Sustainability Choices when Cooking Pasta

Everyday activities requiring electrical or thermal power imply sustainability
decisions. Choices for different energy sources, which
equipment to use, and the timing of activities have major implications
for CO₂ emissions. Being aware of each of them and accounting
for their impact is nearly impossible. First, it is unclear how to
assess the sustainability footprint of a decision; second, the complexity
of the implications of all such decisions is overwhelming.
To make things more concrete, we consider a simple as well as common
task: cooking a dish of pasta. We measure the sustainability of
the decisions involved in terms of CO₂ emissions and we use historical
data of German CO₂-emission intensity calculated with both
the average method and the marginal one. We find that starting
from hot or cold tap water can imply up to 35% difference in emissions,
depending on the timing and the chosen equipment. However,
the complexity and size of information involved in such sustainability
choices require the adoption of digitalized and automated
systems, which, in turn, raises questions about user acceptability
and (mis)trust in such technologies.