• BZ 🇨🇦
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    11 months ago

    Perhaps I’m misunderstanding what you mean by “in terms of scale”. Typically, that’s what we use “per capita” for, no?

      • BZ 🇨🇦
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        10 months ago

        Ah, ok. But big heads-up, that’s not what “in terms of scale” means. You 're talking about total output.

        • ☆ Yσɠƚԋσʂ ☆@lemmygrad.mlOP
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          10 months ago

          In terms of scale is generally used it to describe a comparison of something with regard to its size or magnitude. Perhaps you’re not familiar with this usage?

          • BZ 🇨🇦
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            10 months ago

            You’re partly right. It’s used to compare things of different sizes, by converting them into a comparable measurement (i.e. scaling them)

            • They are of a comparable measurement - total wattage. You can divide this by the respective population sizes and you’ll get another type of data. You can also divide it by the amount of people living in urban areas, by the total amount of land, by the amount of land utilized for electricity generation, by the amount of time elapsed since the country was industrialized, by the amount of time elapsed since the country started producing renewable energy, or numerous other factors, and you’ll get a different type of data every time. “In terms of scale” does not inherently imply that population size is the divisor

              • BZ 🇨🇦
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                10 months ago

                No you’re 100% right it’s not inherently about population, but that’s a convenient and common measure.

                Again, you’re talking about total output here. Where’s the scale? “Country” is not a uniform data point. So at best this is categorization.

                An example:

                There are 3 employees in one group, and they produce 9 widgets in a day. In another group, there are 10 people, and they produce 20 widgets. Fantastic. Group 2 makes more widgets right?!

                IN TERMS OF SCALE, group 1’s employees make 3 widgets per person. Group 2’s makes 2 or person.

                That’s why talking about total output power is kind of meaningless.

                • Why is a country not a uniform data point but a person (grouped by country) is?

                  IN TERMS OF SCALE, group 1’s employees make 3 widgets per person. Group 2’s makes 2 or person.

                  Also in terms of scale, group 1’s employees makes 20 widgets in total. It’s only meaningless if all you care about is how much each person produces. If Vatican City had the highest per capita energy production, it would still be insignificant in practice.

                  • BZ 🇨🇦
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                    10 months ago

                    Glad you asked. A country is an arbitrary set of lines on a map, isn’t it? A person is a discrete object, and for statistical purposes, roughly equivalent. That’s why a ratio-scale of per capita is statistically more meaningful.

                    If Vatican City had the highest per capita energy production, it would still be insignificant in practice.

                    Why is that insignificant? By what measure?

                    I would argue that would be an interesting data point.(e.g What would cause that? Why are the people there doing that? How would people in the Vatican who worry about climate change know there’s an issue otherwise? Etc?)

                    A previous poster said (correctly) that Canadians, per capita produce more GHGs. That’s important information.