[jeffersondem]

Where is “energy” in the pie chart. Energy is a huge cost of manufacturing products made of steel, aluminum, plastics.

Is energy folded into “materials”?

Also, government regulation is not shown as an identifiable cost of manufacturing. Why? To keep it a secret?

[Svartalfiar]

Where is “energy” in the pie chart. Energy is a huge cost of manufacturing products made of steel, aluminum, plastics.

Is energy folded into “materials”?

Also, government regulation is not shown as an identifiable cost of manufacturing. Why? To keep it a secret?

Energy is definitely folded into materials, just like all the labor and everything for these materials. You could make this same pie chart for 'materials' instead of 'vehicles' and it would look similar. To the vehicle manufacturer, materials is the total cost they pay for parts, not broken down. Few regs probably aren't in there at all, as that is hard to quantify a lot of. Fuel costs to transport parts? Rent/utilities for the warehouse? There's a bunch the chart doesn't really show, or break down to it's most basic cost.

[Reeses]

Where is “energy” in the pie chart.

All costs are ultimately energy consumption costs. Money is data. The data ultimately reflects energy use. If the average employee or robot costs $50,000 per year, that labor source consumes on average $50,000 per year in energy, mostly indirectly. To increase in wealth we need either cheaper energy or ways of using less of it.