From grow lights in greenhouses and massive diesel-powered farm tractors to the refrigerators in millions of American homes, the food system ranks as a major power user. “Up to a fifth of our nation’s total energy use goes into growing, transporting, processing and eventually preparing our food, but those energy inputs are often hidden,” says the opening story of a series by Harvest Public Media and Inside Energy. “We’re always thinking about energy, because it costs us money,” says Nate Storey, the chief executive of Bright Agrotech in Laramie, Wyoming.
Says Harvest Public Media, “One of the few studies to look at all the energy inputs into our food system shows between 1997 and 2002, food-related energy consumption grew six times faster than overall energy consumption.” Food processing accounted for much of the increase. Americans pay for convenience in food, such as bagged lettuce or ready-to-cook items.
“But the biggest energy consumer of all is also the most hidden: our own kitchens,” says the story. “Estimates vary, but approximately one third of all the energy we use to produce food is consumed in our homes—by the hundreds of millions of stoves, ovens, dishwashers, microwaves, blenders and extra freezers.”