ScienceNOW reports a new paper by Peter Gleick and Heather Cooley in Environmental Research Letters that compares the energy use of bottled and tapwater:
… From start to finish, bottled water consumes between 1100 and 2000 times more energy on average than does tap water.
Bottled water consumption has skyrocketed over the past several years. In 2007, some 200 billion liters of bottled water were sold worldwide, and Americans took the biggest gulp: 33 billion liters a year, an average of 110 liters per person. That amount has grown 70% since 2001, and bottled water has now surpassed milk and beer in sales. Many environmental groups have been concerned with this surge because they suspected that making and delivering a bottle of water used much more energy than did getting water from the tap. But until now, no one really knew bottled water’s energy price tag.
Environmental scientist Peter Gleick of the Pacific Institute, a nonprofit research organization in Oakland, California, and his colleague Heather Cooley have added up the energy used in each stage of bottled-water production and consumption. Their tally includes how much energy goes into making a plastic bottle; processing the water; labeling, filling, and sealing a bottle; transporting it for sale; and cooling the water prior to consumption.
The two most energy-intensive categories, the researchers reveal in the current issue of Environmental Research Letters, are manufacturing the bottle and transportation. The team estimates that the global demand for bottle production alone uses 50 million barrels of oil a year–that’s 2 1/2 days of U.S. oil consumption. Determining the energy required to transport a bottle isn’t as straightforward. Some bottles of water travel short distances, but others are imported from far-off countries, which increases their energy footprint. Gleick and Cooley found that drinking an imported bottle of water is about two-and-a-half to four times more energy intensive than getting it locally, often outweighing the energy required to make the bottle.
All told, Gleick estimates that U.S. bottled-water consumption in 2007 required an energy input equivalent to 32 million to 54 million barrels of oil. Global energy demand for bottled water is three times that amount. To put that energy use into perspective, Gleick says to imagine that each bottle is up to one-quarter full of oil.
Great information. Bottled water has invaded my north Florida home in the past few years. We’ve had four bottling plant proposals along a 10 miles stretch of the Santa Fe River in Columbia and Gilchrist counties. Fortunately, they’ve all been turned away … so far. I am a photographer using my work for conservation. You can see more of my work at: http://www.ericzamora.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=50&Itemid=78
I appreciate this information. Keep up the good work.
Fantastic article. As an environmental consultant its great to see that bottled water has a greater cost to the environment and this is in monetary terms. We now have some evidence to encourage people to drink tap water or to make more use household water filters.
Cheers Rogan
Intreasting. So its not enviormental to drink bottled water. Now why don’t you find a way to make those containers bigger so we can fill it with more water. (thermos)
Plus you have to do something with the empty bottles as well (in 2007 a village in Australia banned bottled water for its impact on the environment http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8141569.stm).
what’s about returnable PET bottles? Here it’s quite ordinary to sell bottled water in this form
Can anyone tell me how many barrels of oil are used in the manufacturing and transportation of for the global demand of single use plastic. That in my mind would include, bottled water, plastic bags, other drinks bottles, food containers, straws etc. I would like to know what % of our global demand for oil is used for this industry.
Powerful research, will try and track down the whole paper.
Thank you Jo