Humans Will Continue to Live in an Age of Incredible Food Waste

Let me start with the following principles: “Energy is the only universal currency: it must change into one of its many forms to accomplish anything”. Economies are simply complex systems set up to make these transitions possible, and all energy transitions that make economic sense have (often very undesirable) impacts on the environment. Therefore, as far as the biosphere is concerned, the best anthropogenic energy transitions are those that never occur: emit no gases (either greenhouse or acidification gases), produce no solid or liquid waste, and do not destroy ecosystems. The best way to achieve this is to convert energy at higher efficiencies: if they are not widely adopted (whether in large diesel and jet engines, combined cycle gas turbines, light-emitting diodes, steel smelting or ammonia synthesis) We need to convert more primary energy, with all the attendant environmental impacts.

On the contrary, what could be more wasteful, undesirable, and unreasonable than to offset the majority of conversion revenue by wasting conversion revenue? However, this happens constantly and to irrefutable proportions across all final energy uses. Buildings consume approximately one-fifth of global energyBut with inadequate wall and ceiling insulation, single-pane windows and poor ventilation, they waste at least a fifth to a third of a well-designed interior space. A typical SUV now weighs twice as much as the vehicle that preceded it and requires at least one-third the energy to perform the same tasks.

The most objectionable of these wasteful practices is our food production. Modern food systems (from the energy used to breed new varieties, synthetic fertilizers and other agricultural chemicals, and manufacturing field machinery to the energy used to harvest, transport, process, store, retail, and cook) claim to be close to 20% of the world’s fuel and primary electricity-We waste as much as possible 40% All food produced. Some food waste is inevitable. Yet the prevalence of food waste is untenable. This is criminal in many ways.

Fighting it is difficult for a number of reasons. First, food is wasted in many ways: from losses in the fields to spoilage in storage, from perishable seasonal leftovers to maintaining “perfect” displays in stores, from overconsumption when dining out to the decline of home cooking.

second, Food can now travel far Before reaching the consumer: the average travel distance of a typical food product is 1,500 to 2,500 miles before being purchased.

third, it’s still too cheap Related to other expenses. Despite recent increases in food prices, households now spend only approx. 11% Half of their disposable income was spent on food (about 20% in 1960). Spending on dining out, which is often more wasteful than eating at home, now accounts for more than half of the total. Finally, as consumers, we have a plethora of food choices: Just consider that the average U.S. supermarket now sells more than 30,000 food items.

Our society is apparently content to waste nearly 40% of its 20% energy on food. Unfortunately, by 2025, this alarming level of waste will receive less attention. In fact, it’s only going to get worse. While we continue to invest billions of dollars in pursuit of energy “solutions”—from new nuclear reactors (even fusion!) to green hydrogen, all of which come with their own environmental burdens—by 2025 we will continue to There is no way to solve the problem of huge waste of energy.