Blundell Thermal Physics · Problem 2.3

Heat

Physics — Statistical Mechanics · power-consumption-oil

Problem

The world's power consumption is currently about 13 TW, and growing! (

1\,\text{TW} = 10^{12}\,\text{W}

.) Burning one ton of crude oil (which is nearly seven barrels worth) produces about 42 GJ (

1\,\text{GJ} = 10^9\,\text{J}

). If the world's total power needs were to come from burning oil (a large fraction currently does), how much oil would we be burning per second?