May 20th, 2007 - 90% reduction?
Emme at Simple Living is trying to reduce her emissions by 90% in the coming year. When I first read the rules, I didn’t believe I could get anywhere near that kind of reduction. I even commented to that effect. But today, after reading her stats (first link above), I decided I should at least figure out my current stats. The info below is taken from her post, but with my family’s averages and comments. I encourage you to try the same exercise. I was pleasantly surprised to find that I’m already far below average in a few places. And that encourages me to actually try to join in and reduce further. Maybe I’ll shoot for an overall 50% reduction or even 75%, even though I can’t reach 90 across the board. As Emme says, Remember this is 90% below the average American - not 90% below where we are now!
(Garbage amount updated Tuesday. Also updated %ages because I realized sometimes I said % below average and sometimes % of average! I’m shooting for 10% of average, so I made sure that’s listed.)
Gasoline.
* Average American: usage is 500 gallons PER PERSON, PER YEAR.
* 90% reduction: would be 50 gallons PER PERSON, PER YEAR.
* Us: 84 gallons per person per year, 16.8% of average (only counting this year, which has no long trips yet)
That’s far better than expected. I originally looked at it personally, and do not know how I’d cut my usage since I go to church 3-4 times a month, which is a 50-mile round trip. But I forgot that usually two of us go!
Electricity.
* Average US usage: is 11,000 kwh PER HOUSEHOLD, PER YEAR, or about 900 kwh PER HOUSEHOLD PER MONTH.
* 90% reduction: would mean using 1,100 PER HOUSEHOLD, PER YEAR or 90 kwh PER HOUSEHOLD PER MONTH
* Us: average 722 kwh per month. So, we are about 20% below average. Or 80% of average.
Natural Gas + Wood Energy
* US Average Natural Gas usage is 1000 therms PER HOUSEHOLD, PER YEAR.
* A 90% reduction would mean a reduction to 100 therms PER HOUSEHOLD PER YEAR
* Us: ave 33 therms/month which is 60% below average. Wow. I didn’t do the math right in my head and though we were nearly average. (Hey! Math majors don’t use numbers after calculus!) That’s 40% of average.
It is unrealistic for us to go 90% below average here as we live in the north. We refuse to freeze during the winter…. 100 therms/year wouldn’t keep us in heat more than 2 months and we need heat for 6 months of the year. We already keep the heat to 68 during the day (7am-7pm since we have kid and Dad at home all day) and 55-61 during the evening/night/early morning (I get up at 5am). For health reasons, I don’t think we can put the heat any lower. We had hoped that our new windows would keep the house warmer, but that didn’t show up this winter. :( Maybe it will keep it cooler this summer (electric AC).
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.
* Us: 0.8-1# per person per day, or about 22% of average
I doubt we can go that low due to the dogs and cats (two of each, poop is heavy. We keep it low by feeding very high quality food where we can, but there’s only so much you can do here). I have not ever weighed our garbage but should one of these days. I know we are far less than average, but not how much. We generally put out 1.5 32-gallon containers (not packed heavy) every 2 weeks. (After first writing, I updated with averages after weighing 2 weeks’ garbage.)
Water.
* The Average American uses 100 Gallons of water PER PERSON, PER DAY.
* A 90% reduction would mean 10 gallons PER PERSON, PER DAY.
* Us: 39-49 gallons per person per day. 392 cubic feet/month, which is 2932 gallons per month (7.48 g/cubic feet[updated–wrong number originally listed]) which is approx. 49 gallons per person per day (not counting Maggie; if I count her as half a person (she doesn’t use the toilet, for instance, but she does use water for cooking, cleaning, clothing, etc.), it’s 39 gallons/day). So we are at about 50% of average.
This would be REALLY hard for us to cut down. This number doesn’t even include the water I use at work (at least 5 gallons between drinking water and the washroom I’m sure). We can’t do the skip-a-flush routine, although I did so as a kid. We do launder only when it’s full if possible. We have a front-loader. We use a dishwasher (said to use less water, especially versus our dish washer’s preferred hand method) and only rinse really messy foods. I use water sparingly when washing up and don’t let it run when not needed. We take showers or baths only when needed. Relatedly, we use hot water rarely.
However, due to thinking about this, I did turn off the water while soaping up yesterday. I think I can only do this during the summertime, however. But I’ll try to do it more often. Every little bit will help.
Consumer Goods.
* The average American spends 10K PER HOUSEHOLD, PER YEAR on consumer goods
* 90% 1k per year (new) Used goods are 10% (used from garage sale is 10%) Used from Goodwill, Church Sale, etc does not count against.
* Us: $6400/year, or 64% of average
This is another toughy. I know we spend less than the average person, but still spend a lot. If I’d done The Compact this would be easier to cut down on. I don’t know how I’d figure this one out. I could do it since I track in Quicken, but it would take a lot of work as I’d have to sort out thrift stores/garage sales, look at a bunch of different categories, etc. But a very basic estimate is $533/month for all of us, not counting the recent home renovations. (This included all budget categories that are typically spent at stores, not counting groceries as that’s food below.) Acck, my first estimate was that we were ABOVE average which I found really hard to believe. Then I realized that I’d included all the pet spending, which is mostly medical and food bills, so I took all of those out. At $1600 for the first 5 months of the year, that puts us over average if counted. Yes, we could cut our spending a lot if we got rid of our pets. But that’s not happening and I do not believe is an appropriate response if you can afford to have pets and truly enjoy them. I just have to remember they are a very expensive hobby!
Food.
* Local should be 70% of diet
* Bulk allotted 25% of diet
* non-local/Processed 5%
* Us: ???
We buy little local food, except in the summertime. Except milk. That’s pretty local ’round here!