Infographic: Energy Inequality Of Countries
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Originally published on Shrink That Footprint.
By Lindsay Wilson.
In 2011 the average American used 4,569 kWh of electricity in their home.
In the same year the combined residential electricity use per capita of Brazil, India, China and the 21 other countries was 4,485 kWh (click the image to expand).
So one American uses 84 kWh more in their home than those 24 nationalities combined. Mind boggling.
Improving energy access is one of the great challenges of our time.
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This has really put consumption into perspective for me. We are all aware that the US probably always used more than those countries but to see it represented like that is truly shocking. We all need to work harder to reduce our fossil fuel consumption and use greener methods of creating energy.
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It looks a lot different when compared to Energy used per unit of GDP produced.
Of course we use the most; we have the world’s largest economy while having no where near the world’s largest population.
http://www.economist.com/blogs/dailychart/2011/01/energy_use
The article is about electricity use in homes. Residential use.
Are you saying this comparison is not relevant, Bob? 2/3rds of our GDP is consumer spending, with a large chunk of it centered around our homes. Thiat is not a one off.
I am saying that the article is about per capita electricity usage in residences.
Per capita electricity use based on total consumption is a different topic. Here are some different topic statistics….
2011 per capita total electricity in China was 3,298 kWh. In the US 13,246 kWh. In terms of overall electricity consumption the US is over 3x worse than China.
Then let’s look at GDP…
China’s GDP in 2012 was $8.22 trillion. China consumed 4.96 trillion kWh.
The US’s GDP in 2012 was $14.99 trillion. The US consumed 3.92 trillion kWh.
That makes the US “more efficient” in terms of electricity use per dollar GDP. But it’s an apple:oranges comparison. We moved much of our manufacturing to China. Our GDP is based on industries which consume less energy.
(Did you not understand that you were changing the topic or was that an intentional decision to confuse the issue?)
It’s quite annoying when an author takes a statistic and extrapolates without any context. I was trying to provide context.
The context is quite clear in the graphic caption – “electricity at home”.
It is repeated in three out of the four following short paragraphs: “in their home”, “residential use”, and “in their home”.
And due to electric vehicles, electricity consumption is in steep rise! Also heating should be electrified so that wind power can be better utilized.
I would like to see some numbers of per capita electricity usage in residences of other developed countries like Germany, Japan, Italy, etc
Our first world fully developed household is at less than 400 kWh per person and we are not missing out on anything (well apart from not using the tumble-dryer). Most people are completely unaware of what is possible with efficient appliances.
And the country I live in has not only a higher GDP per capita than the US, it also has a trade surplus with China (as opposed to the US).
Here are some…
http://shrinkthatfootprint.com/average-household-electricity-consumption
And if you look at the bottom of their graphic you can see their data source which should lead you to more countries.
thanks!