US food waste worth more than offshore drilling

[JBeukema]

MORE energy is wasted in the perfectly edible food discarded by people in the US each year than is available in oil and gas reserves off the nation's coastlines.
Recent estimates suggest that 16 per cent of the energy consumed in the US is used to produce food. Yet at least 25 per cent of food is wasted each year. Michael Webber and Amanda Cuellar at the Center for International Energy and Environmental Policy at the University of Texas at Austin calculate that this is the equivalent of about 2150 trillion kilojoules lost each year.

US food waste worth more than offshore drilling - environment - 30 July 2010 - New Scientist

 

[Mr. H.]

A very bizarre analogy.

 

[Zoom-boing]

A use for the waste that comes the food that is consumed.

Bio-Bug: Car run on human waste is launched - Telegraph

 

[JiggsCasey]

A very bizarre analogy.

Not really, considering our commercial food industry is completely reliant upon fossil fuels for fertilizer, pesticides, harvesting, distribution, packaging, and on and on and on. It takes 10 calories of hydrocarbon energy to produce every calorie of food in America.

That is obviously unsustainable, and that is why food prices are poised to skyrocket very soon.

Energy = Environment
Energy = Economy
Economy = Environment

 

[Neal Asbury]

This is one of my biggest pet peeves. I always feel guilty when I have to throw out leftovers from the fridge. I think of all of the people that are starving, and here I am throwing out food. I try my best to eat any left overs I have before I cook a new meal.

 

[martybegan]

MORE energy is wasted in the perfectly edible food discarded by people in the US each year than is available in oil and gas reserves off the nation's coastlines.
Recent estimates suggest that 16 per cent of the energy consumed in the US is used to produce food. Yet at least 25 per cent of food is wasted each year. Michael Webber and Amanda Cuellar at the Center for International Energy and Environmental Policy at the University of Texas at Austin calculate that this is the equivalent of about 2150 trillion kilojoules lost each year.

US food waste worth more than offshore drilling - environment - 30 July 2010 - New Scientist

Not a useful analogy as energy density comes into play when you are talking about energy used for production/transport/electricity. One cannot run a car on a potato (at least not yet)

 

[Quantum Windbag]

MORE energy is wasted in the perfectly edible food discarded by people in the US each year than is available in oil and gas reserves off the nation's coastlines.
Recent estimates suggest that 16 per cent of the energy consumed in the US is used to produce food. Yet at least 25 per cent of food is wasted each year. Michael Webber and Amanda Cuellar at the Center for International Energy and Environmental Policy at the University of Texas at Austin calculate that this is the equivalent of about 2150 trillion kilojoules lost each year.

US food waste worth more than offshore drilling - environment - 30 July 2010 - New Scientist

Bullshit.

Now you are even lying about what the articles you quote say.

MORE energy is wasted in the perfectly edible food discarded by people in the US each year than is extracted annually from the oil and gas reserves off the nation's coastlines..

What a ridiculous and pathetic attempt to appear like you know what you are talking about. Congratulations on stooping so low that you made your post about facilitated communication through telepathy look intelligent.

 

[elam]

Interesting

 

[KissMy]

A very bizarre analogy.

Not really, considering our commercial food industry is completely reliant upon fossil fuels for fertilizer, pesticides, harvesting, distribution, packaging, and on and on and on. It takes 10 calories of hydrocarbon energy to produce every calorie of food in America.

That is obviously unsustainable, and that is why food prices are poised to skyrocket very soon.

Energy = Environment
Energy = Economy
Economy = Environment

I have to call bullshit here. We have a 1,000 acre farm & the entire operation uses 2,000 gallons of diesel fuel per year & not all of it on food production. This fuel plants, harvest, transports to market, runs errands to pick up parts, seeds, pesticides, fertilizer & supplies. We do not till the soil because we use the "no-till farming" method & do not irrigate.

We plant & harvest 800 acres of corn that yields 180 bushel per acre. That is 144,000 bushels of corn for 2,000 gallons of fuel. So that equals 72 bushel per gallon. Corn contains 392,000 btu per bushel & diesel fuel contains 138,800 btu per gallon. So 138,800 btu of oil makes 28,224,000 btu of corn food. That means 1 btu of oil makes 203 btu of food. Now granted I have not figured in the fuel to make the stuff we use on the farm or what happens to the food we sell.

 

[JiggsCasey]

I have to call bullshit here. We have a 1,000 acre farm & the entire operation uses 2,000 gallons of diesel fuel per year & not all of it on food production. This fuel plants, harvest, transports to market, runs errands to pick up parts, seeds, pesticides, fertilizer & supplies. We do not till the soil because we use the "no-till farming" method & do not irrigate.

We plant & harvest 800 acres of corn that yields 180 bushel per acre. That is 144,000 bushels of corn for 2,000 gallons of fuel. So that equals 72 bushel per gallon. Corn contains 392,000 btu per bushel & diesel fuel contains 138,800 btu per gallon. So 138,800 btu of oil makes 28,224,000 btu of corn food. That means 1 btu of oil makes 203 btu of food. Now granted I have not figured in the fuel to make the stuff we use on the farm or what happens to the food we sell.

Typical... Can't see the forest for the trees and insist everything on your property is axiomatic of how the global commercial food system works. What a surprise.

Are you sending your ingredients all over the planet? Does any regulatory body inspect your product? Did you MAKE the fertilizer? Did you manufacture the equipment? Do your particular harvests require refrigeration for transport? Did you cook the food for those you provided it for?

Call "bullshit" all you like. Unfortunately, men far smarter than you have concluded this ratio long ago, and the deteriorating conditions of this overpopulated world continue to support their conclusions. You won't read this, but I'll provide it anyway:

Eating Fossil Fuels

by Dale Allen Pfeiffer

To give the reader an idea of the energy intensiveness of modern agriculture, production of one kilogram of nitrogen for fertilizer requires the energy equivalent of from 1.4 to 1.8 liters of diesel fuel. This is not considering the natural gas feedstock.9 According to The Fertilizer Institute (The Fertilizer Institute), in the year from June 30 2001 until June 30 2002 the United States used 12,009,300 short tons of nitrogen fertilizer.10 Using the low figure of 1.4 liters diesel equivalent per kilogram of nitrogen, this equates to the energy content of 15.3 billion liters of diesel fuel, or 96.2 million barrels.

Of course, this is only a rough comparison to aid comprehension of the energy requirements for modern agriculture.

In a very real sense, we are literally eating fossil fuels. However, due to the laws of thermodynamics, there is not a direct correspondence between energy inflow and outflow in agriculture. Along the way, there is a marked energy loss. Between 1945 and 1994, energy input to agriculture increased 4-fold while crop yields only increased 3-fold.11 Since then, energy input has continued to increase without a corresponding increase in crop yield. We have reached the point of marginal returns. Yet, due to soil degradation, increased demands of pest management and increasing energy costs for irrigation (all of which is examined below), modern agriculture must continue increasing its energy expenditures simply to maintain current crop yields. ​