For this reason, many schools and colleges around the world have made the implementation of digital textbooks a central component of education policy.
An early 2009 study by Cleantech Group LLC also found that the emissions used to create an eBook were equivalent to 22.5 physical books, representing a significant improvement in environmental sustainability.
Many school districts are now offering "one-to-one" technology programs, in which a tablet or laptop is issued to each student.
However, the one-to-one model also imposes significant costs on school districts, and brings up issues of privacy and personal use.
A major selling point of digital textbooks is that they offer the opportunity for students to access multimedia content, such as embedded videos, interactive presentations and hyperlinks.
Interactive digital content is costly to produce, however, and research on learning outcomes is still in the preliminary stages.
For example, in 2013, the LA Unified School District announced that it would face an additional $60 million to license the curriculum for its one-to-one iPad program.
[11] Though many governments and school districts are making large investments in digital textbooks, adoption is slow.
According to data from Bowker Market Research, in the spring semester of 2013, only 3% of college students used a digital textbook as their primary course material.
[12] In multiple studies, strong majorities of college students, teens, and children continue to express a preference for printed books.