Amazon Kindle 2.0

In case you haven't heard, Amazon.com recently announced the upcoming February 24 release of its second-generation e-book reader: Kindle 2.

What makes the Kindle 2 such an eco-friendly product? After all, isn't this just another electronic gadget that place additional demands on the electrical grid?

Well, one general Green principle we endorse is that fewer resources required = a better product (i.e. less is more).

The 10.2-ounce, 1/3-inch thick Kindle 2 can hold more than 1,500 books.

Can you imagine the environmental cost in paper, gasoline and electricity of cutting down trees (or even recycling paper) to produce, print, package and ship 1,500 books?

It's surely much higher than the one-time cost of producing the slender Kindle 2, plus the occasional cost of recharging the device.

On the recharging front, there's good news there too. Amazon says the Kindle 2 battery is now 25% longer - the battery apparently charges in 4 hours and lasts for 4-14 days of reading (depending on whether you have the sophisticated 3G wireless network switched on).

The e-books themselves supposedly only take 60 seconds to download and you can choose from among more than 230,000 options in the Kindle Store. If you think that sounds impressive, Amazon says it's aiming to eventually offer any book ever printed in any language through the Kindle 2.

From what we hear, you can also access newspapers and magazines through the Kindle 2 - again reducing printing and distribution costs associated with hard copies of the same. (The environmental case is even stronger with periodicals since they are usually read once and then trashed or at best recycled.)

We hope to have the chance to test Kindle 2 first-hand in the weeks ahead, but if you can't wait for our review, feel free to get on the pre-order list now.

Like other observers conditioned to falling technology prices, we're slightly disappointed that Amazon didn't make Kindle 2 even more affordable than the previous edition. But even at $359, the idea of an elegant device that puts an entire library at your fingertips (with all the e-books you buy backed up online in a digital Amazon library) makes the Kindle an attractive proposition.

Where to buy:

At Amazon, naturally!