Electricity generation per capita in Germany and China
Germany's electricity generation per capita falls year after year, while China's has risen continuously for at least three decades — a sign of where industrial capacity is heading.
Electricity generation per capita in Germany and China.
As the infographic shows, electricity generation per capita in Germany is falling substantially with every year, which cannot be said of China, where the figure has been rising continuously for at least the past thirty years.
Energy is the foundation of an economy, and the cost of electricity has to be low for industry and consumption to grow. Electricity in Germany costs almost four to five times more than in the United States, and substantially more than in China. A decline in electricity output in a national economy means a decline in industrial production. All the more so given that production processes in developed countries are being automated and robotised. Automation, robotisation and artificial intelligence in industry require ever more electricity, because these systems consume a great deal of energy.
This indicator shows that Germany is in fact shutting down energy-intensive industrial plants and heavy-industry enterprises, and cutting output at its factories.