Breaking
FoodNerdy Recipes Management System
Tag

costs

Browsing
health

Greenpeace Shows What Costs Meat Consumption Causes for the General Public

Conventional meat production causes environmental damage for which the general public pays. That’s what Greenpeace says in a new study – and calculates how expensive meat should actually be.

Factory farming produces a lot of liquid manure that ends up on fields as fertilizer. The problem: There is too much manure and the soil is over-fertilized, which is why our groundwater is polluted with nitrate. In order for the water to be drinkable, it must be cleaned. The water suppliers take care of that, they bear the costs for the water purification.

This is just one example of how the meat industry causes damage that it ultimately does not pay for itself – this is referred to as “external costs”. According to a new Greenpeace study, the consumption of beef and pork in Germany causes 5.91 billion euros in such costs each year, which the general public has to pay for. Most of the costs are caused by pork (73 percent).

Environmental and climate damage caused by meat production

The 5.91 billion euros annually are made up of various types of damage, such as:

Greenhouse gas emissions driving the climate crisis
Destruction of rainforest for animal feed
Water bodies polluted by fertilizers and pesticides
deterioration of soil quality
If the meat producers had to bear the “true costs” themselves, meat would be significantly more expensive. According to Greenpeace, pork should cost twice as much: an average of 3.04 euros per kilogram instead of 1.52 euros. Beef would be about half the price: 5.33 euros per kilo instead of the previous 3.50 euros. The external costs of meat imported from South America are even higher.

Greenpeace: The costs should be borne by those who cause them

In the study, the authors also compared conventional meat production with organic. The result: The ecological variant causes significantly less damage – and thus also lower external costs. If all companies would only produce meat according to ecological standards, more than two billion euros could be saved. Nevertheless, organic meat would also have to be more expensive so that the general public no longer pays – pork by 23 percent, beef by 50 percent.

“Anyone who consumes at the expense of third parties harms the general public,” says Greenpeace agricultural expert Martin Hofstetter. “Because supermarkets want to lure their customers with cheap meat, others have to pay a high price.” Greenpeace calls for political measures according to the “polluter pays principle”, i.e. those who pay for the damage they cause: meat companies and meat consumers: inside. This is possible, for example, through increased taxes on meat or a CO2 tax.

Keep Reading
By
Lifestyle

Curious Cooling Trick: This is How You Can Effectively Reduce Heating Costs

Heating costs go up and up. A curious cooling trick can ensure that the heating does not have to be turned up high in the first place.

Become cold hardy with these tips

Anyone who thinks here is a tip on how to set the heating particularly efficiently or where to get cheap gas is wrong. In order to save on heating costs, we bridle the horse from behind. In the cold season, we like to dress warmly, make ourselves a grain pillow, curl up under the blanket with a cup of hot tea. It’s lousy outside, so we’d rather watch Netflix than take a walk in the park. All this leads to: We hardly move. And if you don’t move much, you freeze faster.

It sounds banal, but the best trick to save on heating costs is to “freeze less”. To do that, we need to expose our bodies to the cold more often. Sensitivity to cold can be trained. Anyone who hasn’t had hot shower water on a trip abroad knows that, after a while you get used to it. When you expose yourself to cold, your blood vessels constrict. If you warm up again, the blood vessels dilate. If this process is repeated regularly, it can permanently create more blood vessels.

There are a few methods to train cold tolerance. Let’s start with the beginner tricks first. When showering, dare to let the water get colder from time to time. This is not only good for strengthening you against the cold, but also stimulates circulation. Don’t be afraid to get some fresh air, even when the temperature is low. Walks, but also jogging and hiking can help. Another option is going to the sauna, during which you go outside again and again. All of these methods stimulate blood circulation and ensure that you no longer freeze so quickly. Anyone who has taken a walk along the lake or river during the cool seasons may have seen courageous people taking an ice bath. This method is becoming increasingly popular to boost the immune system. However, ice bathing also involves risks and is therefore recommended for advanced swimmers.

Keep Reading
By
Lifestyle

Save Electricity and Costs: When is The Right Time For a New Refrigerator?

The refrigerator is often responsible for high power consumption. With a high-quality device, you can save a lot of energy in the long term and reduce CO2 emissions. But when is a new device due?

The electricity consumption of refrigerators and freezers

There is a perception that a refrigerator needs a new model every 10 to 15 years. But that’s not necessarily true. If the old refrigerator is an energy-saving model, it can still have acceptable consumption values ​​today – especially if you operate it in a cool location.

