Riot 4 austerity results: cutting consumption by 50 – 85%

The Riot 4 Austerity 90% Emissions Reduction Project challenges participants to cut their negative environmental impact in seven different categories: transportation energy, electricity, other fuels (i.e. natural gas for heating), water, garbage, food, and consumer goods.

As individuals, we may not have “much” impact, but the point is to model these positive changes for others, share results and tips, and work together to make the changes needed for society to follow. Hopefully, the changes each family makes will not only result in less environmental harm but monetary savings, greater life satisfaction, and improved health through more exercise and better food. Cutting consumption is not only good for the environment, but also helps prepare us for a world of declining energy and resource availability.

I should first state that I do not feel deprived of anything that I or my family want or need. We maintain a regular middle-class urban/suburban 2000 square-foot household with two parents, one child and a small business on-site, and everything looks rather… normal. My point is this: we use 50 – 85% less in most of the seven categories, without much of what I would consider a sacrifice. It really isn’t “austerity” at the level at which we have been participating. There are various rules and regulations (all voluntary, of course) for playing the Riot game. I put together a handy spreadsheet to compare our usage to the average American household (per Riot and other sources of statistics). The specific data are below, and feel free to do fact-checking on the averages, but first let’s look at an overview of how we did in the seven categories.

Water: Our water use in 2011 was much higher than in prior years due to drought and heatwave conditions (63 days over 100 degrees last summer), but at 68% less than the American average, and growing a garden in a year of drought, I would call this a success.

(Note: I used the average American consumption reported by the American Water Works Association for comparison.

Energy: Although we used only 28% less electricity than average, our house is completely electric. When we add in our (lack of) natural gas usage, our total energy use is 80% less than average. Also, we are on OG&E windpower.

Gasoline: If we count our 4-year old as a person who consumes gasoline, I estimate that our household use is 59% less than average. Since *most* of the trips I have to take are specifically for his benefit, and involve driving many miles (to grandmothers every week for childcare so I can work part-time), this seems fair. We also live in Oklahoma City, which incidentally ranks 48 out of 50 cities in the national “Walkability Score“. I wish our family did better than a 59% reduction, but I’m not willing to sacrifice more trips for both economic and family reasons. Perhaps when we replace our 13-year old Jetta with a Prius or other more efficient car we can improve in this area.

Garbage: We use about one trash bag per week, weighing in at 4.5 pounds (I rounded up to 5 pounds to account for weeks that are greater than average). After adding in the occasional “big bulky” item we place on the curb, our garbage disposal is about 85% less than average. Frankly, it’s hard for me to believe that the average American household disposes an average of 40 pounds of garbage per week. But that’s what Riot statistics report.

Food: We did not measure food, as the rules for the Riot are complicated and hard for me to track. However, I do buy local eggs and grass-fed meat directly from a local farmer, visit the Farmer’s market weekly, grow a lot of food in our garden, and buy organic most of the time. We also eat meat an average of only once per week (a leftover from my vegetarian cooking days).

Consumer Goods: Another one we did not track. Generally, we buy used clothes, cars, toys, books, and furniture and furnishings, get most of our books from the library, give service gifts when possible, and purchase online music rather than hard-copy. However, we have purchased several electronics gadgets over the last few years, replaced our old carpet with wood floors, purchased a (heavy) energy-efficient fireplace insert and a steel tornado shelter, and bought assorted other consumer goods. I’m not sure I’d call this category “successful.”

Summary: The details are available for your leisurely perusal below, but overall I’d have to say that I feel satisfied with our Riot participation. We came close to the 90% figure in several areas. We invested money over the last six years to improve our energy efficiency, and our investment is now being repaid every year. We save quite a bit of money – I believe that the money we spend on quality food reflects in our lack of medical bills (although good food is only one aspect of health), and the money we invested in our Prius and weatherization saves us money on gas and electricity. And all these savings were achieved without feeling deprived.

As I mentioned earlier, there are other steps that we could take to cut consumption even further. We could turn the thermostat lower than 66 degrees / higher than 78 degrees, refuse to take trips to see family, abstain from participating in community events, quit buying fresh fruit that is not in-season, and other sacrifices that we are not currently willing to make. If we had a convenient bus system or sidewalks in our neighborhood, we could walk, bike and bus more. If we had more land, or if I plowed the front yard, we could grow more food. And if I were tougher, I’d hang laundry outside in the dead of winter.

Still, for now, we’ll keep looking for the little ways to consume less, save more and enjoy living a little lighter. In the meantime, I’ll share some tips on how we cut our consumption (and ask for your insights as well) in upcoming blog posts.

Spreadsheet analysis (average statistics are from Riot 4 Austerity and American Water Works Association):