3 ms·
How much of that is just outsourcing much of our industry to Asia/etc.?
by hn_throwaway_99 3mo ago
How much of that is just outsourcing much of our industry to Asia/etc.?
- enraged_camel 3mo agoYes, this is the right question to ask. A lot of the decrease in emissions in Western nations is the equivalent of dumping your trash in a lot across town. Sure it's "gone", but only in a technical sense.
- gpt5 3mo agoAsia is also moving towards renewables.
- tonyedgecombe 3mo agoNot as much as people would have you believe.
- karmakurtisaani 3mo agoWhat a terrible answer.
- tonyedgecombe 3mo agoUS imports represent approximately 14% of GDP, exports is about 11%. So net imports represents about 3% of GDP. Assuming emissions are roughly proportional to spending the US is exporting 3% of its emissions.
- hn_throwaway_99 3mo ago> Assuming emissions are roughly proportional to spending But without more info, that seems like a pretty awful assumption. A lot of the stuff we export are services and high value goods that I would think have a relatively low "emissions to value" ratio compared to the lower value manufactured goods we import.
- tonyedgecombe 3mo ago>But without more info, that seems like a pretty awful assumption. I don't know why you think that, pretty much everything we buy devolves to energy in some form or another.
- hn_throwaway_99 3mo agoBecause it's not an even split. Sure, I could buy that, on average, energy use grows in proportion to economic growth, but some activities (e.g. services) I'd expect to have much less energy use that others (e.g. manufacturing). And, when you look at actual data, e.g. https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=33812 https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=33812, that is exactly what you see.