3 ms·

What a terrible answer.

• tonyedgecombe 3mo ago
  US 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 ago
        Because 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.