The energy requirement of cut flowers and consumer options to reduce it

Like all consumer products, cut flowers require energy during their life cy cle. The aim of this article is to examine how households can reduce their primary energy requirement for the decorative and gift functions provided s o far by cut flowers without reducing their consumption level, also taking into account the financial cost. In 1990, an average Dutch household purcha sed 11 times one or more bouquets containing a total of about 250 flowers f or Dfl. 170, which require together about 2.2 GJ, 1% of the total primary h ousehold energy requirement. The energy intensity of flowers is among the h ighest of all non-energy household purchases: on average 12.9 MJ/Dfl. The h igh energy requirement of cut flowers makes it interesting to take a closer look at less energy-intensive alternatives, like replacing flowers as a gi ft with other presents, making more use of flowering indoor plants and sele cting less energy-intensive flowers (from abroad, other species, other seas ons). The calculations suggest that if all the energy reduction options dis cussed here are applied to a substantial extent, the cumulative energy requ ired for flowers purchased by an average Dutch household can be halved. Mor e research is needed to investigate the acceptance of the proposed measures and the feasibility of a combination of measures. (C) 2000 Elsevier Scienc e B.V. All rights reserved.