Energy Consumption at Home and Around the World

I’ve been getting pats on the back for not sipping anything alcoholic since Dec 29. The best part was last night when after being away four days, my daughter and son-in-law remarked that I looked ‘way less puffy, smaller, like someone took a pin and deflated you.” I never knew I was so bloated but boy that’s a nice compliment, and it makes it worth forgoing more booze for much longer.

What I notice is that I stay up much later and no longer fall asleep in my big leather chair. I make it through the whole WSJ, and sometimes manage to stay up late enough to catch monologues. In last night’s paper, there was a whole section about energy, focusing on the economics behind efforts to be greener. There were charts that provided some glimpes into consumption around the world, such as a gas price chart showing Venezuela’s gas costs .08 per gallon, and in Eritrea it costs $9.38.

Despite France’s big lead in nukes, the US produces 807 billion kilowatts vs their 420 kw. Germany leads the world in solar, producing 5,761 yearly megawatts, followed by Spain and Japan. The US is in third place here.

The country with hte lowest per capita energy consumption is Bangladesh–the highest is Qatar. For total energy consumption, hey, nobody comes close to the US, we blow away China, in second place by nearly 2-1.