90% Reduction - List
May. 31st, 2007 07:48 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
helwenFrom simplereduce/Miranda's site, the seven Categories of things to try, for the year-long challenge. I copied over the 'rules'/guidelines so I can post where we're at in relation to these (gives us a starting point).
1. Gasoline. Average American usage is 500 gallons PER PERSON, PER YEAR. A 90 percent reduction would be 50 gallons PER PERSON, PER YEAR.
* No reduction in emissions for ethanol or biodiesel.
* Public transportation and Waste Veggie Oil Fuel are deemed to get 100 mpg, and should be calculated accordingly.
Well, as I said before, no way we're going to be able to go on 50 gal/person per year. Granted that between us we get a total of 100 gallons, at an average of 21 mpg that's 2,100 miles for the year. Nope, not gonna happen. But, we do walk for errands that are close to home, and carpool when possible, which at least help. We have bikes, but no way am I riding to the Mall at Ingleside -- traffic is way too scarey.
2. Electricity. Average US usage is 11,000 kwh PER HOUSEHOLD, PER YEAR, or about 900 kwh PER HOUSEHOLD PER MONTH. A 90% reduction would mean using 1,100 PER HOUSEHOLD, PER YEAR or 90 kwh PER HOUSEHOLD PER MONTH
* Solar Renewables are deemed to have a 50% payback - that is, you get twice as many watts.
* Hydro and Wind are deemed to have a 4 to 1 payback over other methods - you get 4 times as many.
Last month our kwh was 245. Since![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
fitzw works from home on computers, I don't think we can get it much lower than we have so far. He already keeps certain PCs off unless we need something off one of them, and I shut down my PC when I'm not using it. All PCs are shut down at night. All passive energy suckers (microwave, tv, dvd player, stereo) are completely off unless in use. Depending on our creativity, we're hoping to reduce use of the a/c, but since I have asthma that may or may not happen, at least at night -- health comes first. When you look at the national average, we're already doing pretty well, and it didn't take much effort at all -- 27% is pretty good!
3. Heating and Cooking Energy - this is divided into 3 categories, gas, wood and oil. Your household probably uses one of these, and they are not interchangeable. If you use an electric stove or electric heat, this goes under electric usage.
* Natural Gas calculation info [delete - we don't have it]
* Heating Oil (this is used by only about 8% of all US households, mostly in the Northeast, including mine).
* Average US usage is 750 Gallons PER HOUSEHOLD, PER YEAR. A 90% cut would mean using 75 gallons PER HOUSEHOLD, PER YEAR. Biodiesel is calculated as equivalent.
o Wood. [deleted. We don't have a way to use wood here.]
Hm. This should be interesting. We have a plan for the winter, but I doubt we'll use only 75 gallons of oil! For one thing, we have singing practices once a week during most of the winter, and frozen singers do not a good practice make... but I am looking forward to cutting our use by quite a bit nevertheless.
4. Garbage - the average American generates about 4.5 lbs of garbage PER PERSON, PER DAY. A 90% reduction would mean .45 lbs of garbage PER PERSON, PER DAY.
Um. Wow. That's a lot of trash. I don't know how much our weekly trash weighs on average, but I'm pretty sure we're already under the average. I'll have to weigh our trash next week I guess.
5. Water. The Average American uses 100 Gallons of water PER PERSON, PER DAY. A 90% reduction would mean 10 gallons PER PERSON, PER DAY.
Probably the biggest waste for us is showers. I think we go through 1/2 - 1 gallon of water/person/day for drinking. Then there's 5-7 gallons for washing a full load of dishes for us and the kitties. Then of course there's washing your hands and flushing toilets. And brushing teeth, but we've both gotten good about not having the water running while we're brushing so that doesn't count for much. Guess I'll have to do some research on this one.
6. Consumer Goods. The best metric I could find for this is using money. A Professor at Syracuse University calculates that as an average, every consumer dollar we spend puts .5 lbs of carbon into the atmosphere. This isn’t perfect, of course, but it averages out pretty well.
