Environmental Sustainability Facts on Carbon Footprinting, Water Footprinting, Energy Efficiency and Waste

We are constantly looking for inspiration. For facts and statements that inspire us, surprise us and motivate us. Here is a collection of facts we have compiled so far:

1. It takes more energy to make 1 kg of paper than it takes to make 1 kg of steel
2. It takes almost 500,000 litres of water to extract just 1 kg of gold
3. 1 kwh of electricity from a UK plug socket takes almost 3 kwh of energy to produce
4. Switching from the font ‘Arial’ to ‘Century Gothic’ saves 30% ink on printing
5. More energy is wasted in the UK’s electricity generation system than is consumed to heat all of the UK’s homes
6. There is up to 30 times more gold in a tonne of old mobile phones than in a tonne of gold ore
7. Around 16,000 litres of water is consumed to make just 1 kg of beef
8. Recycling a single 330 ml aluminium drink can saves enough energy to power a TV for over 3 hours
9. Recycling a single 500 ml aluminium beer can saves enough energy to power a TV for over 4 hours
10. It takes around 2,700 litres of water to make a single cotton t-shirt
11. The embodied carbon of constructing an average UK house is equivalent to driving around the earth over 10 times
12. 23 new steps have been added to Mexico City’s Angel of Independence. Over-abstraction of ground water has caused the city to sink 9 m in the last 100 years
13. 1 tonne of CO2e is enough to power a UK light bulb for 10 years. In France it’s enough for over 50 years
14. Our name Circular Ecology was influenced by the fields of ‘circular economy’ and ‘industrial ecology’
15. Transporting goods by a rigid road truck is over 70 times more carbon intensive than bulk shipping
16. Disposable batteries produce 50 times less energy than the embodied energy of production

If you like these facts you may be interested in reading more about sustainability, sustainable development and the three pillars of sustainable development.

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• Circular Economy: Recycling is Not the Benefit
• Carbon footprint database for materials
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