Our Energy Future, Counted in Toasters
nhzR_2mNOJ8 • 2017-01-31
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Language: en
The energy problem the world has is not
really the one that you hear about or
see in the US or Europe. The trouble is
we Americans use about 11 kilowatt
11,000 watts. Toasters are about a
kilowatt. So it's very much like each
and every American has 11 toasters
running all day every day. Of course, we
don't really have toasters, but this is
taking all the energy that we use in
heating our buildings, in air
conditioning, in all the primary energy
uses. It's like 11 toasters. Now, if you
look at the world and you say, "What is
the world average?" 2.5 kow. Way less
than us. Africa per capita 800 watt. So,
the Africans don't even have one toaster
each. The Indians, well, they got, you
know, a toaster and a half. China
happens to be today right about at the
world average. They all want 11
toasters. In this century, they're all
going to go to 11
toasters. Hot places want air
conditioning. People want computers.
They want
transportation. They want all the things
that we have. And you can't deny it to
them. How how could you stop them? So
what that means is we're going to grow
the whole world's energy supply by a
factor of five this century. So if you
think about the real energy problem for
the 21st century, it's not to say how
can we cut the US back a bit? How can we
cut Western Europe back? No, it's about
how we can let the rest of the world in
on the lifestyle that we have. I think
that's the real challenge is can you
step forward and do that?
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file updated 2026-02-13 13:00:37 UTC
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