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What can you do with a megawatt-hour?

Energy output is commonly talked about in terms of megawatt-hours. We have previously talked about what a megawatt-hour is, but today we want to dive into the practical part: what can you do with one?

What can you do with a megawatt-hour of electricity?

a megawatt hour can power two (2) 60w bulbs powered non-stop for a year a megawatt hour can power an avg American home for 1.2 monthsa megawatt hour can run 2 refrigerators for a year a megawatt hour can charge an electric car to drive 3,600 miles a megawatt hour can toast 89,000 slices of bread

In short, one megawatt hour can…

  • Power the average American home for 1.2 months
  • Drive an electric vehicle 3,600 miles
  • Power two 60-watt lightbulbs non-stop for a year
  • Smelt 137 pounds of aluminum
  • Toast 89,000 slices of bread
  • Run an average home pool pump for 5 months
  • Run two modern refrigerators for a year

What can you do with a kilowatt hour of electricity?

Here is the same list for those of you that prefer measuring things in kilowatt hours. For a single kWh of electricity, you can…

  • Power the average American home for 50 minutes
  • Drive an electric car for 3.6 miles
  • Power two 60-watt lightbulbs non-stop for 8.3 hours
  • Smelt 2.2 ounces of aluminum
  • Toast 89 slices of bread
  • Run an average home pool pump for 2.8 hours
  • Run a modern refrigerator for 20 hours

So, the next logical question is: how do you create a MWh of electricity? Check out our accompanying article, How much fossil fuel and renewables are needed to generate a megawatt hour of electricity?

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Sources

You can see all the sources and the math behind them here. But here are some of the most interesting:

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