The embedded energy in food waste in the united states

Cuellar and Webber through their research aimed at estimating the more recent and accurate estimation of wastage of energy due to wastage of food. Food production uses fossil fuels during production, transportation, and preparation. Cuellar and Webber argue that most of the studies conducted in relation to this topic are not accurate and relevant as the estimations and statistics are out of date or incomplete. Various factors like food loss, food production techniques, use of fossil fuels all are not from the same time and hence the conclusions are also not accurate. They rely on the estimate that 15. 7% of the overall energy consumption in the US is accounted for by agriculture.
Various assumptions are made in the research to find the energy wasted due to wastage of food. Various factors involved in food production like transportation, processing, handling, etc are taken into account in the calculation of the energy wasted. An error of 20% is assigned in order to account for the assumptions made in calculating the energy wasted. They conclude that 2030 ± 160 trillion BTU of embedded energy is represented by food waste. They also conclude that dairy and vegetables are the major categories that make the greatest contribution to wasted energy. Even though they do not claim that their calculations are accurate, they believe that this gives a rough but more realistic estimation of the energy wasted due to wastage of food. Even though the estimate is on the lower end, it is a significant amount of energy that is wasted.
In the current scenario, where global warming and non-renewable energy sources are of high priority on the global agenda, it is highly important for every country to take necessary actions to ensure that valuable energy is not wasted. Food production and consumption are not seen as a source of wastage of energy by many. As there is no direct relationship that can be established between food production/consumption and wastage of energy, it is not being considered seriously by many countries. More studies like these need to be conducted and awareness has to created among the public and the governments to take these issues more seriously and come up with ways to tackle such issues