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This caught my eye: “China poured more concrete from 2011 to 2013 than America did during the entire 20th century.“ China appears to not be slowing down.

seanmcdirmid 9y ago
Concrete is not what most buildings are constructed out of in the USA. Steel at the tall end, wood at the shorter end, some brick here and there, whereas china is concrete for the vast majority of buildings. This is like saying Chinese ate more chicken feet in 2016 than Americans did over the last 100 years.
- retailbuyout 9y ago
  It’s not clear what you’re saying. Are you implying that the chinese don’t build with anything but concrete? That’s still an absolutely ridiculous amount of concrete to pour. Or, it’s not actually clear if you disagree with the thesis so much as the argument.
- seanmcdirmid 9y ago
  Yes, to the dead reply to my answer. Chinese build mostly with concrete unless the building is over around 30 stories tall, then they have to use steel of course. The reason they use so much concrete is that it’s cheap, and they can use lots of unskilled migrant labor. Remember, china builds as much to keep poor farmers employed as much as it does to actually create the structure. The drawback to this approach is that overbuilding is required and the structure become decrepit more quickly. The USA uses less concrete for opposite reasons: wood is plentiful, skilled workers to build with steel are also plentiful, and anyways, you can’t import cheap Chinese or Indian workers to build in concrete like the Middle East and Singapore does.
- DrScump 9y ago
  Given that the USA figure should include major concrete structures like Hoover Dam, it's still kind of stunning.
dghughes 9y ago
I read once that at its coal burning peak China opened one completely operational coal burning power station every day. Now they are closing them just as fast and switching to green power.

seanmcdirmid 9y ago

Concrete is not what most buildings are constructed out of in the USA. Steel at the tall end, wood at the shorter end, some brick here and there, whereas china is concrete for the vast majority of buildings. This is like saying Chinese ate more chicken feet in 2016 than Americans did over the last 100 years.

retailbuyout 9y ago
It’s not clear what you’re saying. Are you implying that the chinese don’t build with anything but concrete? That’s still an absolutely ridiculous amount of concrete to pour. Or, it’s not actually clear if you disagree with the thesis so much as the argument.
seanmcdirmid 9y ago
Yes, to the dead reply to my answer. Chinese build mostly with concrete unless the building is over around 30 stories tall, then they have to use steel of course. The reason they use so much concrete is that it’s cheap, and they can use lots of unskilled migrant labor. Remember, china builds as much to keep poor farmers employed as much as it does to actually create the structure. The drawback to this approach is that overbuilding is required and the structure become decrepit more quickly. The USA uses less concrete for opposite reasons: wood is plentiful, skilled workers to build with steel are also plentiful, and anyways, you can’t import cheap Chinese or Indian workers to build in concrete like the Middle East and Singapore does.
DrScump 9y ago
Given that the USA figure should include major concrete structures like Hoover Dam, it's still kind of stunning.

dghughes 9y ago

I read once that at its coal burning peak China opened one completely operational coal burning power station every day. Now they are closing them just as fast and switching to green power.