+ Energy and Meat

We're supposed to be wrapping up our energy research, but I had to point energy-conscious readers to a great article from last Sunday's NY Times: Rethinking the Meat-Guzzler, by Mark Bittman. As Mark notes:

A SEA change in the consumption of a resource that Americans take for granted may be in store — something cheap, plentiful, widely enjoyed and a part of daily life. And it isn’t oil. It's meat.

Noting that Americans eat nearly 200 pounds of meat a year, Bittman cites data from several academic sources that each of those pounds of meat requires about 16 times as much fossil fuel to produce as the same caloric amount of vegetables. On top of that, it is estimated that 900 million tons of manure are produced each year. Whew!

In interesting side note from the article is that on an energy basis, it turns out that pigs and chickens are far more efficient at converting feed into meat. Mr. Bittman did his homework, and there's a lot more interesting information in this story. Not to mention the usual fine visual charts and diagrams. Check it out before you're next trip to the supermarket.