Site Prices Update
Last Updated28th June 2022
All calculations on this site are based on current fuel prices, they are checked regularly and calculations are automatically updated.
The costs calculated based on these fuel prices should be regarded as 'good estimates', given that fuel prices vary in different parts of the county and at different time of the year.
The calculations also have different levels of accuracy depending on the nature of the calculation. For example calculating the energy use of a known power output TV is very easy compared to calculating the effect on energy savings when insulating a cavity wall.
Site Calculations
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User PricesFor several of the fuel prices on this site you can now set your own prices and all the calculations on the site will adjust accordingly.
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At Confused About Energy we aim to provide practical, impartial advice on all aspects of energy usage, climate change and ways to save money on energy bills.
All calculations on this site are based on current fuel prices they are checked regularly are automatically updated and were last changed on:-
28th June 2022
The costs calculated based on these fuel prices should be regarded as 'good estimates', given that fuel prices vary in different parts of the county and at different time of the year.
The calculations also have different levels of accuracy depending on the nature of the calculation. For example calculating the energy use of a known power output TV is very easy compared to calculating the effect on energy savings when insulating a cavity wall.
Site Calculations
Electricity | £0.271 per unit (1 kWh) |
Economy Electricity | £0.094 per unit (1 kWh) |
Gas | £0.072 per unit (1 kWh) |
Domestic LPG | £0.122 per unit (1 kWh) |
Heating Oil | £0.104 per unit (1 kWh) |
UK Grid CO2 Emissions | 0.233 kg per kWh used |
The main units used in this site are in the table below, For a complete explanation of power and energy Read More.
Unit | Name | Detail |
---|---|---|
W | Watt | Unit of Power |
kW | Kilowatt | 1000 watts |
kWh | Kilowatt hour | Measure of Energy |
L | Litre | Measure of Volume |
Please use twitter to ask a question Message @@EnergyThinking
As a result of this abundant and relatively low cost source of energy the worlds food yields increase and greater populations can be sustained. Conversely as populations increase, food demand increases, more land use moves to agriculture, more fossil fuels are used to provide fertilizer, pesticides and transport, more mobile phones and games consoles are manufactured and used by the increased population.

In 1980 there were 4.44 billion people and in 2015 there were 7.35 billion people; in 1980 we used approximately 67000 TWh of energy, in 2015 we used approximately 160000 TWh. More people equals more energy. What is a TWh? N.B. The 160,000 TWh number includes biofuels (mostly wood) the graphic above does not, hence the slight difference.
What does 160000 TWh look like? It is very difficult to visualize this amount of energy, so here is a fairly mad example to try to show how much energy this is.
It requires about 0.65kWh to drive a car 1km it is 40,000 km around the earth, so given that some one builds a bridge across the Pacific and the Atlantic and the Americans let you in, you would use 26,000 kWh. Divert via Mexico perhaps if you cannot get into the USA.
So with the full world energy consumption for one year you could wiz round the world 6.2 billion times in your family hatch back, and would probably require 10 billion tyre changes in the process! [160,000,000,000,000 kWh / 26,000 kWh, where 160,000 TWh = 160,000,000,000,000 kWh]


Energy Use per person
In 2015 we used 21700 kWh per person on average in the world, this includes heating, cooling, transport, agriculture, electricity, everything, including burning wood.
160,000,000,000,000 kWh / 7,350,000,000 people = 21700 kWh / person
With the USA using 88000 kWh per person and and average of all the Africa nations 7000 kWh per person. I make no comment here judge for yourself.
The Future
So what does the future hold? It is virtually certain barring catastrophe (Hummm Trump is President…) that the world population will hit nearly 10 billion by 2050, given that a 2.9 billion increase in population from 1980 to 2015, created a demand for an extra 93,000 TWh per year is seems reasonable that the demand will grow by a further 90,000 TWh, so we will require 250,000 TWh by 2050. Even if we generate a very optimistic 20% of this with renewable energy or nuclear we will still be burning more fossil fuels than we do today and accelerating climate change. And I would argue that by supplying the demand we will be increasing the population. Conversely if energy supply is limited people will die.
Some Useful Links
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_populationhttp://www.tsp-data-portal.org/Energy-Consumption-Statistics#tspQvChart
https://www.iea.org/publications/freepublications/publication/KeyWorld2016.pdf
World Climate Change Metrics
(2021)
↑
Annual
+11353 TWh↑
Decade
2040 149000 TWh to 171000 TWh
(2021)
↑
Annual
+2.6 Gt↑
Decade
2040 36 Gt to 46 Gt
(2021)
↑
Annual
+835 million↑
Decade
2040 8.45 billion to 9.5 billion
(2021)
10+Gt CO2
↑
Annual
+1168 TWh↑
Decade
2040 10000 TWh to 13000 TWh
(2021)
↑
Annual
+24 ppm↑
Decade
2040 450 ppm to 500 ppm
(2022)
↑
Annual
+0.26°C↑
Decade
2040 1.5°C to 2.5°C
(2020)
–
Annual
+46.5 mm↑
Decade
2040 150 mm to 200 mm
(2020)
↓
Annual
0.95 million km2↓
Decade
to 2 million km2
2040 2 million km2
to 0 million km2
(2020)
↓
Annual
-1600 Gt↓
Decade
2040 -7000 Gt to -10000 Gt
(2020)
↓
Annual
-2500 Gt↓
Decade
2040 -7000 Gt to -10000 Gt
Each Decade
↓
Decade
(2019)
↑
Annual
+2169 TWh↑
Decade
2040 9000 TWh to 12000 TWh
(2018)
↑
Annual
0.96 Gt↑
Decade
2040 5.4 Gt to 7.2 Gt
≅4.6 GtCO2 emissions prevented
Example 50% gas power generation substituted with renewables
≅2 GtCO2 emissions prevented
≅3.7 GtCO2 emissions prevented
Example 50% gas power generation with CCS
≅1.6 GtCO2 emissions prevented
(2017)
↑
Annual
543 TWh↑
Decade
2040 1250 TWh to 2200 TWh
(2015)
↓
Annual
0.336 million km2↓
Decade
to 39.7 million km2
2040 39 million km2
to 39.5 million km2
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