Divorce 'bad for the environment'

Getting divorced can be a stressful experience, but it turns out the environment may also be feeling the effects of marital separation.

According to new research, when a couple splits their total consumption of energy and water rises significantly, which could impact on the environment.

The study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, found that in the US, two households created as part of life after divorce spent 46 per cent more on electricity and 56 per cent more on water.

"Divorce escalates consumption of increasingly limited resources (water, land and energy) through household proliferation and reduction in household size," said report authors Jianguo Liu and Eunice Yu, from Michigan State University.

The work also revealed that some 73 billion Kilowatt-hours of electricity would have been saved in the US in 2005 if divorced couples had used the same amount of energy as married couples.

Figures from the Office for National Statistics revealed earlier this year that during 2006, the rate of divorce in England and Wales fell to 12.2 divorces per thousand men and women, compared to 13.1 in 2005.

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