China Surpasses U.S. As World’s Largest Energy Consumer
Tim
| Posted in Energy, Heating & Insulation on
PARIS—China has overtaken the United States as the world’s largest energy consumer, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA). The Paris-based agency said China’s 2009 consumption of energy sources such as oil, coal, wind and solar was equal to 2.265 billion tons of oil, compared to 2.169 billion tons used last year by the United States. According to IEA, China’s energy consumption has more than doubled in less than 10 years due to its population and economic growth. IEA says per capita, the United States still consumes five times more energy than China.
http://m.apnews.com/ap/db_16026/contentdetail.htm?contentguid=seTqMVBk
Replies
But they're doing something about it.
I think it would be one thing to grow energy consumption and not find viable alternatives to curb consumption of limited energy sources. China has pledged to generate at least 15% of their energy needs through clean sources like wind, solar, geothermal, etc. Already they are the worlds largest producer of solar panels and will soon be the leader in wind generated power.
I heard
that they are cutting a great deal of their largest and most poluting industries. Steel making being one that is being significantly cut.
Yep, we delude ourselves that Americans are more creative and innovative, but the Chinese and Germans are leading the pack in wind and solar, leaving Americans in the dust. Not for want of creative people in the US willing to do the work, mind you, but due to lack of government support.
I heard
a short piece today on the declining rates of adults with college degrees in this country. Scary stuff.
Yeah, our entire education system is falling apart. Many causes for that -- lack of government support, parents, educators, the over-emphasis on sports -- but we're doing essentially nothing to fix it.
To me
it looks mostly like a result of living high on the hog for too many years, too easily. We're fat and lazy. Our culture doesn't value hard work and accomplishment enough anymore, all we want are cheap and wasteful material comforts. In the meantime there are billions of others out there who realize that they can bury us by applying themselves. The "greatness" that politicians keep mentioning seems to be in serious jeopardy.
Yeah, it's that "malaise"
Yeah, it's that "malaise" that Carter talked about:
"In a nation that was proud of hard work, strong families, close-knit communities and our faith in God, too many of us now tend to worship self-indulgence and consumption. Human identity is no longer defined by what one does but by what one owns."
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/carter/peopleevents/e_malaise.html
<quote>
Perhaps appreciating the president's astonishing frankness, the public rewarded him with higher approval ratings in the days that followed. But then, as historian Douglas Brinkley notes, "it boomeranged on him. The op-ed pieces started spinning out, 'Why don't you fix something? There's nothing wrong with the American people. We're a great people. Maybe the problem's in the White House, maybe we need new leadership to guide us.'" Historian Roger Wilkins concurs: "When your leadership is demonstrably weaker than it should be, you don't then point at the people and say, 'It's your problem.' If you want the people to move, you move them the way Roosevelt moved them, or you exhort them the way Kennedy or Johnson exhorted them. You don't say, 'It's your fault.'"
<end quote>
It easy to say "We're fat and lazy." Much harder to get anyone to listen, especially when the politicians of the other side (whichever side) will quickly make hay of it.
world
America was shocked out its doldrums time and again, but it reacted fairly well to the shocks. I don't think the Chinese or the Germans would react so well. Americans may have grown fat and lazy but you don't want people to be hungry, either. The China, for example, killed millions to keep the citizens humble. I don't mean this to sound like a lecture but that the current situation is one big energy consuming mess. All I want is my kids to be fat and lazy, lol.
America was shocked out its doldrums time and again, but it reacted fairly well to the shocks.
Which is to say that after a few months/years of hand-wringing things got back to the way they were before.
LOL, this thread is beginning to reflect the post topic. Sorry if I threw cold water on the discussion. I keep forgetting not to love talking philosophy.