This is in large part due to the fact that mealworms must be kept in heated environments to keep them within a certain range of temperatures for growth.

The scientists did find the amount of energy used to produce mealworms per pound of edible protein was similar to that for pork and 46 percent to 88 percent more than that for chicken, although it was still half or less than for beef.

'Now, for the first time it has been shown that mealworms, and possibly other edible insects, can aid in achieving such a system.' 'Since the population of our planet keeps growing, and the amount of land on this Earth is limited, a more efficient, and more sustainable system of food production is needed,' Oonincx said in a statement. The researchers note that optimizing mealworm growth might lead to even more land savings. They also discovered that growing mealworms takes up only about 10 percent of the land used for production of beef, 30 percent of the land used for pork and 40 percent of the land needed for chickens to generate similar amounts of protein. The researchers found that growing mealworms released less greenhouse gases than producing cow milk, chicken, pork and beef.

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