Bill Gates has an incredible statistic: According the USGS' cement statistics, China has used more concrete from 2011 to 2013 (6.6 gigatons) than the United States in the entire 20th century (4.5 gigatons). It blows my mind but, then again, as Gates point out, look at Shanghai's evolution in just 20 years...


...and now imagine something similar happening in every city in China, from Beijing to Zhengzhou, in the last five.


Another cool infographic is this stat on aluminum use in the United States. It shows how much aluminum the country uses to make cans and how developments in manufacturing have helped decrease the energy and environmental impact as production increased from 1980 to 2010.