Topology of Sustainability - Basic Human Needs
According to NASA (Designing For Human Presence in Space), the basic needs for humans are appropriate atmosphere composition and temperatures, which must be continually satisfied; sufficiently pure water, which must be provided every few hours; and food, which must be provided before the body's internal stores of energy are depleted.
An average human being needs 1.84 lbs of oxygen, 1.36 pounds of food solids, and 7.68 gallons of water everyday to survive. That same human being produces 2.20 pounds of carbon dioxide, 0.177 pounds of solid waste, and 7.78 gallons of wastewater everyday. In addition to metabolic needs and effluents, wash water, including water for washing clothes and dishes, is included for completeness.
The maximum durations for which people can live without these basic needs are approximately four minutes without oxygen, three days without water, and up to thirty days without food.
Beside very low resource needs for basic human needs, the majority of resource extraction for industrialized countries is used for providing a level of comfort for its people.
The average U.S. citizen accounts for 1,800 gallons of water every day through personal, industrial and service uses. That means 99.5% of all water consumed by Americans is to maintain personal comfort needs. There is a tremendous potential for cost savings and reduced resource consumption by reducing water consumption. This holds true for other resource extracts.
