DRAFT: This module has unpublished changes.

 

Samuel van der Swaagh

House 2, Cohort 2

10/10/12

Quantitative Reasoning

Consumption Diary Analysis

 

                The set of data that I feel best represents my weekly consumption habits is my water usage. During a course of a week, I noticed that I consume a tremendous amount of water on a daily basis. Also, in almost every “daily ritual” I observed that I either use or waste water, whether it be washing hands, cleaning dishes, bathing, drinking, or doing the laundry. In addition, I believe that my water consumption trends remain pretty consistent on a weekly basis. In many respects, the week under inspection was an unusual week. During this particular week, I purchased more and consumed fewer paper products than usual. Consequently, my water usage draws a representative picture of my consumption habits.

                I chose to utilize a bar graph to display my data because it provides the viewer with context and comprehensive details. At first I was tempted to use a pie graph to present my data because it would have offered perspective without overwhelming the viewer with numbers. As I inserted my water consumption data into a pie graph, however, I realized that the limitations of a pie graph exceed the benefits. First, for my set of data, which deals with volume measurements, a pie graph would not define a scale or a total. Thus, in this particular case, a pie graph would not have been helpful because the data would have been merely presented as percentages of a strange whole. A bar graph, on the other hand, allowed me to define a clear scale and perspective for the data. In addition, I was also able to label categories more intuitively with the values. For this type of data set, I find the linear logic of bar graphs more insightful than the holistic logic of a pie graph.

                I think who ever looks at this graph will be disgusted by the amount of water that I waste on a weekly basis. I as an individual consume at least 900 liters per week. They will probably start to wonder why I have not included other types of water consumption that relates to cooking, toilet usage, and ice consumption. The blatant numbers would almost condemn me as a wasteful water consumer. I am sure, however, that most reasonable people, who take the time to divide the totals by seven, would see the data is relatable. In fact, I have a hard time imagining an average New Yorker using less than 130 liters on a daily basis.

                While keeping a consumption diary, I learned that I am a wasteful person when it comes to liquid and food consumption. In the graph below, it becomes especially evident that I often use more water than what is necessary. Consider the amount of water that I wasted in manually cleaning dishes to amount of water used for washing my hands. Just by looking at my graph, I can easily observe that I use at least 10 times as much for dish washing than I use for hand washing. Also, consider the quantity of water consumed by my dish washer to the quantity of water that I consume for bathing. On average, my dish washer only uses a tenth of the water that I selfishly consume for showering. That means my a dish waster is at least ten times more efficient than I am at cleaning my own body. Maybe that statement is a little extreme, but I must also keep in mind that my fifteen minute shower accounts for 10 times the water that my dish waster consumers within one and half hours. Thus, my consumption diary experience tells me that I must at least reduce my water consumption by half if I truly want to be environmentally friendly.

 

Types of Water Consumption

Volume (L)

Bathing

400

Drinking

8.5

Washing Hands

11

Manually Washing Dishes

360

Laundry

45

Dish Washer

40

 

 

 Analysis of Projected Annual Water Consumption Graph.docx

DRAFT: This module has unpublished changes.