Generally every walk of our life is a Trade-off. Compromise on one or other.
What is Trade-off?
A trade-off (or tradeoff) is a situation that involves losing one quality or aspect of something in return for gaining another quality or aspect. It implies a decision to be made with full comprehension of both the upside and downside of a particular choice. And you are giving something away to get something back.
definition courtesy: wikipedia
Okay thats an economical term how am I relating that to our daily walks of life?
Simply read further.
In this blog I am placing a different angle on the concept of "Go Green". We all see slogans every where saying "Go Green".....
Hey wait I started off with "Trade-off" and you think I am deviating to "Go Green"? Wait wait wait... read further you will understand.
Coming back to "Go Green" slogan. Have we ever thought what is meant by "Go Green"?
I am going to take a very simple example for my point of discussion i.e. "Usage of re-usable / disposable cups".
Long long ago so long ago, we were using cups made of leaves or even coconut shell to drink the beverages/alcohol etc. Later due technology those turned into a metallic cups and depending on the status in the society, several shades of cups were there. Here by shade I mean the value of the cups that could vary from gold to copper / tin / glass / porcelain / mud cups.
These newer metallic cups are far better than the cups made of leaves and coconut shell as they can give better and uniform look, more hygienic etc. etc. etc. However maintaining the metallic cups were a tedious task. Hence technology was looking into an alternate and found the plastic cups. These were again giving better, uniform rich look and hence people started using these cups in large quantities. Still were using the metallic cups for grand events/festivals and on rare occasions.
Well the technology did not settle there, it came up with a disposable concept, as if the original cups were not disposable. Disposable cups were originally made of plastic then turned to paper as plastics were costly and considered not eco-friendly. The advantages were marketed [obviously no body markets the disadvantages] that its better for hygiene, cheap blah...blah... We all started using the disposable plastic cups and paper cups.
Now that everybody is speaking about the global warming etc., technology started speaking about "go-green" and many are switching back to the conventional re-usable cups and claiming they are contributing to the "go-green" initiative.
Okay lets take a pause and discuss what are the merits and demerits [not limited to what is being listed] of using a paper cup.
Merits
* disposable
* low cost
* easy to transport
* hygienic
De-merits
* cutting of trees to make paper
* wax is coated to make it waterproof which is not good for health
* not actually recyclable due to wax being used
Environmental Impact due to disposable cups:
* Paper cups ar designed for a single use and then disposal or recycling
* 1.275g of CO2 is emitted per each gram of paper cup
* no need to say about the hazards caused by the disposable plastic cups
Okay the above proves that switching to re-usable cups is a wise decision and boast ourselves to contribute to go-green initiative. Why wait and why not just switch to re-usable cups? Take a chill pill...read further...
Now lets consider Re-usable vs Disposable cups
This classic life-cycle energy analysis was performed by University of Victoria professor of chemistry Martin B. Hocking. Hocking compared three types of reusable drinking cups (ceramic, glass and reusable plastic) to two types of disposable cups (paper and polystyrene foam).
But in order to reuse a cup, it has to be washed. The efficiency of the dishwasher, and the efficiency of the energy system that powers it, determine how much energy is required for each wash.¹ Hocking assumed a new, commercial dishwasher running on Canadian electricity, requiring about 0.18 MJ/cup-wash.² The total amount of energy per use is this wash energy plus the appropriate fraction of manufacturing energy, depending on the cup's lifetime. Figure 1 shows how the energies per use of the three reusable cups decline, the more you use them.
What is Trade-off?
A trade-off (or tradeoff) is a situation that involves losing one quality or aspect of something in return for gaining another quality or aspect. It implies a decision to be made with full comprehension of both the upside and downside of a particular choice. And you are giving something away to get something back.
definition courtesy: wikipedia
Okay thats an economical term how am I relating that to our daily walks of life?
Simply read further.
| * Automobiles | we trade-off with pollution against our growing requirement of rapid transportation |
| * Electricity | again we trade-off with pollution against our growing requirement of electricity |
| * Nuclear electricity | we trade-off with the risk of damaging the surroundings against our growing requirement of electricity |
| * Marriage | we trade-off with each other's freedom against our happiness |
| * Having kids | we trade-off with our sweet time against our happiness |
| * Fast food | we trade-off with our health against time |
In this blog I am placing a different angle on the concept of "Go Green". We all see slogans every where saying "Go Green".....
