er energy and time savings. After the consumer choses either product, it is clear what affect additional processing has done. The main energy use when preparing noodles is in the boiling of water to either cook raw noodles or rehydrate instant ramen, with significant differences between the energy and time consumption. For one serving of instant ramen, it takes around a 1 kilowatt power source 1 minute to heat a cup of water to boiling (Biglia, 2017). This is an energy consumption of 60,000 Joules. After this time, it takes an additional couple of minutes for the noodles to fully rehydrate before seasoning can be added and the meal enjoyed. With conventional noodles, the heating element is on average closer to 2 kilowatts and requires around 10-14 minutes to fully cook, resulting in an energy consumption of 1.2 – 1.7 million Joules (Moran, 2018). This results in a 10 or 14 fold time saving for instant ramen as well as an energy saving of around 20 times. As discussed, this advantage is due to cooking (one of the most energy intensive steps), being done beforehand in the case of instant ramen, allowing it to possess this advantage to the consumer. This advantage heavily contributes to its popularity and growth in modern times.
In conclusion, the energy used in manufacturing the raw noodles for both types of noodles does not differ until further production processes. The larger embodied energy present in instant ramen results in less energy and time spent by the consumer. This simple phenomenon has brought a specific product to the forefront of university and pop culture, showing the difference that preloading energy can have. Its success has spurred on many attempts by products in other categories trying to emulate this strategy with everything from coffee to phone chargers, all involving using higher embodied energies to appear to be more convenient to the consumer.
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Noemi Fernandez Ortiz
6 December 2018
Life Cycle Paper
Waste and Emissions Caused by Instant Ramen Noodle Industry
A college students go-to meal: instant ramen noodles. They are flavorful, affordable, and convenient, who wouldn’t enjoy them! Instant ramen noodles have been consumed by millions across the world for decades. They were first created by Momofuku Ando in 1958 in Japan under his company Nissin. Since then, the manufacturing process boomed. Many more flavors were added into the collection and even more instant ramen noodle companies began to create their own take on these tasty noodles. Although the idea behind instant ramen noodles is simple, the effects its creation has had, and continues to do so, on this earth 