On 15/09/09 08:54, Gordon Henderson wrote:

http://www.inference.phy.cam.ac.uk/sustainable/charger/

I read that and started thinking the 5000W per person figure was a
confusion between power units and energy units, and assuming it meant
5000Wh per person per day, but I decided I'd best check the numbers
before possibly inserting foot into mouth ...

According to the International Energy Association figures for 2001
the total UK energy consumption was 262,186,000 tonnes of oil equivalent

or about 4.3 tonnes of oil per person

or 180 Gigajoules per person

so dividing by 8760 hours that *did* equate to a continuous 5.7kW per
person. Granted some of that will contribute to exported goods and
services, but equally our imports will contribute to other countries'
consumption figures so it's difficult to adjustment for that.

Still barely makes it worthwhile unplugging idle phone chargers though,
most of that power is consumed on our behalf, not directly by us.