Hey wait I started off with "Trade-off" and you think I am deviating to "Go Green"? Wait wait wait... read further you will understand.
Coming back to "Go Green" slogan. Have we ever thought what is meant by "Go Green"?
I am going to take a very simple example for my point of discussion i.e. "Usage of re-usable / disposable cups".
Long long ago so long ago, we were using cups made of leaves or even coconut shell to drink the beverages/alcohol etc. Later due technology those turned into a metallic cups and depending on the status in the society, several shades of cups were there. Here by shade I mean the value of the cups that could vary from gold to copper / tin / glass / porcelain / mud cups.
These newer metallic cups are far better than the cups made of leaves and coconut shell as they can give better and uniform look, more hygienic etc. etc. etc. However maintaining the metallic cups were a tedious task. Hence technology was looking into an alternate and found the plastic cups. These were again giving better, uniform rich look and hence people started using these cups in large quantities. Still were using the metallic cups for grand events/festivals and on rare occasions.
Well the technology did not settle there, it came up with a disposable concept, as if the original cups were not disposable. Disposable cups were originally made of plastic then turned to paper as plastics were costly and considered not eco-friendly. The advantages were marketed [obviously no body markets the disadvantages] that its better for hygiene, cheap blah...blah... We all started using the disposable plastic cups and paper cups.
Now that everybody is speaking about the global warming etc., technology started speaking about "go-green" and many are switching back to the conventional re-usable cups and claiming they are contributing to the "go-green" initiative.
Okay lets take a pause and discuss what are the merits and demerits [not limited to what is being listed] of using a paper cup.
Merits
* disposable
* low cost
* easy to transport
* hygienic
De-merits
* cutting of trees to make paper
* wax is coated to make it waterproof which is not good for health
* not actually recyclable due to wax being used
Environmental Impact due to disposable cups:
* Paper cups ar designed for a single use and then disposal or recycling
* 1.275g of CO2 is emitted per each gram of paper cup
* no need to say about the hazards caused by the disposable plastic cups
Okay the above proves that switching to re-usable cups is a wise decision and boast ourselves to contribute to go-green initiative. Why wait and why not just switch to re-usable cups? Take a chill pill...read further...
Now lets consider Re-usable vs Disposable cups
This classic life-cycle energy analysis was performed by University of Victoria professor of chemistry Martin B. Hocking. Hocking compared three types of reusable drinking cups (ceramic, glass and reusable plastic) to two types of disposable cups (paper and polystyrene foam).
 |
Table 1 - The embodied energy in each of the
five cups (last
column) is the cup mass (first
column) multiplied by the material
specific
energy (second column).
|
The energy of manufacture of reusable cups is vastly larger than the energy of manufacture of disposable cups (Table 1). In order for a reusable cup to be an improvement over a disposable one on an energy basis, you have to use it multiple times, in order to "cash in" on the energy investment you made in the cup. If a cup lasts only ten uses, then each use gets "charged' for one-tenth of the manufacturing energy. If it lasts for a hundred uses, then each use gets charged for only one-hundredth of the manufacturing energy.
 |
Figure 1 - The energy per use of each reusable cup (black
lines) declines as it is used more times. The energy per
use of each disposable cup (green lines) is a constant
equal to the manufacturing energy, since it is used only
once and is never washed. The numbers in the labels
are the manufacturing energies for the different cups.
|
But in order to reuse a cup, it has to be washed. The efficiency of the dishwasher, and the efficiency of the energy system that powers it, determine how much energy is required for each wash.¹ Hocking assumed a new, commercial dishwasher running on Canadian electricity, requiring about 0.18 MJ/cup-wash.² The total amount of energy per use is this wash energy plus the appropriate fraction of manufacturing energy, depending on the cup's lifetime. Figure 1 shows how the energies per use of the three reusable cups decline, the more you use them.
 |
Table 2 - Break-even matrix. Each number
shows the
uses necessary before the reusable
cup listed on the
left, becomes equally energy
efficient to the
disposable cup listed on the
top.
|
The lifetime needed for the energy per use of a reusable cup to become less than for a disposable cup, is called the "break-even point." In Table 2, the break-even matrix shows how many uses are required for each reusable cup to do better than either disposable cup.
