3 ms·
I know you said protein, but calories are really the metric we want to use here. TL;DR: 2.1 calories/gallon for almonds, 5.3 c/g for tofu, 1,558 c/g for beef.
by mike_d 4y ago
I know you said protein, but calories are really the metric we want to use here.
TL;DR: 2.1 calories/gallon for almonds, 5.3 c/g for tofu, 1,558 c/g for beef.
Almonds consume 3.2 gallons of water each for just shy of 7 calories. 2.18 calories per gallon.
Cows consume ~3,200 gallons of water from birth to slaughter, where they produce about 6 million calories. 1,875 calories per gallon.
An additional 50 bales of hay to feed it over its lifetime (really hay is half the diet but its late and I'm just doubling it). Approximately 1,300 gallons per acre, which produces 100 bales - 13 gallons per bale - 650 gallons to grow the food. That is still 1,558 calories per gallon of water.
I found a recipe online that used about a gallon of water (rinsing and as an ingredient) for 1 pound of tofu. 10,000 gallons to produce one bushel (or 60 pounds) of soybeans. 166 gallons per pound. A pound is 2.6 cups, recipe wants 1 cup. 63 gallons per cup. 64 gallons made into tofu. 344 calories per pound of tofu. 5.3 calories per gallon of water consumed.
- BetterGeiger 4y agoYour numbers for beef are absurdly wrong. Reality is closer to 2000 gallons per pound, or roughly 0.5 calories per gallon. Chicken is about 4x less. Grains are roughly an order of magnitude less. As a country the USA consumes dramatically more meat than necessary, cutting even a little would have a massive impact on water consumption.
- bumbledraven 4y agoWhat are your sources for the cow info? I'm getting more like 30 kcal/gallon. A cow drinks 9-12 gallons per day [1] (assuming not lactating, which takes a lot more water; let's just say these are cows being raised purely for slaughter). Call it 10 gallons/day on average. Cows raised for slaughter live 4-6 years [2]. Call it 5 years on average. 10 gallons/day * 355 days/year * 5 years/cow ≈ 17750 gallons/cow. Finally, the amount of energy in a cow as sold in retail stores is about 500,000 kcal [3]. That works out to about 30 kcal/gallon. [1] https://www.amelicor.com/blog/how-much-water-should-a-cow-drink-every-day https://www.amelicor.com/blog/how-much-water-should-a-cow-dr... [2] https://thehumaneleague.org/article/dairy-cows https://thehumaneleague.org/article/dairy-cows [3] https://old.reddit.com/r/theydidthemonstermath/comments/a8ha9r/how_many_calories_are_in_a_whole_cow/ecbmd4k https://old.reddit.com/r/theydidthemonstermath/comments/a8ha...
- mike_d 4y ago> What are your sources for the cow info? Having raised cows and some Googling. Your numbers are for dairy cows and not meat cows. Dairy cows consume a ton of water because they are intended to produce a liquid nearly non-stop, and while they are eventually slaughtered for meat it mostly ends up in dog food.
- roflyear 4y agoSo you're basically just making stuff up. http://extension.msstate.edu/publications/publications/beef-cattle-water-requirements-and-source-management http://extension.msstate.edu/publications/publications/beef-...
- bumbledraven 4y agoMeant to say 365 days/year.
- roflyear 4y agoAre you intentionally lying?