Seeing so many sub-Saharan countries generating >= 50% of their electricity from renewables makes me smile: https://static.the-independent.com/2024/04/16/11/renewable%2...

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bluGill 2 days ago | parent [-]

It makes me sad - most of them are fairly poor and so don't use much energy. I want those people to have the wealth to consume as much energy as me. (My city is also 100% renewable but since I live in the us we don't show near as well on the charts overall.

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celsoazevedo 2 days ago | parent [-]

Is the glass half empty or half full?

If they're able to produce clean energy to cover a large part of their needs, then that's a reason to be happy. We can also hope their quality of life improves without having to waste as much energy as people in the US do. The amount of electricity, gas, etc, used just to heat or cool down houses... if they can be smarter and do it while using less energy, then good for them.

	▲	bluGill a day ago \| parent [-]
		Needs vs wants. I don't need most of what I use energy for. I could wear really thick coats on those -30c days in winter. Instead of indoor plumbing I could have a bucket of water that I need to draw from a well just before I use it (so it isn't frozen)... Living like that on a camping trip is even fun for a few days, but I'm glad to spend most of my time in a house where I can use a lot of energy on wants. Now granted as they improve their quality of life I hope they can take the best technology I have. There is no reason they should build poorly insulated houses just because that is a phase we went through 100 years ago - before we knew better. (they will undoubtedly make plenty of mistakes without following ours - for that matter I what our children will think about us...)