this post was submitted on 30 Jan 2024
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US total wealth: 139+ trillion (in USD)
China total wealth: 84+ trillion (in USD)
It's not a function of population. It's a function of wealth and the will to use that wealth to invest in clean energy. The US has entrenched interests in keeping the oil flowing. China isn't investing in clean energy for altruism, they do it because they don't have rich reserves of oil, but at least they're doing the right thing, even if it's not necessarily for the right reasons.
Agreed that wealth also is a relevant parameter. But it is also a function of the population because what fraction of your population's power consumption is coming from a renewable source is a more interesting metric than your raw renewable power production.
global production is all outsourced to india and mainly china.
their carbon emissions correspond not only to their own population, but to produce goods for most of the world.
yes and hence why it is currently only reasonable to compare things like total renewable energy production vs total household energy requirements of a country. production energy is too global to tackle with this approach. and so why I just casually mentioned population is an important factor in how much renewable energy you should be producing.
yes, thats true, but the original point is that china has to invest heavily in energy solely because of its population, and thats not true when most of that consumption comes from globalized industry working there. that was my point.