I am trying to get a conceptual or visual understanding of the amount of work/energy that we consume in electricity each month and when I look at the numbers, they don't seem real (of course it has been a long time since physics, so I could be way off). I want to make a bike generator for my kids and translate it to something they can understand (first I must understand it).
Given:Avg monthly US household consumption in KWH = 1,000 (less but close)
1watt-second = 1 joule
KW-second = 1,000 joules
1KWH = 1KW-s*3600sec/hour = 1,000j*3,600=3,600,000 joules
1ft-lb = 1.355joules
1,000 KWH/mo/us home * 3,600,000 joules/KWH = 3,600,000,000 Joules/mo/us home
divided by 1.355joules/ft-lb = 2,650,000,000 ft-lbs/mo/us home
Which means that it would take the same amount of work to move a 2,650,000 load a 1,000 feet as it does to provide electricity to a house each month (I like ft-lbs because you can visualize it). This seems way too high. If this were true then it would make it almost impossible to find any mechanical means to generate enough electricity to run a house (yes, I realize the bike won't do it).
I would greatly appreciate anyone's help on this one.
