In 2018, the average wind turbine installed in the USA was 2.6 MW in capacity. Assuming that it had what is now a middling capacity factor of 40%, it could generate 9.1 GWh of electricity in a year. But what does that mean?
If we put all of that electricity into a Tesla Model S P100D, which takes about 30 kWh to travel 100 miles, we could drive approximately 30 million miles. That’s a third of the way to the sun, so it would be a three-year trip.
If we used the electricity for average US homes, which consumed an average of 10,766 kWh per year in 2016, you could provide all of the electricity for 846 homes.
If we wanted to keep outdoor Olympic-sized swimming pools in Sacramento at 84 degrees Fahrenheit, we could heat 28 of them for a year.
If we powered a giant crane to lift the Empire State building, which weighs 365,000 tons, we could lift it about half a mile into the air.
If we used the equivalent energy of jet fuel, we could fly a loaded Boeing 747 around the world twice. (Just picture that one yourself.)
References
- Electric cars: range and efficiency comparison
- How much electricity does an American home use?
- Empire State Building Fact Sheet Empire State Building Fact Sheet
- How much fuel does an international plane use for a trip?
- Measurements for an Olympic Size Swimming Pool
- Power – How Fast is Your Energy Being Converted?
- Energy Density Of Aviation Fuel
- Swimming Pool Energy and Temperature Calculator
