think 1200watt power supply 3 SLI graphic boards several harddrives in a raid 0 config for speed...)

But don't think that newspaper has got it easy. Printing the paper "CAN" have a very low carbon footprint. Use of recycle paper, environmentally friendly inks, farmed forests, and highly tuned print equipment can make this reasonably low. BUT, you have to ship those papers out to everyone. Your going to lose some on that.(Keep in mind that most national papers tho are not printed in one location and then shipped out all over the US. National papers send the content of the papers to print houses all over the US where they are printed somewhat locally and then shipped out regionally.) Then you have to get people to recycle or else again your footprint raises.

If I had to guess tho, I'll bet newspapers are more environmentally friendly when compared to home users using big desktop PC's. I'll bet they lose when compared to things like kindles and iPhones.

I'll bet this question is a PhD question. I mean somebody somewhere probably has written a dissertation on the subject it's so complex.

I hope this helps you at least understand the magnitude of the question your asking.

Good Luck!

Permalink | Report