Power investment of some $4 trillion expected in the next 15-20 years
"In the United States today, we have more than our share of the nattering nabobs of negativism."
Spiro T. Agnew
Unless one has been deeply submerged in summer vacation void of print, TV and Internet they would now know that China has passed the U.S. in yet another major demonstration of her industrial might. In perhaps the greatest statistic of real, measurable growth the Red Dragon has captured this position years ahead of most experts forecasts and most impressively doubled their thirst for power in only 10 years.
In the quote made famous by the only U.S. VP to be removed from office it can be clearly suggested that the same nabobs of negativism exist as the Sino doubters continue their false arguments of bubbles, busts and collapses. I have stated many times that;
Oil is energy, energy = electricity and electricity need copper.
The U.S. is still the biggest oil consumer at 19 million barrels p/d - with China a distant second at 9.2 million barrels p/d and that is bullish for oil with only a fifth of Chinese citizens participating in some kind of meaningful consumption. However, The International Energy Agency has long since used an "oil-equivalent metric" to combine all forms of energy consumed into a single digit of "millions of tons of oil-equivalent," and that is the area China has taken the lead using 2,252 million tons of oil-equivalent to the 2,170 million for the U.S.
Do these pundits of negativity actually understand how and where electricity is produced?
In North America the great electrical expansions took place over many decades and at 2, 5 and sometimes 10 gigawatt increases, i.e., B.C. Hydro, Quebec & Ontario Hydro and The Great Hoover Dam. In China it is expected that 1,000 gigawatts of new power will be needed with an investment of some $4 trillion in the next 15-20 years.
Is it not reasonable to anticipate that it is not a bubble to have only some of the remaining 4/5's of Chinese and Indian society slowly enter the consumerism that we all take for granted?
It shall be noted that the vast majority of the annual usage of copper is used in the consumption, generation, transmission ... consumption, generation, transmission (keep repeating).... of energy. Society is not going to stop using electricity while industry and government will not stop providing basic services to those that become consumers. A Volkswagen uses the same amount of energy to travel 20 km's back and forth to work in India as it would in Beverly Hills like a 42" plasma TV uses the same amount of electricity to watch a World Cup soccer match in Vancouver as those that watch in Indonesia.
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