<story><title>Europe drastically cut its energy consumption this winter</title><url>https://www.economist.com/graphic-detail/2023/04/05/europe-drastically-cut-its-energy-consumption-this-winter</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>florbnit</author><text>&amp;gt; The world has a lot of potential to be more efficient.&lt;p&gt;This winter wasn’t “efficient” it was cold as hell because we all turned the heating as low as it could go without causing building damage[1] because the price of natural gas more than 10x’ed.&lt;p&gt;It’s not an example of a sustainable reduction in consumption.&lt;p&gt;[1] though a lot of people didn’t think things through and set the temperature too low or even turned off the gas and now have mold and other problems in their basements.</text></item><item><author>locallost</author><text>A lot of people are saying it&amp;#x27;s because of the mild winter, but here e.g. Germany and natural gas use by consumers (used for heating): down even temperature adjusted. &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;mobile.twitter.com&amp;#x2F;LionHirth&amp;#x2F;status&amp;#x2F;1639608305696886785&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;mobile.twitter.com&amp;#x2F;LionHirth&amp;#x2F;status&amp;#x2F;1639608305696886...&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;The world has a lot of potential to be more efficient. Look no further than energy consumption per capita in the US. It&amp;#x27;s drastically higher than in other developed countries.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>ben_w</author><text>I don&amp;#x27;t know where you&amp;#x27;re based, but you are mentioning prices in dollars in another comment, so I&amp;#x27;m assuming most likely US.&lt;p&gt;Continental Europe&amp;#x27;s got much better housing than the bits of the US which I&amp;#x27;ve visited. East coast more relevant here than the West, given exactly where I went, but Boston, Providence, etc., were &lt;i&gt;awful&lt;/i&gt; build quality, the &amp;quot;middle class&amp;quot; places around there were even worse than the &amp;quot;working class&amp;quot; Victorian terraces and post-War council houses in the UK.</text></comment>
<story><title>Europe drastically cut its energy consumption this winter</title><url>https://www.economist.com/graphic-detail/2023/04/05/europe-drastically-cut-its-energy-consumption-this-winter</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>florbnit</author><text>&amp;gt; The world has a lot of potential to be more efficient.&lt;p&gt;This winter wasn’t “efficient” it was cold as hell because we all turned the heating as low as it could go without causing building damage[1] because the price of natural gas more than 10x’ed.&lt;p&gt;It’s not an example of a sustainable reduction in consumption.&lt;p&gt;[1] though a lot of people didn’t think things through and set the temperature too low or even turned off the gas and now have mold and other problems in their basements.</text></item><item><author>locallost</author><text>A lot of people are saying it&amp;#x27;s because of the mild winter, but here e.g. Germany and natural gas use by consumers (used for heating): down even temperature adjusted. &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;mobile.twitter.com&amp;#x2F;LionHirth&amp;#x2F;status&amp;#x2F;1639608305696886785&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;mobile.twitter.com&amp;#x2F;LionHirth&amp;#x2F;status&amp;#x2F;1639608305696886...&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;The world has a lot of potential to be more efficient. Look no further than energy consumption per capita in the US. It&amp;#x27;s drastically higher than in other developed countries.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>locallost</author><text>I was probably not clear enough, my point was that even in normal times, energy use im some countries can be almost double per capita than other similar countries. But even in the more energy efficient countries there&amp;#x27;s room for improvement - better insulation, more efficient appliances on the individual level, and better urban planning etc. on the society level.</text></comment>