Also goes to what I've been saying that the nations which use the most energy are the wealthiest. Canada, USA and Australia are at ~14,500 kwh a year per capita of electricity. Britain is at 5,500 kwh! Luckily even half of Australia's level is still wealthy by world terms.
Think about it on a philosophical level to do anything requires energy. Our money is in many ways a representation of our personal share of the energy available to our country. There are other factors, but in my opinion those others factors are in gradual decline relative to energy. As technology and automation advances the human labour aspect of costs declines. And it becomes more about share of available energy.
Think about this example, 50 years ago a vast steel complex employed 25,000 people. Today after quite a few retrofits with more advanced technology it employs 4,000 people. But the output of steel is the same. Obviously for the steel company, the percentage of expenses spent on energy versus wages has risen dramatically. Of course year to year it fluctuates, but over decades the trend is blatantly obvious.
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