giasen
Tourist
Reged: 07/14/05
Posts: 94
Loc: AZ, USA
|
|
World Oil Consumption Per Capita by Country according to CIA Factbook.
I had to mess with this data a little bit to get it to show up on google earth. At first I just divided each countries consumption by its population to get per capita but the numbers were so low that they would not show up at all here. Even multiplying per capita use by 365 to get a years worth of data only had the USA using 24 barrels a year per capita. So after I got a figure for a year I also multiplied them all by a factor of 100,000 and so what you are seeing is the data from the CIA factbook in consumption of barrels per day per country divided by the countries current population for per capita and multiplied 36,500,000 times to get its representation in meters of height. I was surprised to see Singapore take the lead in per capita use! The USA comes in only 9th place right ahead of Canada. Interesting.
The CIA file was last updated on 8 February, 2007
--------------------
Hi.
GPS devices
Multi-Dimensional Google Earth
|
heamit
Master Cartographer
Reged: 10/26/06
Posts: 2333
|
|
This is great, giasen!  Thank you for going to the trouble to calculate and scale everything.
It's interesting what you say about Singapore. I noticed Luxembourg stands out like crazy too. I suspect this may be because these countries are very small yet very industrialized and wealthy. So maybe there is a certain amount of consumption in wealthy nations regardless of population and then the per-capita consumption comes on top of that? Either that or I suppose it could be a statistical blip but since it happens twice that seems less likely.
I noticed a couple of other small issues which are no doubt due to the data set you access but I though I'd mention them anyway : For example did you notice South Africa? Perhaps it simply doesn't publish consumption data  because, if anything, I would have expected its consumption to be higher than its neighbors not zero!  Myanmar (Burma), Sri Lanka and New Zealand too.
Also there are strange 'holes' in some countries. For example, look at India, Sudan, Chad. I don't know what could be causing these but they are minor really since the outline shows the consumption well enough.
All in all a very fascinating overview with a number of surprises. For example I would not have guessed that Scandinavia and the Benelux countries would have such a large consumption relative to their neighbors. Also it is interesting just how much the oil-producing nations themselves use. Perhaps a measure of their (oil-derived) affluence?
Excellent post - thanks again! 
--------------------
Read the News!
What to do about Darfur?
Kiva - loans that change lives. Please check it out!
One interpretation of why the Middle East is broken 
|
giasen
Tourist
Reged: 07/14/05
Posts: 94
Loc: AZ, USA
|
|
Quote:
This is great, giasen! Thank you for going to the trouble to calculate and scale everything.
It's interesting what you say about Singapore. I noticed Luxembourg stands out like crazy too. I suspect this may be because these countries are very small yet very industrialized and wealthy. So maybe there is a certain amount of consumption in wealthy nations regardless of population and then the per-capita consumption comes on top of that? Either that or I suppose it could be a statistical blip but since it happens twice that seems less likely.
I noticed a couple of other small issues which are no doubt due to the data set you access but I though I'd mention them anyway : For example did you notice South Africa? Perhaps it simply doesn't publish consumption data because, if anything, I would have expected its consumption to be higher than its neighbors not zero! Myanmar (Burma), Sri Lanka and New Zealand too.
Also there are strange 'holes' in some countries. For example, look at India, Sudan, Chad. I don't know what could be causing these but they are minor really since the outline shows the consumption well enough.
All in all a very fascinating overview with a number of surprises. For example I would not have guessed that Scandinavia and the Benelux countries would have such a large consumption relative to their neighbors. Also it is interesting just how much the oil-producing nations themselves use. Perhaps a measure of their (oil-derived) affluence?
Excellent post - thanks again!
Thanks. Like I may have mentioned, these outputs were fairly 'quick & dirty'. They could use some proof-reading from the CIA factbook page, but they are 'mainly' accurate. I'm not sure about Singapore either. Maybe they all have very long commutes? The place does not look very large. The Benelux nations have North Sea Oil drilling platforms, but I believe it is mostly natural gas... I could be wrong, of course. I remember when I lived there that the gas was not cheap!
As for the 'holes'... some of the country names were not identical from one table to the next so they may have fallen off the display for that reason. Another reason for perhaps a 'hole' in the middle of a country may be caused by mountains poking through the symbology. I tried to multiply most of the results by a large enough number to discount for the mountains but clearly I was only partially successful. All in all, it was an eye opener regardless. Thanks to everyone for the good ideas!
--------------------
Hi.
GPS devices
Multi-Dimensional Google Earth
|
Frank4
Master Blogger
Reged: 07/10/05
Posts: 1027
Loc: Cary, North Carolina, USA
|
|
Hey 'giasen', excellent work! I've written about both this and your other graph at Google Earth Blog here.
--------------------
Frank Taylor - Author of Google Earth Blog (also available in Spanish)
All about Google Earth news, features, tips, technologies, and applications.
(If you have story ideas, please send me a private message.)
|
Noel_B
Master Gamer
Reged: 07/27/05
Posts: 1516
Loc: Sligo, Ireland
|
|
Thanks for doing this giasen.
