How Much Energy Do We Use?
It’s a big number, but Thorium will make a big difference.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA)has been keeping track of energy numbers for a long time. And of course, the U.S. Census Bureau has been keeping track of population numbers. With those resources, some conversion charts, and a little math, we’re going to calculate how much energy each person in America uses in the average lifetime. Then we’re going to compare those numbers with Thorium. Forgive the math if you’re not a math person, but I’m going to spell it out because the numbers are surprising. Besides, it will only take 4 minutes to read.
The EIA says that in 2019 the U.S. consumed the following (in British Thermal Units):
- 36.7 Quadrillion BTUs in Petroleum
- 32.1 Quadrillion BTUs in Natural Gas
- 11.5 Quadrillion BTUs in Renewable Energy (solar, wind, hydro, biomass)
- 11.3 Quadrillion BTUs in Coal
- 8.5 Quadrillion BTUs in Nuclear Energy
For a grand total of 100.1 Quadrillion BTUs for the whole country. Keep in mind that this is not just the energy we personally use to drive, cook, and plug our stuff in the wall. It includes the energy needed to build our homes, to transport our food to the grocery stores, to build the bridges and repair the roads, to launch rockets for our communications satellites, everything. It’s all in that 100 Q BTU number.
Side note: To get a picture of what 1 Quadrillion pennies looks like, it’s a cube about 1/2 mile wide by 1/2 mile deep and twice as tall as the Empire State Building, like here.
Back to our calculation. The Census Bureau estimates that in 2019 there were 328,240,000 people in America (rounding up slightly).
Get your scientific calculators out because 100 Q = 1 with 17 zeros. Do the division and we get 304.7 Million BTUs per person in America in 2019.
According to the CDC, average life expectancy for Americans is 78.6 years. Assuming energy consumption stays pretty much the same over the years, which it won’t, but let’s assume it does. EACH American citizen will consume 40 Billion BTUs in their lifetime.
That seems like a big number, but what does that mean? We need something to compare it to. Like how many BTUs are in coal? Using this conversion table we find that 40 Billion BTUs = 1,440 tons of coal for one person’s lifetime.
But we still don’t have a good picture. How big of a coal pile is 1,440 tons of coal? Well, let’s ask how much coal does a railroad coal car carry? Answer: A typical 50 foot coal car, like the picture above, can carry 110 tons of coal. Nice to know.
That calculates to 13 coal cars for each person for their whole life. So a family of 5 would need that whole train of coal (65 coal cars) in the picture above for their entire life (assume the train ends just around the corner). That’s just ONE family. Yikes.
Think of all that pollution, all that CO2. Think of all that effort and energy just to get that much coal out of the ground just for you and me. Don’t think about it too hard, it might get depressing.
Now here’s the big surprise about Thorium.
Thorium is an alternative nuclear energy source that we tested in the 1960’s and proved it’s viability. But it was put on the shelf while we pursued uranium nuclear reactors instead, which we still use today. I’ve written a couple articles below to explain the basic benefits of Thorium if you want to learn more.
With any nuclear fission there is a WHOLE LOT of energy that comes from the fission process, or splitting the atom. In terms of energy production, we get about 4 million times more energy from Thorium than we get from coal. That means we get the same amount of energy from 4 million tons of coal as we get from just 1 ton of Thorium.
Looking back at our energy number for one individual (1,440 tons of coal) in a lifetime, doing the math gives us .72 pounds or 11.5 ounces. That’s about the size of this steel ball in your hand.
Yes, all the energy you need in an average American lifetime is represented in 11.5 ounces of Thorium. You can hold it in your hand. Remarkable!
This is why, in most places in the world, Thorium is plentiful enough (3–4 times more plentiful than uranium) and dispersed enough throughout the earth’s crust, that Thorium energy advocates say there is enough energy under your feet that can supply all the energy you need for the rest of your life.
Thorium Energy is something we should all be getting excited about. Not only is it powerful, as the calculation shows, it is clean, safe, consistent, reliable, and affordable. It is also the solution for all of our global warming concerns, as it is carbon zero.
This energy revolution is coming, so learn more about it below.
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These two articles lay the foundation for the benefits of Thorium Energy and give a little history.
