3 ms·

Honest question about glass, from someone who also wants glass everything: If we swapped back to glass containers for everything, would there be significant in

Honest question about glass, from someone who also wants glass everything: If we swapped back to glass containers for everything, would there be significant increase in CO2 emissions from the added shipping weight?

tachyonbeam 8y ago
You'd have to compute what percentage of the weight of various products is taken by the container, and how energy efficiency of transport is affected by weight of items carried. To be completely fair, you'd also want to factor in how much energy is being saved by reusing containers as opposed to manufacturing new ones. Another thing to keep in mind is that electric vehicles are coming, so this should become less of an issue.
- SirLuxuryYacht 8y ago
  How do you mean? Electric vehicles just means that emissions don't come from the vehicle itself. I'm guessing you are assuming that the electricity used by the vehicle is coming from an energy source that is partially renewable/carbon neutral, which isn't the case in most states[1]. I don't think its unreasonable to think energy use is lower for reusing rather than making new glass containers, since you would transport them anyway. The tough question would be whether energy use is lower for transporting and reusing glass rather than transporting new, lightweight plastic. I'm also for all glass everything so I won't try to tackle that problem. -- [1] https://nyti.ms/2GDAzD8 https://nyti.ms/2GDAzD8
  - TJSomething 8y ago
    While true, the larger generators used in power plants are usually more efficient than a standard internal combustion engine, burning less fuel for the same power. Additionally, there are fewer pollutants because you get a lot less partially combusted hydrocarbons. Furthermore, a lot of power plants are going to natural gas, which emits less CO₂.
  - dragonwriter 8y ago
    > I'm guessing you are assuming that the electricity used by the vehicle is coming from an energy source that is partially renewable/carbon neutral, which isn't the case in most states[1]. You're looking at total generation, but you really need to look at how increasing demand over time is met, since that's really how marginal increases from changing usage (like switching to electric cars) is met.
toss1 8y ago
I suspect you are right to ask this question, and have a few items that might point in the direction of an answer. Fuji water bottles are rectangular not only as a unique branding but in order to economize on space in shipping to reduce transport cost. Large lightweight items cost a lot to ship because they are lightweight and inefficiently use the vehicle. The ideal truckload is a full volume at the maximum carrying weight. So, compared to transporting loads of compacted glass shards, I'd expect that transporting truckloads of empty bottles could be not only high in monetary costs, but also CO2 costs.
- joecool1029 8y ago
  >Fuji water bottles are rectangular not only as a unique branding but in order to economize on space in shipping to reduce transport cost. It's Fiji and this is a terrible example. Fiji could just ship a tanker full of water to a bottler in their country of destination. Instead they ship the bottles to Fiji, then fill them at a plant that runs on diesel generators. Finally, they ship the filled bottles to their final destinations.

tachyonbeam 8y ago

You'd have to compute what percentage of the weight of various products is taken by the container, and how energy efficiency of transport is affected by weight of items carried. To be completely fair, you'd also want to factor in how much energy is being saved by reusing containers as opposed to manufacturing new ones. Another thing to keep in mind is that electric vehicles are coming, so this should become less of an issue.

SirLuxuryYacht 8y ago
How do you mean? Electric vehicles just means that emissions don't come from the vehicle itself. I'm guessing you are assuming that the electricity used by the vehicle is coming from an energy source that is partially renewable/carbon neutral, which isn't the case in most states[1]. I don't think its unreasonable to think energy use is lower for reusing rather than making new glass containers, since you would transport them anyway. The tough question would be whether energy use is lower for transporting and reusing glass rather than transporting new, lightweight plastic. I'm also for all glass everything so I won't try to tackle that problem. -- [1] https://nyti.ms/2GDAzD8 https://nyti.ms/2GDAzD8
- TJSomething 8y ago
  While true, the larger generators used in power plants are usually more efficient than a standard internal combustion engine, burning less fuel for the same power. Additionally, there are fewer pollutants because you get a lot less partially combusted hydrocarbons. Furthermore, a lot of power plants are going to natural gas, which emits less CO₂.
- dragonwriter 8y ago
  > I'm guessing you are assuming that the electricity used by the vehicle is coming from an energy source that is partially renewable/carbon neutral, which isn't the case in most states[1]. You're looking at total generation, but you really need to look at how increasing demand over time is met, since that's really how marginal increases from changing usage (like switching to electric cars) is met.

toss1 8y ago

I suspect you are right to ask this question, and have a few items that might point in the direction of an answer. Fuji water bottles are rectangular not only as a unique branding but in order to economize on space in shipping to reduce transport cost. Large lightweight items cost a lot to ship because they are lightweight and inefficiently use the vehicle. The ideal truckload is a full volume at the maximum carrying weight. So, compared to transporting loads of compacted glass shards, I'd expect that transporting truckloads of empty bottles could be not only high in monetary costs, but also CO2 costs.

joecool1029 8y ago
>Fuji water bottles are rectangular not only as a unique branding but in order to economize on space in shipping to reduce transport cost. It's Fiji and this is a terrible example. Fiji could just ship a tanker full of water to a bottler in their country of destination. Instead they ship the bottles to Fiji, then fill them at a plant that runs on diesel generators. Finally, they ship the filled bottles to their final destinations.