Thomas Counsell from the Institute for Manufacturing has stated that up to 2 percent of overall greenhouse gases are caused by paper consumption. The biggest fraction of energy used in paper consumption may be traced to the creation and disposal of printer paper. And although the move to iPads, smart phones and other mobile gadgets may seem to imply that paper consumption has fallen as digitalization has increased, the truth is exactly the opposite. Over the last ten years, paper consumption has risen steadily. If you worry about deforestation and rising carbon dioxide levels, you may be interested to learn about how document scanning and document imaging can help offset the environmental costs of printing documents.