90% Riot

By KMH

The goal is to reduce 90% under that of an average American over the course of a year.

Our monthly totals are at the bottom of the page.

Now for the figures:

1. Gasoline.
Average American: usage is 500 gallons PER PERSON, PER YEAR.
90% reduction: would be 50 gallons PER PERSON, PER YEAR.

Us: This is only one category where we will partially opt-out. CK works 35 miles away. There is no public transportation and it is too dangerous to walk or bike most sections of the trip. However, he will carpool part of the distance with MA and do errands on his way to and fro. Our past usage for MA, HM, and I was about 400 gallons. HM and I will stick with 50 gallons for the two of us. Our family will use HM’s 50 for trips to church. We’ll just have to see how our guys do with their commutes.

2. Electricity.
Average US usage: is 11,000 kwh PER HOUSEHOLD, PER YEAR, or about 900 kwh PER HOUSEHOLD PER MONTH.
90% reduction: would mean using 1,100 PER HOUSEHOLD, PER YEAR or 90 kwh PER HOUSEHOLD PER MONTH

Us: average 600 kwh per month. This currently includes our cooking.

3. Natural Gas + Wood Energy
US Average Natural Gas usage is 1000 therms PER HOUSEHOLD, PER YEAR.
A 90% reduction would mean a reduction to 100 therms PER HOUSEHOLD PER YEAR
Us: We heat with carbon neutral wood. It is all standing dead, fallen dead, or waste wood. I plan on switching to propane for our cooking. Propane 1.1 gallon is equal to 1 therm. I don’t know how much it will take, but it will be more efficient than electric. For baking we plan on building an earth oven.

4. Garbage
the average American generates about 4.5 lbs of garbage PER PERSON, PER DAY.
A 90% reduction would mean .45 lbs of garbage PER PERSON, PER DAY.

Us: Thank goodness, finally a category where we don’t have to work. We already average less than 1 pound of garbage per day for a family of 4 adults.

5. Water.
The Average American uses 100 Gallons of water PER PERSON, PER DAY.
A 90% reduction would mean 10 gallons PER PERSON, PER DAY.

Us: 51 gallons per day per person-This surprised me! We are definitely looking at rain water collection. (Edited: this number turned out to be a low estimate. In reality we were much closer to the national average)

6. Consumer Goods.
The average American spends 10K PER HOUSEHOLD, PER YEAR on consumer goods
90% 1k per year (new) Used goods are 10% (used from garage sale is 10%) Used from Goodwill, Church Sale, etc does not count against.

Us: I don’t know what our past totals are. We just replaced a desktop computer with 2 laptops. I’ll just start on June 1 with a tally. We are including in this category all non-food purchases. We probably will go over in this category too since we are purchasing non-electric things to reduce our total impact.

7. Food.
Local should be 70% of diet
Bulk allotted 25% of diet
non-local/Processed 5%
Us: Local 60%; Bulk 35%; Processed 5% (Hmm . . . after about a week I realize that these numbers are more like 50% local, 40% bulk, and 10% processed.)

Well there it is. Some of it isn’t pretty, but we’ll work on it.

Totals for Month 1:

  • Gasoline: 9 gallons
  • Electricity: monthly average is 14.25 kwh/day
  • Heat and Cooking: 0.5 therms
  • Garbage: Landfill 18 pounds, recycling 19 pounds
  • Water: 7500 gallons
  • Consumer Goods: $105

Totals for Month 2:

  • Gasoline: 5 gallons
  • Electricity: 14 kwh/day
  • Heat and Cooking: Heating 0.33 gallons of gas. Cooking 0.5 therms.
  • Garbage and Recycling: Garbage 8 pounds. Recycling 5 pounds.
  • Consumer Goods: $65
  • Water: 6400 gallons
  • Food: Almost entirely local and bulk.

