Saturday, June 25, 2011

According to the energy widget we're screwed

I have this energy widget from Oilprice.com at the bottom of the page that tells you how much energy major countries consume during the year in billion BTUs.  I check it once in awhile to get up my self-righteous ire at the fact that the US is the number one consumer of fossil fuels (then, of course, I remember that I contribute to that enormous number) - but not anymore!  For the first time since I first put this widget on the blog, China has surpassed the US in energy consumption.  I'm not sure what to feel about that - relieved that we're no longer number one?  No, that's not it.  It's something in the range between discomfort and mild horror. 

Google "china surpasses us in energy consumption" and you get stuff like this:

"The BP publication shows that China accounted for 20.3 per cent of consumption, surpassing the US, with a 19 per cent share of the global total.
Consumption growth reached 5.6 per cent last year and demand for all forms of energy grew strongly, said BP, with energy consumption in both mature OECD economies and non-OECD countries growing at above-average rates as the economic recovery gathered pace."
This is a quote from the Financial Times reported on NPR - the basis comes from a report given at the beginning of the month by BP officials.  Another story from the Times-Picayune makes the case that US isn't up to the task of meeting natural gas demands as had been originally predicted, and that's not all:
As analysts predict that months-long interruptions in Libyan oil supplies could drive up oil even further, Finley said production has not increased by a significant enough volume to offset the decrease in supplies. He said production needs to increase by about 1 million barrels a day to keep the oil market in balance over the second half of this year.
Saudi Arabia, it's on you, man, so step it up.