The lesson of this life-cycle energy analysis is that the choice between reusable and disposable cups doesn't matter much in its overall environmental impact. One should use one's best judgement. Indeed, in situations where cups are likely to be lost or broken and thus have a short average lifetime, disposable cups are the preferred option.
1 Dishwashers generally require less energy than hand washing, because they make particularly efficient use of the hot water, which is the most energy-intensive part of washing dishes. U.S Department of Energy, Energy-Efficient Water Heating.
2 ILEA reports most energy values in megajoules (MJ). A megajoule is enough energy to bring about 3 quarts of room-temperature water to boiling.
Source: Hocking, Martin B. "Reusable and Disposable Cups: An Energy-Based Evaluation." Environmental Management 18(6), 1994, pp. 889-899.
However in the above research, the environment damage done due to dishwasher is not considered. Please see below.
What is the environmental impact due to detergents?
Detergents can have poisonous effects in all types of aquatic life if they are present in sufficient quantities, and this includes the biodegradable detergents. All detergents destroy the external mucus layers that protect the fish from bacteria and parasites; plus they can cause severe damage to the gills. Most fish will die when detergent concentrations approach 15 parts per million. Detergent concentrations as low as 5ppm will kill fish eggs. Surfactant detergents are implicated in decreasing the breeding ability of aquatic organisms.
Read more: http://www.lenntech.com/aquatic/detergents.htm#ixzz1xXWUfvOY
Summary
Now tell me we should neither be ashamed to use a disposable cup nor be proud to boast we are eco friendly by using a re-usable cup, all we must do is to find a right balance.
Now what is that right balance?
Right balance could differ from person to person as there is no silver bullet answer for this question. However I would stress on one thing is to be considerate in using any resource. Use just what you need and do not waste. You may be rich enough to cover the monetary damage, but cannot clean up the environmental damage that is done by just paying money.
The results are extremely sensitive to the amount of energy the dishwasher requires for cleaning each cup. Hocking's choice for the dishwasher, requiring 0.18 MJ/cup-wash, is barely less than the manufacturing energy of the foam cup, 0.19 MJ/cup. If Hocking had chosen even a slightly less energy efficient dishwasher as his standard, then the reusable cups would never have broken even with the foam cup.
The lesson of this life-cycle energy analysis is that the choice between reusable and disposable cups doesn't matter much in its overall environmental impact. One should use one's best judgement. Indeed, in situations where cups are likely to be lost or broken and thus have a short average lifetime, disposable cups are the preferred option.
1 Dishwashers generally require less energy than hand washing, because they make particularly efficient use of the hot water, which is the most energy-intensive part of washing dishes. U.S Department of Energy, Energy-Efficient Water Heating.
2 ILEA reports most energy values in megajoules (MJ). A megajoule is enough energy to bring about 3 quarts of room-temperature water to boiling.
Source: Hocking, Martin B. "Reusable and Disposable Cups: An Energy-Based Evaluation." Environmental Management 18(6), 1994, pp. 889-899.
However in the above research, the environment damage done due to dishwasher is not considered. Please see below.
What is the environmental impact due to detergents?
Detergents can have poisonous effects in all types of aquatic life if they are present in sufficient quantities, and this includes the biodegradable detergents. All detergents destroy the external mucus layers that protect the fish from bacteria and parasites; plus they can cause severe damage to the gills. Most fish will die when detergent concentrations approach 15 parts per million. Detergent concentrations as low as 5ppm will kill fish eggs. Surfactant detergents are implicated in decreasing the breeding ability of aquatic organisms.
Read more: http://www.lenntech.com/aquatic/detergents.htm#ixzz1xXWUfvOY
Summary
Now tell me we should neither be ashamed to use a disposable cup nor be proud to boast we are eco friendly by using a re-usable cup, all we must do is to find a right balance.
Now what is that right balance?
Right balance could differ from person to person as there is no silver bullet answer for this question. However I would stress on one thing is to be considerate in using any resource. Use just what you need and do not waste. You may be rich enough to cover the monetary damage, but cannot clean up the environmental damage that is done by just paying money.
