Ism & majorbloodnock,

If you haven't tried an e-ink screen, there is no way you can compare it properly. It is nothing at all like reading off any other type of screen. Looking at photo's of it online just mean you're now looking it on a screen, which doesn't help at all. They don't call it electronic paper for nothing. I find it as easy on the eyes as paper, sometimes better (depending on the paper/ink etc).

The amount of energy for an e-book to be:

Created and stored - basically none that's not already used. A book will already be in an ebook format of some kind before the publishers get it, and certainly before the printers do.

Distributed: lots less than paper book, for sure. What's the energy cost of a 200k download? Compared to shipping me a paper book halfway round the world?

Displayed: that's the interesting one. If I read it on my PDA or phone, I already have one of those. Display cost in power for my Cybook, about 20-30 minutes charge on a USB cable for a big book. (3 hours will completely recharge it, and it lasts for quite a few books). Energy to make the Cybook itself? I don't know. But spread over the hundreds of books I've already read on it, I suspect it's paying itself back.

Oh, and good fiction is one of the easiest things to get as an ebook. It's the work related ones that are hard.