These days, it’s probably fair to say that many of us are more environmentally conscious. We are not about to turn into a nation of eco-warriors overnight, but the most people are quite willing to make a little extra effort to be greener. And that’s fine – it is actually a broad range of small changes by a large number of people that tends to make the biggest difference. The good news is that as well as being more environmentally friendly you can save both time and money at the same time.

For example, a study undertaken by Carnegie Melon University recently concluded that shopping on the internet has a reduced environmental impact when compared to the traditional method of using traditional retail outlets. One example used in the study was the purchase of a flash memory stick. The environmental impact of the traditional retail method was found to be 35% greater than making a similar purchase online.

A parallel study – performed by CleanTech – found that the typical carbon footprint of a conventional printed book was 7.5 kg of CO2 over its lifespan. However, this figure doubled if the customer got into their car, drove to the store, picked up their book and then drove home again instead of having it delivered by mail.

Roughly 65% of the emissions produced by traditional shopping methods come about as a direct result of the customer’s transportation to and from the store.

Not only is shopping online better for the environment – it will save you time and you will often be able to find what you’re after at a better price. You can increase the environmental benefits even more simply by choosing the right type of product.

If, for example, you decide to buy e-books instead of the traditional paper type, you will save on ink, paper and the energy consumed in the printing and binding process. Generally speaking, electronic books cost less than the printed versions – plus you save on gas. You can even take out subscriptions to get newspapers and magazines electronically delivered to e-book readers such as the Amazon Kindle reader on a daily basis.

Likewise, if you opt to download music to your PC or mp3 player, you will save on CDs, packaging and distribution emissions. Downloading movies, which you can now do from Amazon, iTunes and a host of other sites also has both financial and environmental benefits.

So when it comes to shopping on the internet, consider adopting a twin pronged strategy. First of all, if you can save a car journey to the store by buying online then that will generally be the best option. Secondly, if you can replace physical products with downloadable ones then not only will you be doing your bit for the planet – but you will save yourself time and money as well.

Uncover the Kindle ebook reader and find out how to save money by getting free Kindle books.