Date: 2024-05-15 Page is: DBtxt003.php txt00023552
ENERGY USE
ENERGY USE PER CAPITA BY COUNTRY
Comparing USA, China, Russia, Germany and UK
ENERGY USE PER CAPITA BY COUNTRY
Comparing USA, China, Russia, Germany and UK
Original article:
Peter Burgess COMMENTARY
I have lived in the United States since the 1960s. I grew up and was educated in the UK. During my adult lifetime I have had the great good fortune to have worked or visited around 50 countries around the planet. This gives me a quite good perspective on the world ... worts and all.
One of the issues that bothers me is the idea that it is China and the Chinese that are to most to blame for pollution, global warming and the climate crisis. This is only partially correct. The most responsible party is the American by a huge margin.
It is generally recognised that consumption is the biggest driver of industrial activity, and per capital consumption by Americans is the highest of any nationality by a considerable margin. The per-capital consumption of the Chinese is less than half that of the Americans.
I believe it is even worse than depicted in this graphic. Because China is a net exporter of its production, much of the Chinese pollution is attributable to the production for export and consumption elsewhere. I do not know specifically whether the graphic reflects this or not.
I am surprised that the per capita energy usr of the British is so low. It may be explained to some extent by the deindustrialization of Britain over the past several decades and the rise of what I refer to as financialization. Another part of explanation is that the UK has done a better job than most at weatherizing its buildings over the past several decades.
It does not come as a surprise that Germany has a higher per-capita consumption of energy because the industrial infrastructure in Germany is by far the biggest in Europe.
Peter Burgess