Beer Vs Wine Essay

SWINBUNE UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY

More Sustainable Product: Beer or Wine?

By: Vaishali Shukla

100648332

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Subject – Principles of Sustainability

Tutor: Ms. Fatemeh Mekanik

Swinburne University of Technology

5th October 2015 Assignment 2

“LIST OF FIGURES”

Figure Number Description

Figure 1 Comparison of total energy consumed

Figure 2 Comparison of total GHG emission

Figure 3 Comparison of water withdrawal

Figure 4 Comparison of land use

Figure 5 Comparison of toxic gases emission

Figure 6 Comparison of different units of beer and wine

Figure 7 Impact of the beer on environment

Environmental sustainability defined as taking appropriate measures and steps in-order to decrease the impact of human

The combustion of fossil fuels in producing electricity, petroleum refineries and transportation are the major causes of emission of carbon dioxide. Beer emits total of 568 metric tons of GHG while on other hand 450 metric tons of GHG is emitted by wine industry. By comparing the figures from figure below, we can say that wine is more sustainable than beer. Figure 2: Comparison of total GHG emission

1.3 Water Use

The wine industry withdrawals more water than beer industry. The amount 55900 kilo-gallons of water is withdrawn by wine manufacturing industry while beer industry consume 35300 kilo-gallons of water, majorly for farming and power generation. The use of water is found to be more for wine manufacturing unit as compare to beer producing unit. So, for this case we can conclude that beer producing unit is more sustainable than wine manufacturing unit.

Figure 3: Comparison of water withdrawal

1.4 Land

On the other hand, the quantity of water required in wine manufacturing industry is higher as consumed by beer producing unit. Carbon di-oxide is the main greenhouse gas which largely impacts the environment and results into climate change. If we compare the amount of generation of CO2 of beer industry with wine unit, then beer manufacturing unit is the dominating one. By keeping in mind the five factors discussed above, i.e. total energy, GHG & toxic gas emission, land & water use, we can conclude that wine is more sustainable or eco-friendly product than