Going paperless...

[Zeke]

So, which costs the environment more? Paper docs handled person to person (mail, fax included) or electronic storage and transfer? Seems to me that every digital doc has a footprint given its initial production, electronic movement, printing (which is often the case) and indefinite storage on possibly multiple servers.

I can barely recognize the difference between a database and a file system, but that's academic. The question is about the overall energy and resources.

What muddies the issue are what I might think as 'hybrid' docs or those created partially by hand and partially digitally and then scanned into a system. A whole lot of that kind of thing goes on at the local ports that combined, is one of the largest port complexes in the world. No PARF intended here but unions trying to preserve man power work keep a lot of data in the analog world until it is finally digitized, distributed and ultimately stored by many different offices and even multiple departments within an agency.

I highly doubt this is a simple question with a simple answer. No black and white. But if it were that simple i.e., paper vs. paperless, which is on the upside?

[gacook]

How many trees need to be cut down to keep the government in paper? How many need to be cut down to have a couple server farms in a basement somewhere?

Simplistic view, I know. The reality of it (in my opinion) is that we'll never be paperless until all the old fogies retire out. The Army "went paperless" 15 years ago. I can assure you, that did not happen--my office alone goes through ream after ream after ream of paper daily, and I've digitized A LOT of what we do.

[Zeke]

I see your trees and will raise you some coal (oil, natural gas) to make electricity. Some energy to process fossil fuel into plastics and some precious metals for computers ( aluminum, antimony, arsenic, barium, beryllium, cadmium, chromium, cobalt, copper, gallium, gold, iron, lead, manganese, mercury, palladium, platinum, selenium, silver, and zinc). I understand that the same metals are in copying machines so some of this may wash out even. It's the literally millions of servers that might tip that scale.

Understood that energy is used to make trees into paper.

[gacook]

I think the ecological tipping point for me is that those computers are gonna get made anyway. To me, that's a net zero; however, if no longer using paper, that's one less reason to cut down a tree...

[Noah930]

Paperless systems are great until you lose electricity in the building. Or even internet access (if that's how it runs). Or if a server dies, as do the backups.

[Jims5543]

My entire companies records are being stored on my own cloud drive that is 8" cubed. It probably uses less electricity than a table lamp. It goes into a standby mode when not in use as well

I could put it anywhere there is an internet connection.

Then I have a flat file for 24x36 prints, and about 7 level size filing cabinets in my office full of files, and a storage unit full of older files I have to keep by law.

Sorry digital is way better and much greener. You can never convince me otherwise.

Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk

[gacook]

Originally Posted by Noah930

Paperless systems are great until you lose electricity in the building. Or even internet access (if that's how it runs). Or if a server dies, as do the backups.

Who I work for doesn't lose power Further, we have redundancy for all our systems, as losing any of our data would be a very bad thing.

[porsche tech]

Porsche started phasing out paper wiring diagrams a long time ago...took a long time to get used to reading them on a computer page. Loved the paper ones. Glad to be retired!

[KFC911]

I thought this thread was about something else....I finally had to click on it.

Whew....nevermind

[KFC911]

Back on topic....this old dawg can read (exceptionally fast) and retain better from a RTFM/B than a large screen, and this teeny POS screen I'm on sux fer that....

I was an IT geek fer decades....gimme paper daze over a screen for retention (excellent)... now GOML.

Ol' Scooby

Then I need to search fer somethin'....

I mastered that before the WWW too ...

Both...