This is positioned as the key fact of the whole argument, presented first and repeated. But they do not attempt an equivalent US figure. So here's mine.
https://www.eia.gov/totalenergy/data/monthly/pdf/sec1_19.pdf
1K BTU Consumption per $ of GDP
1995: 7.77
2025: 4.04
The US trade deficit with the rest of the world is only about 3% of gdp, that doesn’t buy much in the way of emissions.
I don't know exactly what it meant by "chained", although from the context it does sound as though it might mean something like "inflation adjusted".
In other words, the entire thesis of the article can be overturned by a quick google search.
Since the start of the conflict with Iran, I've been looking at the oilprice.com website for price information and am shocked at the poor quality of the news articles. Here are some other examples of either very low effort or factually misleading articles, just posted on the site today:
* https://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-General/How-China-Became-... -- the entire article is just three bullet point factoids that don't say much about an economy that still gets half its energy from burning coal.
* https://oilprice.com/Energy/Natural-Gas/AI-Boom-to-Boost-Sou... -- the entire article takes one consultancy report that says data center demand could boost Singapore and Malaysia's energy needs by 16%, and then engages in a reverie where the author imagines a number of other things that might be needed if this consultancy report is true.
* https://oilprice.com/Energy/Crude-Oil/Canadian-Oil-Pushes-De... - a bizarre story in which nothing happened -- no one is pushing anywhere, rather the entire story is a series of graphs and charts discussing Canada's historical participation in US gulf coast oil industries over the long run, with no new announcement or action happening at all.
Not to mention that the article is terribly verbose and never gets to its point (by the time I gave up, that is, quite a long way through). Writing is how you organize your thoughts, and it’s not been done here.
It's a shame that Italy spent so little on solar compared to Spain. Sun shining there as well last time I checked.
I’m pretty sure that there are political alternatives to afd’s ethno-nationalism, climate change denialism and Putin-worship
The continent is remarkably resilient, we just love to complain. The fact that we're handling a de facto war with Russia, an energy crisis, a trade crisis and about half a dozen other crises with merely moderate amount of pain is a sign of strength, not the opposite. Five years ago people were claiming we'd freeze to death.
And I'm saying that as a German who can't stand the AfD as much as anyone else, the fact that they sit at 40% in our poorest region of two million people (where a third has emigrated over the last two decades) maybe shouldn't send you into a panic. That's Germany's version of rural Alabama. Turns out we're not exceptionally immune to populism in times of stress.
I would not make conclusions from a short 5 month price shock.
Is this really a de-industrialization story? Is manufacturing much more efficient since that time, or has the economy moved onto other less energy intensive tasks, say through outsourcing them to Asia?
I’d expect the US spends vastly more energy on transportation (individual vehicles) and housing (larger, more AC, etc)
Of course it is, if you have offshored energy-intensive industries.
It does mean they tried to eliminate inflation as a factor. In my experience though the basket of goods used for inflation calculations do a poor job representing the majority of consumers' and businesses' costs.
Hyacinth Bucket has entered the chat.
I'm just not convinced with this "no alternative" narrative for supporting political movements which leverage hate and conspiracies. Be honest with yourself and own your opinions and views instead of claiming victimhood and blaming the political landscape for not offering you alternatives and forcing you to passively adopt a bunch of ugly views and positions.
Look at any device that had a lot of metal years ago.
The second part is phones have replaced a lot of people’s “stuff”. Young people prefer phones to cars even.
You can loads of “stuff” on your phone and it’s just software.
I mean, I probably do, too. I certainly use my phone much more often (I live in Berlin). But please, can we not make cars smartphones on wheels? I don't want to throw away my car after five years because the software is outdated, the CPU has become too weak and the battery is worn out. (Not a dig against electric cars, their batteries usually last much longer)
Cars don't have to be, nor (IMO) should be internet-connected. So if the CPU in the infotainment system was sufficient at launch, and there's no reason to update the (not-internet-connected) software, then the CPU will continue to be sufficient, and the software being out of date is irrelevant.
Not to defend the modern tablet-on-dash, internet-connected, reports-your-sexual-preference "car", just to point out that the transition to digital isn't, by itself, bad