29 comments on Why Oil Intensity Changed in the US Economy
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Your point about wastefulness is well taken. However just because we have a good idea what 19th century life was like doesn't mean we can recreate it.
Consider that there was a tremendous increase in house fires back in the 1970's when all those oil shocked Americans got the idea to return to wood heat, because for most of them the skill set to heat with wood was unknown. Or coal, personally using it is not impossible but few remember how to do it.
As for local manufacturing, ask a business owner about competing with China and you will find among other things what makes it difficult to remain in the States is that many of the ancillary and supporting businesses have folded or gone overseas themselves.
I think those are the sort of things Duncan was getting at.
Indeed. Here in Lithuania, most people outside of major cities (even in towns with 20,000 people) don't have access to piped-in natural gas. So firewood and coal are pretty traditional -- many generations have used this stuff for heating.
And yet they still can't get it right. In 2003, there were over 18,000 fires, destroying over a thousand buildings, and killing over 250 people. Okay, a lot of that comes from not having a really good grasp of electrical safety, or smoking at home, or whatever. But at least 20 casualties came from poorly-maintained wood-burning stoves or chimneys.
(Hats off to the geeky Statistics Department of Lithuania for these numbers.)
So even if you have a tradition of using firewood and coal, you can still end up getting burned...so to speak.