In a recent study, scientist Jiango “Jack” Liu found a correlation between increased divorce rates and energy consumption.  As he was studying a panda population in a specific region in China, he noticed that while the region’s human population didn’t change, there was an increasein the number of households.  He found that divorced people are leading ‘resource inefficient lifestyles.’  The idea is that when a couple splits, they stop sharing their energy consumption.  Instead of heating one house, they heat two.  Instead of cooking a lot of pasta in one pot on one burner, they cook a small amount on two different stoves. 

Liu worked with Michigan State University and found the the folllowing findings:

“In the United States in 2005, 38.5 million rooms would have been unnecessary (along with heating and lighting costs) if divorced households combined to become the same size as married households.Also in the United States in 2005, divorced households used 73 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity and 627 billion gallons of water that could have been saved if the divorced households had remained the same size as married households. ”

So what should you do if you are divorced and want to have a smaller eco footprint? Consider moving in with a friend.  Actually, make that another divorced friend.  You could also consider living in a coop, getting remarried, or living in an apartment.  Apartments insulate one another and tend not to use up as much land. 

Listen to “Divorce, An Environmental Hazard?” at NPR.com.