Quote:
I was surprised to see Singapore take the lead in per capita use! The USA comes in only 9th place right ahead of Canada. Interesting.
I'm surprised not only with Irelands position (23) but also the fact that we are 8th in Europe.
--------------------
Last one out, please turn off the light.
Ireland in 1898
Battles - Friends in time - Honda
We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children.
|
giasen
Tourist
Reged: 07/14/05
Posts: 94
Loc: AZ, USA
|
|
Quote:
Hey 'giasen', excellent work! I've written about both this and your other graph at Google Earth Blog here.
Thanks Frank! If you get any other ideas, just let me know.
--------------------
Hi.
GPS devices
Multi-Dimensional Google Earth
Edited by giasen (02/27/07 03:04 PM)
|
mspelto
Tourist
Reged: 12/11/06
Posts: 203
Loc: Massachusetts
|
|
I used this in teaching my class today. It definetly made the point nicely, better than a simple bar chart that I formerly relied upon.
|
giasen
Tourist
Reged: 07/14/05
Posts: 94
Loc: AZ, USA
|
|
Quote:
Thanks for doing this giasen.
I'm surprised not only with Irelands position (23) but also the fact that we are 8th in Europe.
Not alot of gas guzzling in good old Ireland? Maybe it has less rail than the rest? I think Luxembourg is even more interesting. It is such a small country compared to the rest of the EU countries. Also, the Benelux has so much rail and trams and it is so small that I would not have figured it as a significantly larger oil consumer.
And Kasabian is awesome.
--------------------
Hi.
GPS devices
Multi-Dimensional Google Earth
|
giasen
Tourist
Reged: 07/14/05
Posts: 94
Loc: AZ, USA
|
|
Quote:
I used this in teaching my class today. It definetly made the point nicely, better than a simple bar chart that I formerly relied upon.
Very cool. Let me know if you think of anything else that might be educational to see!
--------------------
Hi.
GPS devices
Multi-Dimensional Google Earth
|
Alex_A
Tourist
Reged: 03/17/07
Posts: 3
|
|
Quote:
The Benelux nations have North Sea Oil drilling platforms
huh??
As a Norwegian I must admit that I've never heard of this....Oil findings in the North Sea are as far as I know the property of the Norwegian Government and is collected by Statoil or Hydro...
Edited by Alex_A (03/17/07 02:19 PM)
|
giasen
Tourist
Reged: 07/14/05
Posts: 94
Loc: AZ, USA
|
|
Quote:
Quote:
The Benelux nations have North Sea Oil drilling platforms
huh??
As a Norwegian I must admit that I've never heard of this....Oil findings in the North Sea are as far as I know the property of the Norwegian Government and is collected by Statoil or Hydro...
Who are you quoting? The Nederlandse Aardolie Maatschappij (Dutch Oil Society) is up in the north sea but I believe it is mainly natural gas. And they are afiliated with Shell oil so... hate to break the news to you.
--------------------
Hi.
GPS devices
Multi-Dimensional Google Earth
|
Alex_A
Tourist
Reged: 03/17/07
Posts: 3
|
|
Oh the southern gas basin! hehe!
Now I follow what your saying 
Thats German\dutch territory
|
BigWelshSteve
Tourist
Reged: 02/08/08
Posts: 2
|
|
I think the Luxembourg figure is anomalous.
Fuel is cheaper in Luxembourg than in surrounding countries (probably because of taxation), and as a result, many people who live nearby routinely pop over the border to fill their cars, so that only a small proportion of the fuel purchased in Luxembourg is actually used by people who are resident there. Luxembourg has such a tiny population that their consumption figures are very easily distorted.
|
heamit
Master Cartographer
Reged: 10/26/06
Posts: 2333
|
|
Interesting point, BigWelshSteve.  Thank you, and welcome to Google Earth!
--------------------
Read the News!
What to do about Darfur?
Kiva - loans that change lives. Please check it out!
One interpretation of why the Middle East is broken
|
Lelitsch
First Post
Reged: 08/04/08
Posts: 1
|
|
The explanation for the huge per capita use in Luxembourg is pretty simple. Gas taxes in Luxembourg are much lower than in Germany and France, so Germans and French who live less than 30 miles from the border drive to Luxembourg to fill up.
An interesting side effect is that Trier, Germany, has hardly any gas stations--confuses the hell out of tourists.
|
SandyRichard
Tourist
Reged: 05/20/07
Posts: 12
|
|
When this was used recently in a college course, the students really liked the appearance of the prisms, but they needed additional means of easily finding the ranks of the countries on the map.
After discussing it with the other instructors, we decided to create a version with the polygons clamped to the ground. We also made the numbers for the country rankings more visible and added a legend as a screen overlay. I have previously done this for the states at Re: US Oil Consumption per Capita by State. By offering the students a variety of views of the same data we have given them an opportunity to consider issues related to presenting quantatative data in visual formats.
This is a great thread that offers useful data to educators.
|
Previous
Index
Next
Threaded
View in Google Earth
Edit
Reply
Quote
