What is the unit for carbon footprint?
tonnes
What is your water footprint?
Your water footprint is the amount of water you consume in your daily life, including the water used to grow the food you eat, to produce the energy you use and for all of the products in your daily life – your books, music, house, car, furniture and the clothes you wear.
How can I reduce my water footprint?
Broadly speaking, you can reduce your direct water footprint by:
- turning off the tap while brushing your teeth.
- using water-saving toilets.
- installing a water-saving shower head.
- taking shorter showers.
- only washing your clothes when necessary.
- fixing household leaks.
- using less water in the garden and when cleaning.
Which country has the highest water footprint?
USA
Why do we calculate water footprint?
This particular footprint includes the amount of water from the moment of precipitation in the root zone of the soil that has been incorporated by plants or lost through evapotranspiration. It is highly important to measure it because it is relevant for forestry, horticultural, and agricultural products.
Which country has the lowest water footprint?
Water riches, water poverty The countries where water poverty is the worst and water usage is the lowest are Mozambique, Rwanda, Haiti, Ethiopia, and Uganda – these five use 15 liters or less daily.
What are the types of water footprint?
We should distinguish three types of water footprints:
- Blue water: Surface or groundwater introduced into products and returned to the environment.
- Green water: Evaporated water which comes from rain and humidity.
- Grey water: Water polluted by the production of goods and services.
What is the water footprint for your phone?
One cell phone takes 240 gallons to manufacture. It takes 713 gallons to produce one cotton t-shirt. A hamburger uses 660 gallons of water to make.
How is an accurate water footprint helpful to us?
The water footprint helps us understand for what purposes our limited freshwater resources are being consumed and polluted. The impact it has depends on where the water is taken from and when.
What is the link between food and water footprint?
Growing and processing crops and livestock consumes large quantities of water; therefore, the water footprint of food is high. Animal products, especially, like meat, dairy and eggs (all of which tend to require more water than fruits, vegetables and beans) have an even higher water footprint.
What is the difference between virtual water and water footprint?
Virtual water is the amount of embedded water in a commodity required to produce, package and ship the commodity to consumers. The water footprint illustrates the total consumption of water as measured for the individual consumer, community, nation or business.
How much virtual water is in milk?
For example, the virtual water content (in m3/ton) for potatoes is 160. Others examples – maize=900; milk=900; wheat=1350; soybean=2300; rice=3000; poultry=2800; eggs=4700; cheese=5300; pork=5900; and beef=16000.
What is virtual water examples?
Indirect water (also called “virtual water”) use refers to the water used to produce the goods and services others need and enjoy. For example, think about the water needed to make a box of cereal so you can enjoy a bowl of corn flakes? The flakes are crispy and dry, so they may wonder how water is involved at all.
How do we calculate virtual water?
For instance, the virtual water content of a product is the total sum of the water used along value chain.
What is the virtual water concept?
Virtual water is the water embodied in the production of food and fiber and non-food commodities, including energy. For example, it requires about 1300 tons (cubic meters) of water to produce a ton of wheat and 16000 tons (cubic meters) of water to produce a ton of beef.
Why virtual water is important?
International Virtual Water Flows This allows us to link the water footprint of production to the water footprint of consumption, wherever they occur. Virtual water flows help us see how the water resources in one country are used to support consumption in another country.
Why is virtual water a problem?
One main drawback of the virtual water concept is that virtual water volumes do not express the social, environmental nor economic value of the water to local communities. In that case the virtual water used for export agriculture is an indicator for social, political, and environmental risks.
How is virtual water used?
The virtual water concept has been used to call for structural shifts away from products with high virtual water content towards products with a lower virtual water content. For example, there have been calls for Australia to cease producing rice based on perceptions of high virtual water content.
What are some indirect uses of water?
Water can be used for direct and indirect purposes. Direct purposes include bathing, drinking, and cooking, while examples of indirect purposes are the use of water in processing wood to make paper and in producing steel for automobiles. The bulk of the world’s water use is for agriculture, industry, and electricity.