EnergyFacts

Energy Facts

Energy is one of the most important parts of our lives. Think of all the things we use energy for: lighting our homes and town, powering our vehicles, running our communication systems, transporting us from place to place, etc. Without energy our lives would be much less dynamic. The following facts are to help in your basic understanding of energy.
*Btu - This is the basic unit of measurement for heat energy. Btu stands for British Thermal Unit. A Btu is the amount of heat energy it takes to raise the temperature of one pound of water by one degree Fahrenheit, at sea level.

1 Btu = one kitchen match
It takes about 2,000 BTU's to make a pot of coffee.

*Joule - another measurement for energy. A joule is the amount of energy it would take to lift one pound about nine inches.

1,000 joules = 1 Btu
It would take 2 million joules to make a pot of coffee.

*Lumen - a measure of light output.

Electric power is measured in watts (W) and kilowatts (kW). A watt is a unit of power equal to one joule per second. A kilowatt is 1,000 watts.

Electricity Fun Facts

In the home, a person would have to beat a batter mixture at an incredible speed, steadily for 10 hours, to generate energy equal to 1 kwh.
A person working steadily with a hand pump for one hour can pump 4,000 gallons of water out of a 25 foot well. A 1 kw motor running for 1 hour pumping out of a 25 foot well, will pump 10,000 gallons.
A person shoveling a foot of snow off a 10 foot wide driveway does about 23 foot-pounds of work per shovelful (assuming 1 cubic foot equals 6 pounds per shovelful). The person would have to clear a driveway 2 miles long to generate energy equal to 1 kwh.

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