Terrible energy consumption of bottled water: 1⁄4 bottle of oil per bottle of water

The first comprehensive energy analysis of bottled water confirmed the finger pointing of many environmentalists. From the beginning of production to the consumption of consumers, bottled water consumes 1,100-2,000 times the energy of tap water (the tap water here refers to purified, drinkable water, translator's note).

 

In the past few years, the energy consumption of bottled water has skyrocketed. In 2007, worldwide sales of 200 billion liters of bottled water, of which the largest in the United States: annual sales of 330 billion liters, an average of 1,100 liters per person per year. Since 2001, total bottled water sales have increased by 70%, exceeding milk and beer. Many global conservationists are concerned about this growth, and they suspect that producing and transporting bottled water is much more energy-consuming than directly harvesting water from taps. However, until now, no one knows the energy value of a bottle of water.

 

Peter Glick, an environmental scientist at the Pacific Institute in Oakland, California, and his colleague, Heath Curry, superimposed the energy consumed in each process, such as production and transportation, to calculate the consumption of bottled water. energy of. Their calculations include: production of plastic bottles, processing of water, labeling, bottling, sealing, transportation, and refrigeration.

 

In the latest issue of Environmental Research Letters, researchers revealed two steps in the production of bottled water: the production of plastic bottles and transportation. The research team estimates that the world's annual production of only plastic bottles consumes 50 million barrels of oil – two days and a half of the nation's oil consumption. However, it is not so simple to calculate the energy consumed by a bottle of water during transportation. Some water transport distances are short, while some water is transported from distant overseas, which greatly increases the energy consumption of bottled water. Greek and Curry found that imported bottled water consumes 2.5 to 4 times more energy than local bottled water, and the energy consumed in the process of importing water exceeds the energy required to produce the bottle.

 

Gree estimates that the energy consumed to produce bottled water in the United States in 2007 was equivalent to 3.2-5.4 million barrels of oil. The world's bottled water production consumes three times as much energy. To put it another way, each bottle of water is equivalent to a quarter of a bottle of oil.

 

H. Scott Matthews, an environmental engineer at Carnegie Mellon University in Pennsylvania, said: "They do a great job in packaging and promoting bottled water. However, for packaging and promoting tap water, and comparing bottled water and The difference in energy consumption of tap water is not enough.” Greek said that although purifying and transporting tap water consumes a different amount of energy, the most expensive tap water consumes less energy than bottled water. A few percent.

 

Jin Hengzhe, an industrial ecologist at Columbia University in the United States, said that the energy calculations in this study did not count the energy saved by bottle recycling. Gregg said that they did not calculate this energy because almost all recycled bottles were not made into new bottles for reuse, but instead became the raw material for carpets, clothes or toys.