What do you think about when you consider the latest high technology gadgets? It will vary from person to person. Some might think that they’re cool. Others might think that they’re more trouble than they’re worth. Maybe you think that they’re confusing and often difficult to operate. It very much depends on your own individual viewpoint. However, it’s probably a fair bet to say that you almost certainly don’t associate the latest geeky electronic gizmo with doing your bit for the environment – even so, electronic devices can, used properly, be environmentally friendly.

For example, digital photo frames have greatly increased in popularity over the last two or three years. Due to competition in the market, prices have fallen dramatically and you can now pick up perfectly serviceable examples for around about the same price that you might pay for a conventional photo frame. There are a variety of perceived benefits associated with digital frames, one of these is their capability of displaying hundreds of different photographs using a single frame.

A lot will depend upon how many photographs you take in an average year, but if you are in the habit of getting a bit snap happy then using a digital frame to display your photo collection could have a positive environmental impact. Whether you remove the need to have hard copies of photos developed at a processing lab or if you just print out less using your computer, you will wind up consuming fewer materials.

Another good, and very topical, example is the current trendy gadget – the e-book reader. E-book readers have actually been available for quite some time, but they really caught the public’s imagination in 2009 and now seem poised to increase sales even further in 2010. The Kindle reader is currently the most popular by a long way and Sony have also established a good market presence.

Every year, the American book, magazine and newspaper industry consumes 125 million trees to provide the paper required. Huge amounts of water, energy and a whole host of chemicals are also consumed to feed the nation’s reading habit. What’s more, books being a physical product require to be delivered from the publisher’s warehouse to the book store – typically using road transportation. The gas used by customers who drive to and from the retail outlet is also a factor in determining the carbon footprint of a typical book.

Of course, e-books do not consume large quantities of paper, ink etc. in their production. Also, given that there is no physical product, electronic books may be downloaded from the internet instead of using road delivery.

Needless to say, both digital photo frames and e-book readers, being physical products themselves, do consume materials in their production. They also require delivery to the point of sale or direct to the final customer. Even so, according to studies have shown that, even when the materials consumed are offset against the savings in paper, energy, ink etc. that devices of this type can be better for the environment (though it will depend, to some extent, on the number of books you read or how many photos you usually print each year).