The average American spends 10K PER HOUSEHOLD, PER YEAR on consumer goods, not including things like mortgage, health care, debt service, car payments, etc… Obviously, we recommend you minimize those things to the extent you can, but what we’re mostly talking about is things like gifts, toys, music, books, tools, household goods, cosmetics, toiletries, paper goods, etc… A 90% cut would be 1,000 dollars PER HOUSEHOLD, PER YEAR
* Used goods are deemed to have an energy cost of 10% of their actual purchase price. That is, if you buy a used sofa for $50, you just spent $5 of your allotment. The reason for this is that used goods bought from previous owners put money back into circulation that is then spent on new goods. This would apply to Craigslist, Yardsales, etc… but not goodwill and other charities, as noted below. This rule does not apply if you know that the item would otherwise be thrown out - that is, if someone says, “If you don’t buy it, I’m going to toss it.” Those items are unlimited as well, because they keep crap out of landfills.
* Goods that were donated are deemed to be unlimited, with no carbon cost. That is, you can spend all you want at Goodwill and the church rummage sale. Putting things back into use that would otherwise be tossed should be strongly encouraged.
This should be interesting. We're already thinking pretty carefully about what sorts of things we buy. Books are a necessity as far as we're concerned, but we buy used when possible.
7. Food. This was by far the hardest thing to come up with a simple metric for. Using food miles, or price gives what I believe is a radically inaccurate way of thinking about this. So here’s the best I can do. Food is divided into 3 categories.
#1 is food you grow, or which is produced *LOCALLY AND ORGANICALLY* (or mostly - it doesn’t have to be certified, but should be low input, because chemical fertilizers produce nitrous oxide which is a major greenhouse contributor). Local means within 100 miles to me. This includes all produce, grains, beans, and meats and dairy products that are mostly either *GRASSFED* or produced with *HOME GROWN OR LOCALLY GROWN, ORGANIC FEED.* That is, chicken meat produced with GM corn from IOWA in Florida is not local. A 90% reduction would involve this being AT LEAST 70% of your diet, year round. Ideally, it would be even more. I also include locally produced things like soap in this category, if most of the ingredients are local.
#2 is is *DRY, BULK* goods, transported from longer distances. That is, *whole, unprocessed* beans, grains, and small light things like tea, coffee, spices (fair trade and sustainably grown *ONLY*), or locally produced animal products partly raised on unprocessed but non-local grains, and locally produced wet products like oils. This is hard to calculate, because Americans spend very little on these things (except coffee) and whole grains don’t constitute a large portion of the diet. These are comparatively low carbon to transport and produce. Purchased in bulk, with minimal packaging (beans in 50lb paper sacks, pasta in bulk, tea loose, by the pound, rather than in little bags), this would also include things like recycled toilet paper, purchased garden seeds and other light, dry items. This should be no more than 25% of your total purchases.
# 3 is Wet goods - conventionally grown meat, fruits, vegetables, juices, oils, milk etc… transported long distances, and processed foods like chips, soda, potatoes. Also regular shampoo, dish soap, etc… And that no one should buy more than 5% of their food in this form. Right now, the above makes up more than 50% of everyone’s diet.
Thus, if you purchase 20 food items in a week, you’d use 14 home or locally produced items, 5 bulk dry items, and only 1 processed or out of season thing.
This will definitely be interesting. Fortunately we've got a good start with the garden, and we went down to the local farmer's market today and bought a few things there (all locally grown or made). It will be interesting to see what we can find for local meats, for instance. Fortunately there are a number of places around here that raise cows, sheep, and poultry, and some other animals as well. At least some of them are grass-fed. The poultry will be the more interesting question I guess, since they may not be able to get feed locally. Still, it would be better than getting the birds themselves shipped in (weigh more, uses more fuel for transport/cooling), and they would be _fresh_. I'll miss salmon, but maybe I can learn to deal with trout. Probably fewer PCBs in them anyway.
Again, we won't make the 90% on this one, because of course we'll eat at SCA events and that will be whatever it is. But just this past winter I was looking at farms in the area and thinking about trying out the local birds; one place just over the river has pheasant as well as turkey, and I think goose. Goose is wonderful if you know how to cook it. Pheasant I've never had. I doubt we'll want it on a regular basis, but might as well have fun learning what's available in our own backyards.
