Wealthy nations could dramatically cut energy use without compromising their well-being, a new study from Stanford University published Tuesday in Ecosphere finds. Researchers measured energy consumption and well-being benchmarks across 140 countries and found 75 gigajoules (GJ) is the ‘magic number’ above which quality of life generally stops improving. “That suggests to me that we could nudge energy use downwards in a bunch of hyper-consuming countries and not just make a more equitable world, but perhaps make ourselves healthier and happier,” lead author Rob Jackson told NPR. Consumption is wildly unequal worldwide — people in the U.S. use 284 GJ per year, more than 23 times the average person in Senegal. (NPR, Axios, Bloomberg $)