Easy environment conservation idea: Save energy by saving food

It is difficult to believe that just by not wasting food the United States could immediately save the energy equivalent of that
produced by about 350 million barrels of oil a year.

US-based scientists Michael Webber and Amanda Cuellar note that food contains energy and requires energy to produce, process and transport.

The study found that it takes the equivalent of about 1.4 billion barrels of oil to produce, package, prepare, preserve and distribute a year’s worth of food in the United States.

Estimates indicate that between 8 per cent and 16 per cent of energy consumption in the United States went towards food production in 2007.

The trend is almost the same in every country and may marginally differ based upon the country’s food habits. The scientists realized that the wasted food represents a largely unrecognized opportunity to conserve energy and help control global
warming.

Their analysis of wasted food and the energy needed to ready it for consumption concluded that the United States wasted about 2030 trillion BTU of energy in 2007, or the equivalent of about 350 million barrels of oil.

The study has been reported in American Chemical Society’s journal Environmental Science and Technology.