In any case, it is advisable to get to the bottom of the energy consumption with a power meter. Basically, modern, efficient compressors get by with significantly less energy than the old devices. This is confirmed by a short study on the electricity efficiency of old and new refrigerators and freezers carried out by the Freiburg-based consulting company Ö-quadrat on behalf of the North Rhine-Westphalia consumer advice centre. A total of 1069 devices, 884 of which were free-standing and 185 built-in, were tested.

The results of the study are unequivocal: the power consumption of refrigerators has fallen continuously since the early 1990s. Here is the comparison: around 30 years ago, a standard refrigerator with a freezer compartment consumed 410 kilowatt hours (kWh) per year. The average consumption of a new appliance today is only around 40 percent of that and is around 170 kWh per refrigerator. The other types of appliances, such as refrigerators without a freezer compartment and large fridge-freezer combinations, also show significantly lower power consumption in new appliances. Information on how to select the right cooling device and how to use it is provided by the NRW consumer advice center.

Device type, location and temperature setting are crucial to save costs and energy

A model calculation by shows exactly the difference: the price of a kWh is just under 42 cents today, compared to just 30 cents in 1990. In 1990, a refrigerator cost 123 euros in electricity per year. The same device with the same consumption in 2022 is 172.20 euros. What is not taken into account is that the power consumption of cooling devices increases significantly over the years. This is mainly due to the aging of the insulation material. With older devices, defects such as leaking doors or heavily dusty cooling grids can also lead to increased consumption. The age-related additional consumption is estimated at around one percent per year of life. With the recommended measuring device you can check the power consumption and decide whether it is worth buying a new device.

The advice from energy expert Gerhild Loer from the consumer advice center in North Rhine-Westphalia is clear: “If you have a refrigerator with a freezer compartment as a free-standing appliance, replacing it after around 15 years is worthwhile. For built-in devices, this only applies from the age of 20, due to the higher acquisition costs”.

She has even more tips up her sleeve to save electricity when operating a refrigerator. The temperature setting is seven degrees Celsius for the refrigerator and minus 18 degrees Celsius for the freezer. “The location of the device must also be taken into account. The less sunlight falls on the refrigerator, the less the cooling unit has to work. This saves electricity in the long term and efficiently extends the performance of cooling devices,” explains Loer.

Keep Reading
By
Lifestyle

Heat Water With a Saucepan or Kettle? This Saves You Energy and Costs in The Household

When boiling water, everyone uses a different variant. It is interesting whether you save more energy and costs if you use the kettle or if the saucepan is more economical.

Where does the water boil faster and more energy-efficiently?

Water is traditionally boiled either in a kettle or in a saucepan. But the question of what actually saves more energy and thus costs can usually be answered off the bat.

If you take a look at the time aspect, you might think: If you heat the water in a saucepan, it will take a lot more time. With the kettle, on the other hand, the water is usually heated in just a few minutes. A fallacy would now be that it is more economical to use the kettle. Because the bill was often made without modern induction cookers. Induction cookers heat water just as quickly as the kettle.

According to Stiftung Warentest, the kettle is the best choice when you compare the time, energy requirements and energy costs. The basic prices of 0.27 euros/kWh for electricity and around 0.07 for gas were used. The differences to the induction hob are minimal: while the kettle took an average of 3 minutes and 18 seconds to boil the water, the induction hob needed 4 minutes and 36 seconds. The energy requirement of the kettle was 115 Wh, that of the induction cooker 123 Wh; the corresponding energy costs amounted to 3.1 cents per liter for the kettle and 3.3 cents per liter for the induction hob. The differences seem minimal at first, but add up over time, so that you can save money with the kettle in the long run.

The relevance of the amount of water

If you only want to boil a small amount of water, for example for tea, it is advisable to use the kettle. The Öko-Institut points out other advantages of the kettle compared to the saucepan: it saves time, is easy to use, does not have to be monitored and is therefore safer. In addition, kettles are very cheap to buy. You should not use a metal kettle: These are not particularly energy-efficient, as they store the energy and therefore more is needed to boil the water. It is also important to descale the kettle regularly; this saves you time and energy.

If you have an induction cooker with a boost function at home, the water can usually be heated just as quickly as with a kettle. However, the stove is usually very expensive to buy; Although you can save energy by cooking on an induction stove, the initial costs are usually not covered by using it to boil water.

It is important that you do not use the kettle before boiling large quantities of water, for example for pasta or other food: If you first boil the water in the kettle and then tip it into the saucepan, you suffer a double loss of energy.

Conclusion

To save time and energy, the kettle is worth it; especially in small amounts. If you are dealing with larger quantities, you should not pour them out, but heat the water in the saucepan right away.

Keep Reading
By