Correlating greenhouse gas emissions with energy use

The average diet in the U.S. demands 4.7kg of CO2 and 25.2MJ of non-renewable energy per day, research finds.

A new study focussing on the self-selected diets 16,800 US citizens finds diets rich in meat and dairy come with the highest emissions and energy demands. However, beverages also played a significant role in determining emissions, the study notes.

The study’s abstract state:

“Human food systems are a key contributor to climate change and other environmental concerns. While the environmental impacts of diets have been evaluated at the aggregate level, few studies and none for the U.S. have focused on individual self-selected diets. Such work is essential for estimating a distribution of impacts, which, in turn, is key to recommending policies for driving consumer demand towards lower environmental impacts. Our analyses highlight the importance of utilizing individual dietary behaviors rather than just population means when considering diet shift scenarios.”

More on this story:

IOP Science

Greenhouse gas emissions and energy use associated with production of individual self-selected US diets
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