@feld
That's all energy types, including e.g. oil and gas burnt directly. I'm talking about electricity: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_electricity_consumption
@dymaxion ok, but how does this matter? If you want to focus on the USA, let's look at the LLNL flowchart: we have 67.3 quads of energy (~ 19,720TWh ) being wasted. Nearly 2/3 of our electricity is wasted. We have room to handle this.
@feld
Well, let's see who's right. The grid planners are definitely changing their plans, and I've seen first hand how hard housing companies are scraping the bottom of the barrel trying to find power.
@dymaxion Let's also also look at the generation of electricity in the USA. It has not been growing at any appreciable rate even though we went through this huge tech boom with datacenters going everywhere. Not even bitcoin can put a bump in the chart.
@feld
Yes. Energy use in the US has been flat for a long time, and no, the tech boom has not particularly moved the needle — growth there has been offset in other places. That's why it's worth mentioning that the footprint of the industry is on course to triple over the next year. E.g. after that chart's data.
@dymaxion > growth there has been offset in other places.
our efficiency gains are outpacing our consumption increases. The world will be OK.
our efficiency gains are outpacing our consumption increases. The world will be OK.