Roughly how much electricity does the whole world generate in one year, in terawatt-hours?
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Answer
About 30,000 TWh
That figure has roughly doubled since the late 1990s, and coal is still the single largest source.
How to estimate it
Average it per person. Counting homes, offices and factories together, the world uses about 400 watts of electricity per person around the clock, less than half the European level. A year has 8,760 hours, so 0.4 kW × 8,760 = 3,500 kWh each. 8 billion × 3,500 kWh = 28 trillion kWh, which is 28,000 TWh. Actual generation is about 30,000 TWh per year.
Source: International Energy Agency; Ember
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