Although most of the current focus on lightening our carbon footprint revolves around transportation and heating issues, the modest little fabric all around you turns out to be from an industry with a gigantic carbon footprint. The textile industry, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, is the 5th largest contributor to CO2 emissions …
Discussion of the energy used to produce cloth.
I’m so glad you asked! From the previous post I hope I made it clear that natural fibers (whether organic or conventionally produced) have a lighter footprint than do synthetics – both in terms of emissions of greenhouse gasses and in terms of energy needed to manufacture the fibers. And natural fibers have the added …
Please be aware that our suggestions are just starting points for you to consider when looking at a fabric, because actually calculating a carbon footprint is very complex and time consuming. Peter Tydemers, who is an ecological economist at Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia, has warned that many of the energy calculators we see should …
We’re starting a series of blogs on the carbon footprint of textiles. Because it’s such a complex subject we’re breaking it into smaller portions, beginning with looking at the textile industry as a whole. In other words, why the fuss over textiles? Fabrics, believe it or not, have a large carbon footprint. In …
OEcotextiles 