📊 EV’s Charts of the Week #110
How is the global construction industry challenge playing out?
Hi, I’m Azeem Azhar. I convene Exponential View to help us understand how our societies and political economy will change under the force of rapidly accelerating technologies. Every Wednesday, I do this in Charts of the Week.
CHART OF THE WEEK
Heat pumps are wonderful pieces of technology. They’re also surprisingly old; Lord Kelvin imagined them in the early 1850s, and the first systems were built by the end of the decade. They use electricity to move heat from outside air, water, or ground to heat inside air or water. They’re highly efficient, which makes them a low-carbon technology, even when the electricity used to run them comes from burning fossil fuels. Governments across the world are incentivising the transition to heat pumps, especially when they benefit from renewable energy subsidies. 2021 saw 13% global growth in heat pump sales. We don’t yet have a picture of this growth in 2022, but certain European countries certainly stand out. Poland’s market grew by about 120% last year.
DEPT OF CONSTRUCTION
Laying the foundations
In a January edition of the Chart of the Week, we highlighted that one of the most significant challenges to the clean energy transition is the infrastructure for the transportation, distribution, and storage of energy. One barrier for western economies is that construction inputs in general have become more expensive over time. The chart below shows how multiple indicators1 have steadily increased in the US faster than inflation.
The rest of the edition is open to paying members only. Here’s what’s behind the paywall 🔒:
Analysis: The global construction challenge and who is winning,
How we misperceive changes in public opinions,
ChatGPT’s record-breaking growth.