China Energy - That Giant Sucking Sound

China represents a potential energy and environmental menace to the world and especially the U.S. It's building a new power plant each week. Coal is the principal source of energy (no surprise here) with natural gas a growing future fuel. China is a country where a population almost equal to that of the United States lives on less than $1 per day (300 million+). Millions are moving to the cities every year to find jobs - jobs driven by energy.

China is a country roughly equal in size to the U.S. with 4 times more people. And the times they are a-changing as it finally catches up with the rest of the world as an industrial power house. It will surpass the U.S. in the next two years as the world's biggest source of CO2 emissions. In fact, since 2001 China has increased its emissions more than every other industrialized country in the world combined.

Where will the energy to supply this economy come from? Answer: the same sources that the U.S. uses. This almost doubles the demand for energy at a time when supplies are running at or near peak output. Clearly this type of demand cannot be sustained without some type of limitations for each country.

Is that each country? Yes - U.S. citizens just don't realize it yet. The typical U.S. resident equates energy supplies to the price of auto gas. That's only a small part of the equation; a complicated intermix of oil, gas, natural gas and coal with some nuclear thrown into the mix. Not until we have another gas shortage will the public wake up.

With buildings consuming about 46% of the total energy used in the U.S., clearly building energy consumption needs to be better managed. No matter how many new buildings are constructed in the next 10 years, they offer an almost unmeasurable impact on total building energy consumption. The 46% number is not going down soon - unless drastic action is taken.

So the big question is: what action will measurably reduce building energy consumption?

There's one answer: only behavior changes can significantly reduce energy usage.

See the next blog in this series....