October 10, 2013

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What if the Chinese consumed as much oil as Americans?

China has an opportunity to leapfrog the oil-intense Western lifestyle. Will it?

By David Wogan

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This article was published in Scientific American’s former blog network and reflects the views of the author, not necessarily those of Scientific American

China now imports more oil than the United States, but there is an important caveat: the United States has one-third the population of China. That means the average American consumes nearly ten times as much oil as the average Chinese consumer. Here's what it looks like:

Of course, the subset of the Chinese population that is buying cars and consuming oil is smaller than in America, which makes a straight comparison between populations slightly misleading. However, if we imagine that every Chinese citizen adopted the Western oil diet, the picture gets crazy:

China would consume over 80 million barrels of oil per day, which is almost as much as the entire world consumes right now. The latest reports put world oil consumption at around 90 million barrels per day. China has an opportunity to leapfrog the oil-intense Western lifestyle. Will it?

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Awesome icons via The Noun Project: Ted Grajeda (USA), Luke Anthony Firth (China), and Edward Boatman (oil drum).

David Wogan is an engineer and policy researcher who writes about energy, technology, and policy.

David's academic and professional background includes a unique blend of technology and policy in the field of energy systems. Most recently, David worked at Austin Energy, a Texas municipal utility, implementing a Department of Energy stimulus grant related to energy efficiency. Previously, David was a member of the Energy & Climate Change team at the White House Council on Environmental Quality for the Obama Administration.

David holds two Master's degrees from The University of Texas at Austin in Mechanical Engineering and Public Affairs. While at UT, David was a researcher in the Webber Energy Group, where his research focused on advanced biofuel production to offset petroleum use in the transportation sector. David holds a Bachelor's of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from The University of Texas at Austin, where he researched nuclear non-proliferation measurement technology.

David is a 2013 Aspen Institute Journalism Scholar, joining a select group of journalists from Slate, ABC News, and The New York Times.

David lives in Austin, Texas. Follow along on Twitter or email him at david.wogan@me.com.

More by David Wogan

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