People, Cars, and Energy

For many centuries China has been the most populous nation on earth. It has now reached two more milestones of potentially dubious, but still very important, distinction: (1) General Motors sold more cars in China in the first half of 2010 than they did in the United States, according to a story in the New York Times; and (2) the U.S. International Energy Agency reports that China has now overtaken the United States as the world's largest consumer of energy. These three things are obviously interrelated--more people, more cars, more energy consumption.