3 ms·

Do you have a source? How is that calculated? I suspect it's a rather complicated calculation. Questions like what defines a person in this context, what define

by bmitc 4y ago

Do you have a source? How is that calculated? I suspect it's a rather complicated calculation. Questions like what defines a person in this context, what defines electricity usage, where did it go or come from if it did change, etc. seem like important ones to answer.

Retric 4y ago
I don’t have the source where I read it, but it’s easy enough to calculate and the change is significant: https://www.statista.com/statistics/201794/us-electricity-consumption-since-1975/ https://www.statista.com/statistics/201794/us-electricity-co... https://www.statista.com/statistics/183457/united-states--resident-population/ https://www.statista.com/statistics/183457/united-states--re... 3887 TWH in 2010 / 309.3 million people = 12.57 MWH per person. 3954 TWH in 2019 / 328.3 million people = 12.04 MWH per person. 3930 TWH in 2021 / 331.9 million people = 11.84 MWH per person. And that’s with over a million electric cars added.
- mlyle 4y ago
  Likewise if one looks at total energy consumption in the US: 2000: 98.7 quadrillion BTU / 281.4 million people = 350 million BTU/person/year 2019: 100.5 quadrillion BTU / 328.3 million people = 306 million BTU/person/year. On the other hand, increased use of global manufacturing and reliance on ocean transport is concealed by this metric. Still, it doesn't look like overall things are getting worse. For the CO2 metric: 2000: 20.9 tonnes per capita 2019: 15.7 tonnes per capita https://www.eia.gov/totalenergy/data/monthly/pdf/sec1_19.pdf https://www.eia.gov/totalenergy/data/monthly/pdf/sec1_19.pdf
  - bmitc 4y ago
    According to the below EIA article, things are getting worse worldwide. > Global electricity consumption continues to increase faster than world population, leading to an increase in the average amount of electricity consumed per person https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=44095#:~:text=In%20the%20United%20States%2C%20total%20electricity%20consumption%20has,%28as%20measured%20by%20gross%20domestic%20product%2C%20or%20GDP%29 https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=44095#:~:tex....
    - mlyle 4y ago
      Well, sure. You have developing countries... developing, in addition to the (difficult to quantify) outsourcing effects that I mentioned above. Note that I really want electricity usage to go up a lot, too. It's just overall primary energy usage that we want to stay level or go down. That's why I used the primary energy usage metric. After all, moving to an electric car or replacing natural gas heating with a heat pump "increases electricity usage."
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
wmf 4y ago
See https://ourworldindata.org/energy-gdp-decoupling https://ourworldindata.org/energy-gdp-decoupling and https://ourworldindata.org/energy-offshoring https://ourworldindata.org/energy-offshoring

by bmitc 4y ago

Retric 4y ago

I don’t have the source where I read it, but it’s easy enough to calculate and the change is significant: https://www.statista.com/statistics/201794/us-electricity-consumption-since-1975/ https://www.statista.com/statistics/201794/us-electricity-co... https://www.statista.com/statistics/183457/united-states--resident-population/ https://www.statista.com/statistics/183457/united-states--re... 3887 TWH in 2010 / 309.3 million people = 12.57 MWH per person. 3954 TWH in 2019 / 328.3 million people = 12.04 MWH per person. 3930 TWH in 2021 / 331.9 million people = 11.84 MWH per person. And that’s with over a million electric cars added.

mlyle 4y ago
Likewise if one looks at total energy consumption in the US: 2000: 98.7 quadrillion BTU / 281.4 million people = 350 million BTU/person/year 2019: 100.5 quadrillion BTU / 328.3 million people = 306 million BTU/person/year. On the other hand, increased use of global manufacturing and reliance on ocean transport is concealed by this metric. Still, it doesn't look like overall things are getting worse. For the CO2 metric: 2000: 20.9 tonnes per capita 2019: 15.7 tonnes per capita https://www.eia.gov/totalenergy/data/monthly/pdf/sec1_19.pdf https://www.eia.gov/totalenergy/data/monthly/pdf/sec1_19.pdf
- bmitc 4y ago
  According to the below EIA article, things are getting worse worldwide. > Global electricity consumption continues to increase faster than world population, leading to an increase in the average amount of electricity consumed per person https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=44095#:~:text=In%20the%20United%20States%2C%20total%20electricity%20consumption%20has,%28as%20measured%20by%20gross%20domestic%20product%2C%20or%20GDP%29 https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=44095#:~:tex....
  - mlyle 4y ago
    Well, sure. You have developing countries... developing, in addition to the (difficult to quantify) outsourcing effects that I mentioned above. Note that I really want electricity usage to go up a lot, too. It's just overall primary energy usage that we want to stay level or go down. That's why I used the primary energy usage metric. After all, moving to an electric car or replacing natural gas heating with a heat pump "increases electricity usage."
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]

wmf 4y ago

See https://ourworldindata.org/energy-gdp-decoupling https://ourworldindata.org/energy-gdp-decoupling and https://ourworldindata.org/energy-offshoring https://ourworldindata.org/energy-offshoring