Around the world, divorce rates have been increasing. Now, one expert proclaims divorcing is not being resourceful!
According to Jianguo Liu, an ecologist at Michigan State University, Americans spend an extra $3.6 billion annually on water as a result of extra households created when people divorce.
“A married household actually uses resources more efficeintly than a divoriced household.”
Need examples? A household uses the same amount of heat or AC no matter if there are 2 or 4 people living in it. One person or several people will use just one refigerator. And two people in two seperate houses will cause 2 dishwashers to run. Two people share the same stove, watch the same TV, listen to the same radio and use the same lights.
The impact is big.
In 2005, there were 16.5 million divorced people who headed their own household. This means $6.9 billion in extra utility costs annually, in addition to the extra $3.6 billion for water.
Liu also studied other countries. By looking at 11 of them, which included Brazil, Greece, Ecuador, Costa Rica, Mexico and South Africa, he determined married couples could have saved energy. In fact, he determined there could have been a million fewer housholds using water and energy in the 11 countries.
All the research was funded by the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health and the Michigan Agricultural Experiement Station.
dana said,
April 1, 2008 @ 1:51 pm
wow. thats a lot!
Chad said,
July 30, 2008 @ 5:56 am
The bloody 60’s hippy immature way of life seems to coincide with the increase. back when women and men both had a clear cut role in the family strucure the rate was not so bad. I bet is someone looked into it they would find that the rise would also coincide with a decline in birth rates and children per family as well as mothers breastfeeding and raising their own children with an increase in childcare and “career women”.