In the Kitchen

How to save 86,000 barrels of oil

In my post about going green, I mentioned that we switched to dishwashing soap from Seventh Generation. It is plant based and contains no dyes or petro chemicals. Here is a statistic from their label:

“If every household in the U.S. Replaced just one 25 oz. bottle of petroleum based dishwashing liquid with our plant-derived product, we could save 86,000 barrels of oil a year. That’s enough to heat and cool 4,900 homes for a YEAR!”

I must admit that my wife buys most of our household products and I really don’t know what a bottle of dishwashing liquid costs. But even in these times, I’m happy to purchase this product and do what I can to save a little oil. We shop at Target, so it should be available in your area.

The price of oil has fallen recently (approaching 50%), and now OPEC is talking about cutting production to get the price back up again. My purchase of one bottle of soap may not give them cause for worry, but collectively, if we all start looking for ways to reduce our oil consumption, it can have an impact. So the next time you are out shopping, pick up a bottle. If enough of us do, it will make a difference.

And at the prices they’ve been charging us for oil recently, I’m not too concerned that our neighbors overseas will be standing in line at their local homeless shelter any time soon.

© 2008 Outside the Oven.