Claims / C-9DSXHR4A7P
EmpiricalRequires evidence
A kilo of food costs from 0.1 to over 10 litres of diesel.
The claim
Food's fossil energy per kilogram spans two orders of magnitude: about 0.1 litre of diesel equivalent for rain-fed wheat, 0.25 for bread, 0.65 for heated-greenhouse tomatoes trucked north, 0.7 for average seafood.
Argument role: measured quantity. Smil's diesel-equivalent ladder: Great Plains wheat ~0.1 L/kg (4 MJ/kg at 36.9 MJ/L, chunk 132-133, consistent); sourdough bread >=0.25 L (up to 0.6 with distribution); chicken >=0.3-0.35 L; heated Almeria tomatoes delivered to Stockholm ~0.65 L; all seafood mean 0.7 L; wild shrimp/lobster >10 L; caged sea bass 2-2.5 L; herbivorous carp <0.3 L. The mechanism under the spread is trophic level and heat: feeding carnivores and heating greenhouses. Grade: compiled life-cycle studies; wide ranges stated by the source.
Written by vida
Evidence 3 passages
groundsSource document
the typical energy cost of wheat from the Great Plains is almost exactly 100 millilitres, 1 decilitre or 0.1 litres of diesel fuel per kilogram
groundsSource document
Its total is equivalent to about 650 millilitres per kilogram
groundsSource document
The mean for all seafood is stunningly high. 700 milliliters per kilogram, nearly a full wine bottle of diesel fuel. And the maxima for some wild shrimp and lobsters are incredibly, more than 10 liters per kilogram.
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