Europe's "Less" Is Doing More Than Anyone Gives It Credit For

Discussion (13 Comments)Read Original on HackerNews

delichon•38 minutes ago

> Every euro of EU output now takes 44% less energy than it did in 1995, and more than a third of that improvement has landed since 2019.

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

  Consumption per $/GDP
  1995: 7.77
  2025: 4.04

4.04 / 7.77 ≈ 0.52, so the U.S. uses about 48% less energy per dollar than in 1995, versus 44% per euro for the EU. So pretty much the same as across the pond.

karmakurtisaani•29 minutes ago

And probably both of these can be explained largely by the fact that most of the energy intensive production happens now in Asia.

tmtvl•22 minutes ago

Interestingly you're looking at the wrong column: emissions per million USD GDP have gone from 467 metric tons to 206 metric tons. That's an improvement of about 56%. It'd be great if the politicians here in the EU could pull their heads out of their arses long enough to try and match that.

cinntaile•8 minutes ago

What are the equivalent numbers in the EU? Be sure to compare the same numbers. Usually they're in MtCO2e and not in MtCO2 like in that PDF.

jskdkdkdkf•7 minutes ago

Surely a directive is due

PunchTornado•27 minutes ago

Good point. One could counter with the fact that US transitioned to service based and software while EU kept the heavy industry (more) while doing the change

baxtr•21 minutes ago

> Gas set the price of electricity in 15% of hours in Spain this year against 89% in Italy, and when Hormuz closed, Spain grew 0.7% while Italy got flagged as the eurozone's most exposed economy.

It's a shame that Italy spent so little on solar compared to Spain. Sun shining there as well last time I checked.

jdlshore•about 1 hour ago

I think this is AI. It’s not as bad as some, but it’s got that breathless enthusiasm and drones on and on without ever quite getting to its point.

orwin•9 minutes ago

Pretty sure it's edited AI. Honestly for dry stuff like this it's okay, if a bit tiring at the end.

roywiggins•25 minutes ago

Pangram flags it. It also talks about "quietly" and "the gap". It's AI.

roywiggins•25 minutes ago

ai; dr, sorry

braingravy•38 minutes ago

If ever there was a time to insert a few key visuals to illustrate your point…

megous•17 minutes ago

We'll see after the winter. Industrial decline may also lead to reductions in energy use. And increased costs in coutnries where EU "exported" it's energy heavy industry may come back and bite, too.

I would not make conclusions from a short 5 month price shock.

Europe's "Less" Is Doing More Than Anyone Gives It Credit For

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Discussion (13 Comments)Read Original on HackerNews