What Will China Do?
One of the problems inherent in the "We could conceivably do this" school of thought is that no one ever pursues the suggestions to their conclusions. For example, every bright idea to make the world a better place should be followed by the question, "What will China do?" If we start to shrink our energy usage--and has any successful, sustainable culture ever done that?--"What will China do?"China dominates global coal production and accounted for almost 47% of the world's entire output in 2019. It extracted almost 3.7 billion tons during that year, reflecting an annual growth rate of 4%. The country is also the world's biggest consumer of coal, devouring around 53% of the global total.
As of 2020, 350 coal-fired power plants were under construction. They included seven in South Korea, 13 in Japan, 52 in India, and 184 in China with the rest underway in other parts of the world.
China is also building and financing hundreds of other coal-fired power plants in countries such as Turkey, Vietnam, Indonesia, the Philippines, Egypt, and Bangladesh.
With that in mind, this is from a new study, "Socio-economic conditions for satisfying human needs at low energy use," in Global Environmental Change.
It states, "globally, large reductions in energy use are required to limit global warming to 1.5°C." The 1.5°C temperature increase limit they cite derives from the 2015 Paris Agreement in which signatories agreed to hold "the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels and pursuing efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels."
Travel should be limited to between 3,000 to 10,000 miles per person annually.
In order to save the planet from catastrophic climate change, Americans will have to cut their energy use by more than 90 percent and families of four should live in housing no larger than 640 square feet.
Human needs are sufficiently satisfied when each person has access to the energy equivalent of 7,500 kilowatt-hours (kWh) of electricity per capita. That is about how much energy the average Bolivian uses. Currently, Americans use about 80,000 kWh annually per capita. With respect to transportation and physical mobility, the average person would be limited to using the energy equivalent of 16–40 gallons of gasoline per year. People are assumed to take one short- to medium-haul airplane trip every three years or so.
Food consumption per capita would vary depending on age and other conditions, but the average would be 2,100 calories per day. While just over 10 percent of the world's people are unfortunately still undernourished, the Food and Agriculture Organization reports that the daily global average food supply now stands at just under 3,000 calories per person. Each individual is allocated a new clothing allowance of nine pounds per year, and clothes may be washed 20 times annually.
China is also building and financing hundreds of other coal-fired power plants in countries such as Turkey, Vietnam, Indonesia, the Philippines, Egypt, and Bangladesh.
With that in mind, this is from a new study, "Socio-economic conditions for satisfying human needs at low energy use," in Global Environmental Change.
It states, "globally, large reductions in energy use are required to limit global warming to 1.5°C." The 1.5°C temperature increase limit they cite derives from the 2015 Paris Agreement in which signatories agreed to hold "the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels and pursuing efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels."
Travel should be limited to between 3,000 to 10,000 miles per person annually.
In order to save the planet from catastrophic climate change, Americans will have to cut their energy use by more than 90 percent and families of four should live in housing no larger than 640 square feet.
Human needs are sufficiently satisfied when each person has access to the energy equivalent of 7,500 kilowatt-hours (kWh) of electricity per capita. That is about how much energy the average Bolivian uses. Currently, Americans use about 80,000 kWh annually per capita. With respect to transportation and physical mobility, the average person would be limited to using the energy equivalent of 16–40 gallons of gasoline per year. People are assumed to take one short- to medium-haul airplane trip every three years or so.
Food consumption per capita would vary depending on age and other conditions, but the average would be 2,100 calories per day. While just over 10 percent of the world's people are unfortunately still undernourished, the Food and Agriculture Organization reports that the daily global average food supply now stands at just under 3,000 calories per person. Each individual is allocated a new clothing allowance of nine pounds per year, and clothes may be washed 20 times annually.
Now, does anyone seriously think that's what China will do?
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