E-Paper... welcome to the future

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The age of computers has promised us a so-called 'paperless society', an age where deforestation would cease and every tidbit of information would be stored digitally. But as technology continues to advance, why does it seem as though paper-use is on the rise? The day of tomorrow is here, and it offers us Electronic Paper.



As cool as it sounds, Electronic Paper (e-Paper), is an electronic replacement for a natural piece of paper. Like paper, e-Paper will be flexible, fold-able, and crump-able allowing for better durability than current Liquid Crystal Display technologies. It will also be lighter and smaller than current LCD technologies because its flexible form eliminates the need for strong casing ¹.

The way to create an e-Paper display would be through the use of Electronic Ink, which includes millions of microcapsules containing "positively charged white particles and negatively charged black particles suspended in a clear fluid." When a controlled electric charge is applied to the sheet of microcapsules the white and black particles disperse to form the image. Then using a micro-computer, the pixels can be easily reprogrammed to create any image².

Since these microcapsules are only about the width of a human hair, resolution can be increased to levels triple those of LCDs. To quantify this, a typical computer monitor will have a resolution of about 75 Pixels per Inch, a piece of printed paper has resolution between 300 and 600ppi, and a piece of e-Paper will be able to display up to 300ppi. This means that e-Paper will create images almost as vivid as those printed on traditional paper, putting considerably less strain on the user's vision. Another important improvement of e-Paper's display over traditional electronic displays is the use of reflective light as opposed to a rear light source. This means that the picture can be viewed in direct sunlight and at virtually any angle with no reduction in quality¹.

There are many feasible applications for e-Paper. For example, the future could see newspapers and other publications electronically updating e-Papers wirelessly to give subscribers a dynamic newspaper that updates itself. This would not only save paper, but would conserve man power, eliminating the need for newspaper delivery staff. Currently e-Paper can only be printed using black and white colors, but the industry is hoping to introduce vibrant colors. As the technology improves and pixel manipulation becomes easier, there is the prospect of allowing full video display. Imagine picking up an e-Version of the NY Times, opening the sports page, and seeing a replay from yesterday's hockey match³.

Another probable application will be advertising, allowing a company to remotely modify signs and billboards without having to pay a labor crew to manually do it. In recap here are the good and the bad of e-Paper.

Pros

• Relatively cheap to produce considering implications.
• Save resources, most importantly paper.
  
• Better display and portability than LCDs.
• Can potentially eliminate wasteful labor intensive work (i.e. Newspaper delivery).
• Does not require a large power supply, in fact 2 AA batteries could power an e-Paper for the duration of 3 months ¹.
  

Cons

• Still in its infancy. This product has been created by R&D teams but full scale production is yet to begin.
• Only black and white display.
• The elimination of labor intensive jobs can be create large unemployment.
• e-Paper is more of a luxury than a necessity. It might not be reasonable to invest in it when paper has been doing a fine job for all of these years.
  

SOURCES
¹ "What is E-Paper?" Epaper.Org. 2007. 02 Oct. 2007
http://www.epaper.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=52&Itemid=36

² "Our Technology- How It Works." E-Ink Corporation. 2007. 02 Oct. 2007
http://www.eink.com/technology/howitworks.html

³ "E-Paper May Offer Video Images." New Scientistst. 2007. 02 Oct. 2007
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn4202.html