Speaking of fun local discoveries, there was a lady serving samples at the farmer's market (compliments of the mayor) - a dollop of vanilla ice cream with a rhubarb sauce. Yum!
1. Gasoline. Average American usage is 500 gallons PER PERSON, PER YEAR. A 90 percent reduction would be 50 gallons PER PERSON, PER YEAR.
* No reduction in emissions for ethanol or biodiesel.
* Public transportation and Waste Veggie Oil Fuel are deemed to get 100 mpg, and should be calculated accordingly.
Well, as I said before, no way we're going to be able to go on 50 gal/person per year. Granted that between us we get a total of 100 gallons, at an average of 21 mpg that's 2,100 miles for the year. Nope, not gonna happen. But, we do walk for errands that are close to home, and carpool when possible, which at least help. We have bikes, but no way am I riding to the Mall at Ingleside -- traffic is way too scarey.
2. Electricity. Average US usage is 11,000 kwh PER HOUSEHOLD, PER YEAR, or about 900 kwh PER HOUSEHOLD PER MONTH. A 90% reduction would mean using 1,100 PER HOUSEHOLD, PER YEAR or 90 kwh PER HOUSEHOLD PER MONTH
* Solar Renewables are deemed to have a 50% payback - that is, you get twice as many watts.
* Hydro and Wind are deemed to have a 4 to 1 payback over other methods - you get 4 times as many.
Last month our kwh was 245. Since
fitzw works from home on computers, I don't think we can get it much lower than we have so far. He already keeps certain PCs off unless we need something off one of them, and I shut down my PC when I'm not using it. All PCs are shut down at night. All passive energy suckers (microwave, tv, dvd player, stereo) are completely off unless in use. Depending on our creativity, we're hoping to reduce use of the a/c, but since I have asthma that may or may not happen, at least at night -- health comes first. When you look at the national average, we're already doing pretty well, and it didn't take much effort at all -- 27% is pretty good!3. Heating and Cooking Energy - this is divided into 3 categories, gas, wood and oil. Your household probably uses one of these, and they are not interchangeable. If you use an electric stove or electric heat, this goes under electric usage.
* Natural Gas calculation info [delete - we don't have it]
* Heating Oil (this is used by only about 8% of all US households, mostly in the Northeast, including mine).
* Average US usage is 750 Gallons PER HOUSEHOLD, PER YEAR. A 90% cut would mean using 75 gallons PER HOUSEHOLD, PER YEAR. Biodiesel is calculated as equivalent.
o Wood. [deleted. We don't have a way to use wood here.]
Hm. This should be interesting. We have a plan for the winter, but I doubt we'll use only 75 gallons of oil! For one thing, we have singing practices once a week during most of the winter, and frozen singers do not a good practice make... but I am looking forward to cutting our use by quite a bit nevertheless.
4. Garbage - the average American generates about 4.5 lbs of garbage PER PERSON, PER DAY. A 90% reduction would mean .45 lbs of garbage PER PERSON, PER DAY.
Um. Wow. That's a lot of trash. I don't know how much our weekly trash weighs on average, but I'm pretty sure we're already under the average. I'll have to weigh our trash next week I guess.
5. Water. The Average American uses 100 Gallons of water PER PERSON, PER DAY. A 90% reduction would mean 10 gallons PER PERSON, PER DAY.
Probably the biggest waste for us is showers. I think we go through 1/2 - 1 gallon of water/person/day for drinking. Then there's 5-7 gallons for washing a full load of dishes for us and the kitties. Then of course there's washing your hands and flushing toilets. And brushing teeth, but we've both gotten good about not having the water running while we're brushing so that doesn't count for much. Guess I'll have to do some research on this one.
6. Consumer Goods. The best metric I could find for this is using money. A Professor at Syracuse University calculates that as an average, every consumer dollar we spend puts .5 lbs of carbon into the atmosphere. This isn’t perfect, of course, but it averages out pretty well.
