Good points Tom and excellent example, Buzen. We have hardly addressed how the WORLD can lower electric use. Economists do not even have a name for how the world can maximize resource use. Microeconomics is about firms and households can maximize resources. Macroeconomics is about how nations can maximize resource use. There is no field in economics about how the Earth can do the same. There is a lot in international economics about customs unions, but it seems like there is not much that can be done, policy-wise, globally.
One reason for the fall in US electricity generation since 1998 is that because of high prices, aluminum refining moved to cheaper countries. Primary aluminum refining went from 3.8 million tons to 750 thousand tons in 2023. In addition to moving to lower cost countries like Canada and China, the US increased use of recycled aluminum which uses much less electricity to produce.
Other industries also improved processes or left for cheaper offshore locations after the 2008 financial crisis.
Sweden, Denmark, the UK, Germany, and NZ appear to have deliberately crippled their own economies in pursuit of a hair-shirt green agenda. This article in The Atlantic magazine is timely:-
Yup. I think this is also why the populist right has been doing well politically. If you close coal and nuclear plants, then electricity becomes more expensive if you don't have a suitable replacement. It then becomes too expensive to manufacture stuff, so those industries and their generally well-paying jobs relocate to another country.
Good points Tom and excellent example, Buzen. We have hardly addressed how the WORLD can lower electric use. Economists do not even have a name for how the world can maximize resource use. Microeconomics is about firms and households can maximize resources. Macroeconomics is about how nations can maximize resource use. There is no field in economics about how the Earth can do the same. There is a lot in international economics about customs unions, but it seems like there is not much that can be done, policy-wise, globally.
Well, the world can lower electricity use by lowering the overall world standard of living.
One reason for the fall in US electricity generation since 1998 is that because of high prices, aluminum refining moved to cheaper countries. Primary aluminum refining went from 3.8 million tons to 750 thousand tons in 2023. In addition to moving to lower cost countries like Canada and China, the US increased use of recycled aluminum which uses much less electricity to produce.
Other industries also improved processes or left for cheaper offshore locations after the 2008 financial crisis.
Thanks for this tip, Buzen. At some point maybe I'll try to add up the electricy decrease.
Sweden, Denmark, the UK, Germany, and NZ appear to have deliberately crippled their own economies in pursuit of a hair-shirt green agenda. This article in The Atlantic magazine is timely:-
https://archive.ph/2025.03.03-161011/https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2025/03/uk-needs-abundance/681877/
Yup. I think this is also why the populist right has been doing well politically. If you close coal and nuclear plants, then electricity becomes more expensive if you don't have a suitable replacement. It then becomes too expensive to manufacture stuff, so those industries and their generally well-paying jobs relocate to another country.