NationStates Jolt Archive

Sometime ago (a month? 2 months?) an NS poster wrote on this board that he was embarassed that the US used so much energy in comparison to Europe (I think the poster said twice as much, but it may have been 5 times as much) to maintain a broadly comparable lifestyle.

I'm not interested in starting a debate on the issue (America is not Europe, climate, industry, agriculture and population density mean that you can't really compare energy consumption between them), but I am desperate to find the figures that were used. So please don't start discussing any issues.

Were you that poster? Do you know how to use the "search" function here better than I can? Or do you have the links saved somewhere? If so, please help me out.

Thanks in advance for any help provided.

Sometime ago (a month? 2 months?) an NS poster wrote on this board that he was embarassed that the US used so much energy in comparison to Europe (I think the poster said twice as much, but it may have been 5 times as much) to maintain a broadly comparable lifestyle.

I'm not interested in starting a debate on the issue (America is not Europe, climate, industry, agriculture and population density mean that you can't really compare energy consumption between them), but I am desperate to find the figures that were used. So please don't start discussing any issues.

Were you that poster? Do you know how to use the "search" function here better than I can? Or do you have the links saved somewhere? If so, please help me out.

Thanks in advance for any help provided.

Google it a bir, I'm sure

I think that poster might have been me. I don't have the exact stat right now, but I can look it up and post it tomorrow. That all right? or you can try to find my post on the topic.

Google it a bir, I'm sure
I spent an hour trying to Google up an old image I had stored but lost of a picture of the Fonz with "I'd hit it." on the front; I couldn't find Jack or squat.

Guess the post wasn't me, but here's something I found on Google (I have the stat you're talking about in a book at home, so I assumed it must have been me).
Americans now work an average of 42 hours per workweek and work nine weeks more per year than Western European workers for the same standard of living
http://www.fairvote.org/commentary/praguepost071504.htm

Ours is the most wasteful nation on Earth. We waste more energy than we import. With about the same standard of living, we use twice as much energy per person as do other countries like Germany, Japan, and Sweden.

-Jimmy Carter, 39th President of the United States,
Address to the Nation, 18 April 1977

1977, I know, but if anything, this has likely gotten worse, not better. And I'm pretty sure the number in my book is the same as the above.

"Can I tell you the truth? I mean this isn't like TV news, is it? Here's what I think the truth is: We are all addicts of fossil fuels in a state of denial, about to face cold turkey. And like so many addicts about to face cold turkey, our leaders are now committing violent crimes to get what little is left of what we're hooked on."

-Kurt Vonnegut, In These Times, 10 May 04
^^excellent quote

Use the search function on this forum. It often works.