All that energy - bottled up?

What use is all that energy - bottled up?

It might seem odd, that we wail over the gallon price of gasoline. Here in my neighborhood, it was $2.59 a gallon this past weekend. Yikes.

If you're spending $1.49 for a tiny 9-ounce bottle of Evian, that's $21a gallon! It's all put into perspective with gallon prices for Snapple, Pepto-Bismol, and Aquafina, which is just filtered...tap water. The real cost of our beloved plastic water bottles is billed to our environment. For instance, did you know that…

• 8.8 Billion gallons of bottled water were consumed in the U.S. in 2007
• Plastic bags and other plastic garbage thrown into the ocean kill as many as 1 million sea creatures every year.
• There is a garbage patch twice the size of Texas in the North Pacific ocean

We know that it takes energy to make the plastic bottles themselves - most bottles are made from polyethylene terephthalate (PET), which comes from oil. But don't forget the even more energy-intensive process of trucking billions of these water bottles around the country. Some travel as far as 5000 miles from Fiji!

A new study breaks down just how much energy is used at each step of the process. An estimated total 32 million to 54 million barrels of oil equivalent was required to produce the amount of bottled water consumed in the United States in 2007, according to a study, detailed in the January-March issue of the journal Environmental Research Letters. That is enough oil to fuel 3.6 million cars for a year. That amount of energy is 2,000 times more than is required to make tap water, according to the study. For the most part, tap water is completely safe to drink. Additionally, most people already get enough water through the food and beverages they consume throughout the day. Perhaps the bottled water companies have created all this hype about dehydration. What is scary is that even if you recycle your plastic bottle - that energy is sunk cost. Unfortunately, not all of us do - the Container Recycling Institute, 86% of plastic water bottles used in the United States become garbage or litter.

At Expicient being environmentally responsible is part of our mission. We also believe that small efforts – will over time give big results. We are providing reusable stainless steel water bottles to those we can - to help reduce consumption of disposable cups and plastic water bottles. If you’re interested in getting one of these bottles– please write to us gogreen@expicient.com with your Name, a little about you and any other thoughts you’d like to share. And of course, please do not forget to send us your address.

The author Ms. Surabhi Konkar is a renewable energy & sustainable supply chain consultant with Expicient Inc.