Making Bagasse

Energy, Emissions and Water Comparison between Bagasse, Paper and Styrofoam

How does Bagasse compare with its Paper, Styrofoam and Recycled Paper counterparts?
Table 1: Resources (inputs) required to produce one pound of materials.

Table 2: Bagasse values are set at 100% for benchmarking.

Conclusions:

Bagasse requires the least amount of energy to produce.
Styrofoam¹ requires over six times (631%) more energy than bagasse, while paper uses four times (400%) more energy. Recycled paper uses 1.84 times more energy.²
Recycled paper releases the least amount of CO₂ (about half as much as bagasse).
Styrofoam³ releases over three times (311%) more CO₂ to into the atmosphere, while paper releases almost twice (197%) as much CO₂ during production. ⁴
Bagasse requires the least amount of water to produce.
Styrofoam requires 30 times (3085%) more water than bagasse, recycled paper requires almost 3 times more (289%)⁵ and paper uses over four times (445%) more.⁶

What difference does it make?
Assumption: Let's assume that the average person uses 5 disposable items per day for one year and that the average household consumes 29.19 kWh of energy per day.⁷

If he chooses to use only bagasse items - in one year, he will have consumed 71.1 kWh of energy, released 192.43 pounds of CO2 and used 13.83 gallons of water. Since the average household uses 29.19 kWh of energy per day, this would be enough energy to power the household for 2.44 days.
If he chooses to use only recycled paper items – in one year, he will have consumed 130.9 kWh of energy, released 98.71 pounds of CO2 and used 40 gallons of water. Since the average household uses 29.19 kWh of energy per day, this would be enough energy to power the household for 4.48 days.
If he chooses to use only paper items - in one year, he will have consumed 284.56 kWh of energy and released 379.64 pounds of CO2. Since the average household uses 29.19 kWh of energy per day, this would be enough energy to power the household for almost ten days (9.75).
If he chooses to use only Styrofoam items - in one year, he will have consumed 448.27 kWh of energy, released 598.23 pounds of CO2 and used 426.71 gallons of water. Since the average household uses 29.19 kWh of energy per day, this would be enough energy to power the household for 15.36 days.

Choosing bagasse products over its paper and Styrofoam counterparts saves energy, reduces emissions and conserves water.

By choosing Bagasse products over Styrofoam, he will: By choosing Bagasse products over Paper, he will:

References

¹Hocking, Martin B. "Reusable and Disposable Cups: An Energy-Based Evaluation." Environmental Management 18(6) pp. 889-899
A summary of his paper may be found here: http://www.ilea.org/lcas/hocking1994.html

²Environmental Defense. “Paper Calculator.” N.d. <-http://www2.edf.org/papercalculator/index.cfm%20->

³Hocking, Martin B. "Reusable and Disposable Cups: An Energy-Based Evaluation." Environmental Management 18(6) pp. 889-899
A summary of his paper may be found here: http://www.ilea.org/lcas/hocking1994.html

⁴Energy Information Administration (EIA). “Electric Power Annual.” 22 October. 2007. <-http://www.eia.doe.gov/cneaf/electricity/epa/epa_sum.html->.
The energy (8.32 kwh for each pound of paper and 13.10 kwh for each pound of Styrofoam) is multiplied by 1.33415210, which is how much CO₂ gets released when 1 kWh is generated.
Total CO₂/Tot. Energy Produced=4,065 million MWh/2460 million metric tons = 1.33 lbs of CO2 per kWh

⁵Environmental Defense. “Paper Calculator.” N.d. <-http://www2.edf.org/papercalculator/index.cfm%20->

⁶Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Environment and Energy. “Material intensity of materials, fuels, transport services.” 28 October 2003. <-http://www.wupperinst.org/en/info/entwd/uploads/tx_wibeitrag/MIT_v2.pdf->

⁷Energy Information Administration (EIA). “U.S. Household Electricity Report.” 14 July. 2005. <-http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/reps/enduse/er01_us.html->.
“Electricity consumption by 107 million U.S. households in 2001 totaled 1,140 billion kWh”
(1,140 billion kWh / 107 million U.S. households = 10,656 kWh per year, per household; or 29.19 kWh per day per household.)

⁸Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). “Exercise 3: The Superior Car Wash” 22 February. 2006. <-http://www.epa.gov/nps/nps_edu/stopx2.htm->
“It takes… 35 gallons to fill a normal bathtub.”
(199.5) / 35 = 5.7 bathtubs
(47.71) / 35 = 1.36 bathtubs

⁹Energy Information Administration (EIA). “Method for Calculating Carbon Sequestration by Trees in Urban and Suburban Settings.” U.S. DOE. 1998. <-http://www.eia.doe.gov/oiaf/1605/techassist.html->
Average sequestration per tree: 7.78111 per year.
106.69 / 7.78111 = 13.71 trees
187.22 / 7.78111 = 24.0608 trees

¹⁰Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). “Emission Facts: Greenhouse Gas Emissions from a Typical Passenger Vehicle.” 4 February 2005. <-http://www.epa.gov/otaq/climate/420f05004.htm->
“A gallon of gasoline is assumed to produce… 19.4 pounds of CO₂."
"For 2003, MOBILE calculates values of 23.9 miles per gallon (mpg) for passenger cars."
23.9 miles per gallon / 19.4 pounds of CO₂ per gallon = 1.2320 miles per pound of CO₂.
106.69 * 1.2320 = 134.44 miles
187.22 * 1.2320 = 230.6550 miles