Painless Way to Achieve Huge Energy Savings: Stop Wasting Food

Scientists have identified a way that the United States could immediately save the energy equivalent of about 350 million barrels of oil a year (That represents about 2 percent of annual energy consumption in the U.S.)- without spending a penny or putting a ding in the quality of life: Just stop wasting food.

Their 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.

Michael Webber and Amanda Cuéllar note that food contains energy and requires energy to produce, process, and transport. Estimates indicate that between 8 and 16 percent of energy consumption in the United States went toward food production in 2007.

Original Paper:

Amanda D. Cuéllar, Michael E. Webber. Wasted Food, Wasted Energy: The Embedded Energy in Food Waste in the United States. Environmental Science & Technology, 2010; 44 (16): 6464 DOI: 10.1021/es100310d

Source:

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/10/101003081627.htm