The average American spends 10K PER HOUSEHOLD, PER YEAR on consumer goods, not including things like mortgage, health care, debt service, car payments, etc… Obviously, we recommend you minimize those things to the extent you can, but what we’re mostly talking about is things like gifts, toys, music, books, tools, household goods, cosmetics, toiletries, paper goods, etc… A 90% cut would be 1,000 dollars PER HOUSEHOLD, PER YEAR
* Used goods are deemed to have an energy cost of 10% of their actual purchase price. That is, if you buy a used sofa for $50, you just spent $5 of your allotment. The reason for this is that used goods bought from previous owners put money back into circulation that is then spent on new goods. This would apply to Craigslist, Yardsales, etc… but not goodwill and other charities, as noted below. This rule does not apply if you know that the item would otherwise be thrown out - that is, if someone says, “If you don’t buy it, I’m going to toss it.” Those items are unlimited as well, because they keep crap out of landfills.
* Goods that were donated are deemed to be unlimited, with no carbon cost. That is, you can spend all you want at Goodwill and the church rummage sale. Putting things back into use that would otherwise be tossed should be strongly encouraged.
This should be interesting. We're already thinking pretty carefully about what sorts of things we buy. Books are a necessity as far as we're concerned, but we buy used when possible.
7. Food. This was by far the hardest thing to come up with a simple metric for. Using food miles, or price gives what I believe is a radically inaccurate way of thinking about this. So here’s the best I can do. Food is divided into 3 categories.
#1 is food you grow, or which is produced *LOCALLY AND ORGANICALLY* (or mostly - it doesn’t have to be certified, but should be low input, because chemical fertilizers produce nitrous oxide which is a major greenhouse contributor). Local means within 100 miles to me. This includes all produce, grains, beans, and meats and dairy products that are mostly either *GRASSFED* or produced with *HOME GROWN OR LOCALLY GROWN, ORGANIC FEED.* That is, chicken meat produced with GM corn from IOWA in Florida is not local. A 90% reduction would involve this being AT LEAST 70% of your diet, year round. Ideally, it would be even more. I also include locally produced things like soap in this category, if most of the ingredients are local.
#2 is is *DRY, BULK* goods, transported from longer distances. That is, *whole, unprocessed* beans, grains, and small light things like tea, coffee, spices (fair trade and sustainably grown *ONLY*), or locally produced animal products partly raised on unprocessed but non-local grains, and locally produced wet products like oils. This is hard to calculate, because Americans spend very little on these things (except coffee) and whole grains don’t constitute a large portion of the diet. These are comparatively low carbon to transport and produce. Purchased in bulk, with minimal packaging (beans in 50lb paper sacks, pasta in bulk, tea loose, by the pound, rather than in little bags), this would also include things like recycled toilet paper, purchased garden seeds and other light, dry items. This should be no more than 25% of your total purchases.
# 3 is Wet goods - conventionally grown meat, fruits, vegetables, juices, oils, milk etc… transported long distances, and processed foods like chips, soda, potatoes. Also regular shampoo, dish soap, etc… And that no one should buy more than 5% of their food in this form. Right now, the above makes up more than 50% of everyone’s diet.
Thus, if you purchase 20 food items in a week, you’d use 14 home or locally produced items, 5 bulk dry items, and only 1 processed or out of season thing.
This will definitely be interesting. Fortunately we've got a good start with the garden, and we went down to the local farmer's market today and bought a few things there (all locally grown or made). It will be interesting to see what we can find for local meats, for instance. Fortunately there are a number of places around here that raise cows, sheep, and poultry, and some other animals as well. At least some of them are grass-fed. The poultry will be the more interesting question I guess, since they may not be able to get feed locally. Still, it would be better than getting the birds themselves shipped in (weigh more, uses more fuel for transport/cooling), and they would be _fresh_. I'll miss salmon, but maybe I can learn to deal with trout. Probably fewer PCBs in them anyway.
Again, we won't make the 90% on this one, because of course we'll eat at SCA events and that will be whatever it is. But just this past winter I was looking at farms in the area and thinking about trying out the local birds; one place just over the river has pheasant as well as turkey, and I think goose. Goose is wonderful if you know how to cook it. Pheasant I've never had. I doubt we'll want it on a regular basis, but might as well have fun learning what's available in our own backyards.
Speaking of fun local discoveries, there was a lady serving samples at the farmer's market (compliments of the mayor) - a dollop of vanilla ice cream with a rhubarb sauce. Yum!
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Date: 2007-06-08 01:50 am (UTC)