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China passes U.S. as top energy consumer

The_Penguin

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For the first time in more than a century, a country other than the United States consumed more energy than any other nation, as China grabbed the top spot last year.

Citing data from the International Energy Agency, the Wall Street Journal reported Monday that China was the world's most voracious consumer of energy in 2009.

China consumed 2,252 million tonnes of "oil equivalent" last year, topping the U.S. tally of 2,170 tonnes by roughly four per cent.

Oil equivalent is the term the IEA uses to bring all forms of energy into a comparable form, including crude oil, nuclear, coal, natural gas, hydroelectricity, wind and solar power.

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CBC News - World - China passes U.S. as top energy consumer
 
A little know fact is that leading up to the recession in 2008 the US was also suffering from a supply shock due to high oil prices. People thought for a while we were heading towards stagflation. This may explain why modern recession have had the "jobless" recovery IMO. Its pretty hard to shift the ag supply curve right (to get us back to potential output) when oil prices are continually rising.
 
Which is roughly 1.7 tonnes per person in China and 7.2 in the US.

But based on unit of economic production, China's ratio is far higher. It is not nearly as efficient in its use of energy as the U.S. is just as the U.S. is not as efficient as countries like Japan...
 
but why does the usa consume any energy at all? the usa makes nothing but weapons, whereas China makes everything. usa, contribute nothing, and consume everything.
 
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