[ RadSafe ] Re: global warming

[Larry Addis]

Clayton,

Your point is well taken.  I was surprised when I considered some of the statistics that I looked over this weekend concerning CO2 emissions and the like when viewed against different backdrops like GDP vs. per capita.

Yes we are the most productive society on the planet and have, contrary to what some would have us believe, the most productive workers.

As I read these post I try to remember something my dad told me as a little kid, "son you're not likely to learn much if you only talk to people who agree with you", or words to that effect.

Jess Addis
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Clayton J Bradt 
  To: ajess at CLEMSON.EDU ; radsafe at radlab.nl 
  Sent: Monday, December 07, 2009 10:24 AM
  Subject: global warming


  On Sun, 6 Dec 2009 Jess Addis wrote:

  "With a much smaller portion of the earth's population we use a very large 
  portion of the world resources and emit a very large portion of the 
  world's atmospheric pollution. Could we do just a little better?"

  This statement (and question) misses the point of US energy consumption. Remember "Energy is the capacity to do Work" (the good old work-energy theorem). Energy isn't just "consumed" by an economy, it is converted into useful work. The US uses more energy because it does more work than any other economy. The ratio of energy use to population is not the appropriate number for comparison. Rather it is the ratio of energy used (i.e. work done) per unit of GDP. From that perspective (the correct one I would argue), the US is pretty efficient compared with other contries. It's not the most efficient energy-to-work converter but it is far from the least efficient.


  Clayton J. Bradt
  dutchbradt at hughes.net

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