What we do with our energy, part II

The average person worldwide uses 46,000 Calories per day, plus 15,000 in food fodder and wood. The average United States citizen uses 210,000 Calories plus food fodder and wood, while most Africans use one fiftieth - only 4,300 Calories. In this episode I discuss who in the world uses how much energy, and how much is used by individual families as opposed to the the societies around them. Lastly I discuss the energy that we use for transportation. No means of transportation uses significantly less Calories per distance travelled than humans do when we walk: about 50 Calories per kilometer. We are just very good at walking. A larger lesson: In general if you want get any task done while using a minimum of energy and resources, you will avoid motors and depend on human labor, with the aid of levers, wheels, and draft animals. We are just better at getting things done economically than any of the machines which we construct.

Episode 10. Recorded October 5, 2025.