“Sky-high electricity bills” has become a hot topic. What does it mean to use 9,330 kWh of electricity in a month?

Recently, the dispute between Wang Xiaofei and Da S has become a hot topic on Weibo. In the incident, Wang Xiaofei posted his expense bill on Weibo, in which Da S and Gu Junye spent NT$94,201 on electricity bills at their residence on Songyong Road from July to September, which is equivalent to about RMB 21,592.416, causing an uproar on the Internet.

We won’t eat the melon, but this “sky-high electricity bill” has also raised many questions for everyone: How much electricity was used for the 21,592.416 yuan electricity bill, and what is the concept of so many kilowatt-hours of electricity?

1.What is the concept of one kilowatt-hour of electricity?

To understand this problem, we must first understand what the concept of one kilowatt-hour of electricity is?
As we all know, in our daily life, electricity is measured in "degrees". One kilowatt-hour is also called one kilowatt-hour (1kWh) . That is, we artificially stipulate that the energy consumed by an electrical appliance with a power of one kilowatt working continuously at full load for one hour is one kilowatt-hour, or one kilowatt-hour.

Although one kilowatt-hour of electricity is not very noticeable in our daily life, the energy it contains is very huge. For example, a 10,000 mAh power bank used in daily life is enough to fully charge about 13 10,000 mAh power banks. If this example is not intuitive enough, one kilowatt-hour of electricity is enough to make a low-power air conditioner work continuously for one and a half hours, make a household LED light work for 20-70 hours, and make a household electric fan blow continuously for about 20 hours.

Source: unsplash In addition, from a caloric perspective, one kilowatt-hour of electricity corresponds to 3,600,000 J of energy, which is approximately equal to 860 kilocalories, which is roughly equivalent to two fried chicken legs.

2. How many resources are needed to produce one kilowatt-hour of electricity?

So, from a production perspective, how many resources are needed to generate one kilowatt-hour of electricity?

The current mainstream power generation methods mainly include thermal power generation, hydropower generation, wind power generation, nuclear power generation and other power generation methods . According to the current coal consumption standard for thermal power generation, a thermal power plant needs to burn 200-400 grams of standard coal to produce one kilowatt-hour of electricity. Wind turbines, which are the three-blade generators we occasionally see, can generate 0.1 kilowatt-hour of electricity per rotation. It takes a wind turbine several minutes to produce one kilowatt-hour of electricity.

Thermal power station

Source: CCTV News

Let's look at the power generation from another perspective. The Three Gorges Dam can generate 98.8 billion kWh of electricity a year, and the Hualong One nuclear power plant can produce 10 billion kWh of electricity a year . Although it seems that there is plenty of electricity, over a one-year period, electricity is still not a resource that can be wasted at will.

my country independently develops third-generation Hualong One nuclear reactor

Source: CCTV News

In short, as the basic unit of electric energy, the time, resources and economic cost required to produce one kilowatt-hour of electricity are still not a small amount.

3. What can we do with one kilowatt-hour of electricity in our daily life?

What position does one kilowatt-hour of electricity play in our daily lives?

According to 2021 statistics, the average per capita electricity consumption of Chinese residents in 2021 was 831.3 kWh, with an average of 69.3 kWh per person per month. In other words, our average daily electricity consumption is only two kWh. This also includes electricity consumption in all aspects of our daily lives, such as turning on lights, air conditioners, televisions, refrigerators, mobile phones, computers and other electrical equipment every day. The total amount of electricity consumed by so many electrical appliances is only an average of two kWh per day.

An ordinary household air conditioner consumes only about 10-20 kWh of electricity per day in the hot summer, and an ordinary household refrigerator consumes only 1-2 kWh of electricity per day. Usually, we use a washing machine to wash clothes once, which consumes about 0.3-1.0 kWh of electricity. A 50-inch household LCD TV consumes about 0.1 kWh of electricity per hour.

Source: pexels

It can be seen that one kilowatt-hour of electricity has become a relatively large unit of measurement in our daily life. Although it seems small in our eyes, one kilowatt-hour of electricity plays a role in our daily life that is beyond our imagination.

Finally, let's look at Da S's electricity bill. The total electricity bill for the two months from July to September is equivalent to RMB 21,592.416. The electricity bill in Taiwan Province is charged on a tiered basis, just like ours, that is, the more electricity you use, the more expensive it is. According to the electricity bill calculation in Taiwan Province, assuming that the electricity consumption for the two months is the same, it can be roughly calculated that Da S's electricity consumption for one month is about 9,330 kWh. What does this mean?

In fact, this electricity consumption is far from our daily life, so let's change some comparison objects. Data shows that the power of a 16-car high-speed train in normal operation is 18752kW, which means that the electricity consumption of Das's residence in a month is enough to maintain a normal 16-car high-speed train running at high speed for half an hour, which requires the entire Three Gorges Hydropower Station to generate electricity for about three seconds. The electricity consumption of a household in a month is equivalent to the total electricity consumption of more than 130 people in a month, which can maintain an ordinary household air conditioner working continuously for more than half a year, or drive an electric car for more than 100,000 kilometers, which can circle the equator nearly three times.

High-speed trains and their power distribution lines in operation

Source: CCTV News

Three Gorges Hydropower Station

Source: CCTV News

Such electricity consumption is shocking, and we should also sound the alarm of frugality in our hearts. Every kilowatt-hour of electricity means a large amount of manpower, material and resource consumption. While enjoying the convenience brought by the electrical age, we should also adhere to the traditional virtue of diligence and thrift, "every bit of thread, always remember the difficulty of material resources", and cherish every kilowatt-hour of electricity we use in our daily life. It is this inconspicuous but extremely important kilowatt-hour of electricity that supports all aspects of our daily life. A lamp that we turn off casually may be a beam of light that lights up our future.