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Perhaps this article is what you are looking for? It's a study by the US Department of Energy on
the life-cycle environmental and resource costs in the manufacturing, transport, use, and disposal of light-emitting diode (LED) lighting products in relation to comparable traditional lighting technologies.
There is a similar study done by manufacturer ...
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i signed up just so i could make this comment. THelper♦ provided a good link to a DOE report on this topic, which i was researching because my roommate is skeptical about the advantages of efficient bulbs.
the report THelper♦ cited has the following bar graph that pretty much answers the question:
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Let's assume that the use of fuel is the key factor to contribute to global warming and identify four ways that an individual can choose to cross the Atlantic ocean:
Large passenger ships, small passenger ships (sailing boats), large cargo vessels and airplane.
Fuel use per transport mode
Here are the km a given transport mode delivers per one litre of ...
12
If we diverge slightly from the request for CO_2 per passenger km, and look at energy use per passenger km, then David MacKay's book "Without Hot Air" has a rather good chart.
Pulling from that the methods by which one might plausibly cross the atlantic (figures are approximate, as I'm reading them off the vertical scale):
A Boeing 747: 52 kWh per 100 ...
11
I have heard that disposables use less energy than reusables if you also use hot water and they dryer. But it seems that many experts disagree. Most of the energy that goes into reusable diapers is in heating the water and the dryer. So, the colder the water you're using and less often you dry them the better off you are. Using rain water and/or solar ...
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It's hard to assume how much ecological footprint does one extra passenger add to a freighter. I'd guess it's near zero, since it's a cargo ship which needs some basic facilities for the crew anyway, so one person doesn't mean a difference. The twelve passengers limit for cruisers without a doctor means freighter travel isn't likely to be mass used, but for ...
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While this doesn't fully answer the question in terms of ecological impact, David MacKay provides a good chart of the energy use of various modes of transport, here.
I'll extract some figures from it (they're approximate, from me reading off the vertical axis). They refer to typical occupancy unless otherwise stated.
Note that, as pointed out by a ...
10
There is a presentation comparing the environmental impact of different vegetable oils here (direct download link to pdf!).
It is shown that olive oil has less impact regarding the output of greenhouse gases and substances that contribute to acidification, eutrophication and the generation of photochemical smog though it requires more space to grow it. The ...
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From the first search I tried the first result says:
According to the Second IMO GHG Study 2009, which is the most comprehensive and authoritative assessment of the level of GHG emitted by ships, international shipping was estimated to have emitted 870 million tonnes, or about 2.7% of the global man-made emissions of CO2 in 2007. Exhaust gases are the ...
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A fire in a fireplace is pretty to look at but is probably the most inefficient way to heat a home. Not because wood is a poor fuel, which it really isn't, but rather that it is an incredibly poor design for a heating source. A huge amount of the heat goes straight up the chimney.
If you really want to use wood as a fuel source the most efficient way to ...
8
There are too many variables.
First: what we mean by sustainability in this case? It could mean "resources will never run out". If no other factors apply and sustainability is the only meaning of life, no children, collective suicide and controlled extinction of human race seems to be the best solution. This is clearly not what we really want (not only ...
7
It is hard to say because there is such a wide variation in ink formulations. Also, no company is going to tell you what is in their ink, as they will consider that a trade secret. That being said, the only consumable part of a mechanical pencil is made entirely of graphite which is 100% Carbon and Clay. Go with the pencil!
Here is a "How it is made" video ...
7
The ecological footprint method does not directly convert consumed resources into global hectares, at least not via a single conversion factor.
Instead first the amount of required land/sea area in physical hectares is calculated by dividing the amount of resources by the yield of the specific land/sea area where those resources were harvested. The physical ...
7
On the positive side economically you are expanding the market for sustainable products, which will help lower their price and make them more likely to be developed.
Another reason to make the effort is that the grandchildren of the people who aren't pursuing sustainability may be, for example, traumatized like the grandchildren of war criminals, and wish ...
