Bottled water and wasted energy

Here’s another reason to pass on bottled water (besides wasting your money) – bottled water uses up to 2,000 times as much energy to produce and distribute as tap water.  Water scientist extraordinaire Dr. Peter Gleick and Heather Cooley of the Pacific Institute have just released a study published in the peer-reviewed journal Environmental Research Letters detailing the energy footprint of bottled water.  The study “Energy Implications of Bottled Water” concludes that the annual consumption of bottled water in the U.S. in 2007 required the equivalent of between 32 and 54 million barrels of oil.  Most of this energy is used to make the plastic bottles and then to ship the water from source to consumer (sometimes thousands of miles away).  This wasted energy, and the resulting carbon dioxide emissions, could be easily and cheaply avoided by using tap water and a refillable container in many circumstances.  Based on recent trends showing a downturn in bottled water sales, it seems that’s the choice more and more people are making.