Totals for Month 3:

  • Gasoline: 6 gallons
  • Electricity: 19 kwh
  • Heating and Cooking: Heating — 1 gallon gasoline . Cooking 0.5 therms.
  • Garbage and Recycling: Garbage 6 pounds. Recycling 4 pounds.
  • Water: From my meter reading excursions I think we used 220 gallons per day this month.
  • Consumer Goods: $90
  • Food: Homegrown/Local 46%; Bulk 42%; Supermarket 12%

Totals for Month 4:

  • Gasoline: 5 gallons (total 25)
  • Electricity: average 9.75 kwh/day
  • Heating and Cooking: Heating–1.33 gallons. Cooking–0.5 therms
  • Garbage–5 pounds. Recycling–o pounds
  • Water: 45 gallons/person/day
  • Consumer Goods: $180
  • Food: remains the same at 46% homegrown/local, 42% bulk, and 12% supermarket.

Totals for Month 5:

  • Gasoline: 2.8% of the American average and rising
  • Electricity: 10% of the American average and steady
  • Heating and Cooking: 0.4% of the American average and rising
  • Garbage: 5% of the American average and steady.
  • Water: 30% of the American average and dropping
  • Consumer Goods: 4.5% of the American average and rising
  • Food: 48% local/homegrown, 42% bulk/organic, 10% supermarket

Totals for Month 6:

  • Gasoline: 3.6% of the yearly American average for household (25% for commuters)
  • Electricity: 6% of the American average
  • Heating and Cooking: 1% of the yearly American average
  • Garbage: 4% of the American average
  • Water: 30% of the American average
  • Consumer Goods: 10% of yearly American average
  • Food: 40% local/homegrown, 46% bulk/organic, 14% supermarket

Totals for Month 7:

  • Gasoline: 30%
  • Electricity: 10%
  • Heating and Cooking: less than 1%
  • Garbage: 5% of monthly American average
  • Water: 30% of monthly American average
  • Consumer Goods: 10% normal goods, 3% for used vehicle, 6% for washing machine
  • Food: 30% local/homegrown, 50% bulk/organic, 20% supermarket

Month 8:

  • Gasoline: 30% including our commuters.
  • Electricity: 10%
  • Heating and Cooking: less than 1%
  • Garbage: 5%
  • Water: 12.5%
  • Consumer Goods: 10% normal goods for this month.
  • Food: 30% local/homegrown, 40% bulk/organic, 30% supermarket. We’re purchasing even more fruits and veggies from the supermarket.

Month 9:

  • Gasoline: 25% including our commuters.
  • Electricity: 12%
  • Heating and Cooking: n/a
  • Garbage: 5%
  • Water: 12.5%
  • Consumer Goods: 11% normal goods for this month.
  • Food: 30% local/homegrown, 40% bulk/organic, 30% supermarket. We’re purchasing even more fruits and veggies from the supermarket.

Month 10:

  • Gasoline: 25% including our commuters.
  • Electricity: 15%
  • Heating and Cooking: n/a
  • Garbage: 7%
  • Water: 11.5%
  • Consumer Goods: 6% normal household goods, 25% f0r chicken coop, and 15% for the grain mill (It gets a 50% reduction since it will be for long-term sustainablity)
  • Food: 25% local/homegrown, 40% bulk/organic, 35% supermarket. We’re still purchasing fruits and veggies from the supermarket and now we’ve added yogurt.

Month 11:

  • Gasoline — 25%
  • Electricity — 10%
  • Heating and Cooking — 0%
  • Garbage — 7%
  • Water — 11%
  • Consumer Goods — 10%
  • Food — 25% local/homegrown, 50% bulk/organic, and 25% supermarket. Supermarket food is fruit, veggie, and some yogurt.

Month 12:

  • Gasoline: 24%
  • Electricity: 7%
  • Heating and Cooking: 0%
  • Garbage: 5%
  • Water: 11%
  • Consumer Goods: 7%
  • Food: 25% local, 60% bulk/organic, 15% supermarket