7
Well, if you are really into it and quite handy, you could turn it into activated charcoal, and then add it to your soil!
Grind it into small bits, heat it anaerobically, then introduce high-pressure steam. The result will be charcoal with many fissures and cracks, which is ideal for gardening purposes.
Then, before introducing it to your garden, pee on it ...
6
A study of canned mackerel and herring shows that the production of the aluminium can is responsible for most of the products carbon footprint (Buchspies et al. 2011). Impacts associated to transport are slightly smaller compared to frozen codfish. Storage of frozen fish obviously requires more energy than storage of canned products, however it doesn't seem ...
6
There are several databases like this online. Just google on 'sustainability OR csr database companies' and you’ll find a lot of hits. However, I have found that very few are easy to use.
For example, the Sustainability Disclosure Database lists data on thousands of companies on sustainability and environmental and social and governance transparency. I did ...
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First of all, I think there are two very good reasons why there are many different labels that rate only a specific aspect of a product or look at a limited set of products:
It is much easier than taking everything and every product into account.
A lot of research is needed to continuously assess products. Products change all the time so your rating should ...
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There's two things to consider when looking at the efficiency of a wood stove:
Clean, complete burning - wood stove rely on natural convection to supply air to the fire. This usually means in practice that the stove is most efficient when it's burning "full throttle", meaning most of the wood in the fireplace is actually burning.
Form of the heat - in an ...
5
Unfortunately--and I realize this is not very helpful--the best choice in terms of carbon footprint is almost certainly not to go. It's a good point that freighters are likely to be much more efficient per passenger than cruise ships, but when comparing them to airplanes, you have to keep in mind what's being brought along to accommodate the passenger, not ...
5
I guess making such a label is something that anyone with a phone and a bit of money can do. Recognition from both manufacturers and customers is really "all you need", but anyone involved in marketing knows how difficult that is.
The main problem I see with an evaluative label is the following
How do you convince the manufacturer to stick your 2/10-star ...
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Not reasonable to do. Firstly, what you describe is only the final assembly. I don't see any advantage to doing that on site instead of at a plant. And I see considerable disadvantages.
Paint on PV while demonstrated in the lab, has serious issues with longevity.
Even at the household scale the infra-structure is now more expensive than the PV panels ...
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"Is there no significant consequence to how we use our bodies' own generated energy - from a resources sustainability point of view - or are there considerations one can put into use in terms of harnessing one's body energy for external power consumption purposes?"
I feel like this one question you asked fairly neatly sums up your entire overall question. ...
5
Electricity is just a vector of energy: it is neither sustainable nor unsustainable per se. It depends how it is generated and how it is used.
No ponzi scheme is economically sustainable; and BitCoin is no exception. Those who created the first quarter of the total possible bitcoin stock did so extremely easily. Every block thereafter gets harder and harder,...
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You have to also consider the climate where each type of cooler will be used and how each type of cooler works.
Refrigeration coolers transfer heat from inside a building to the outside. However, the hotter the outside temperature the less effectively such coolers work. If the outside/atmospheric temperature is 50 C or higher, such coolers will struggle.
...
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I have an incomplete answer, but at least this is something to get the conversation started. At the bottom of your comments, you restate the question as "is organic any better because it costs more, meaning consumers buy less?"
Throughout this sustainability Q&A forum, there is a misunderstanding that sustainability equates to the minimization of ...
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Just buy a used USB cable. You can go to a computer recycler and they will have thousands.
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To answer this portion of your question:
"But what other ways can one use one's own body energy wisely, and in general what principles / themes can one explore to put it into practice?
"
You made mention of using your body for transportation but you can go beyond just transportation. You can use peddle power or a rowing machine to power your cell phone, to ...
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I think you have the right idea. Your question addresses exactly what the ecological footprint does not measure, and the question you link to is trying to explain that.
Fundamentally, ecological footprint is about energy. Sunlight arrives and is used by plants (or a tiny amount is used directly by people via PV or other solar power systems), which use it ...
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