27 April 2013

Is Wasted Food the Key to Clean Energy? [Infographic]

Food waste is a nearly unlimited resource generated by our global food system. Humans have mastered the plow and modified every aspect of our food supply -- and the effects aren't all good. Now most of the developed world struggles with obesity, not starvation. In the process of feeding ourselves we've created a gigantic global waste stream -- dumping nearly 70% of the world's food waste into landfills. What if we used discarded food waste to produce fuel and electricity? Over the next 25 years global energy demands will increase by 50% while global oil supply dwindles. Waste-to-energy could be the key to a more sustainable future. This infographic illustrates just how much food is being wasted across the globe -- from farm to fork, and everywhere in between -- and how that waste can be harnessed for energy, specifically biofuels that can be used to replace the oil-based fuels we use every day.

Food waste is a nearly unlimited resource generated by our global food system. Humans have mastered the plow and modified every aspect of our food supply -- and the effects aren't all good. Now most of the developed world struggles with obesity, not starvation. In the process of feeding ourselves we've created a gigantic global waste stream -- dumping nearly 70% of the world's food waste into landfills.

What if we used discarded food waste to produce fuel and electricity?

Over the next 25 years global energy demands will increase by 50% while global oil supply dwindles. Waste-to-energy could be the key to a more sustainable future.

This infographic illustrates just how much food is being wasted across the globe -- from farm to fork, and everywhere in between -- and how that waste can be harnessed for energy, specifically biofuels that can be used to replace the oil-based fuels we use every day.