If you want to be nitpicky about semantics, I think the only valid interpretation then is to take OP by their words and assume they meant energy transfer for 24

If you want to be nitpicky about semantics, I think the only valid interpretation then is to take OP by their words and assume they meant energy transfer for 24h, since they did not write "per day" as you suggest: "Earth gets over 170,000 terawatts of solar energy every day" = 170 PW × 1d = 170 × P(J/s) × 86.4 × ks = 170 × 10¹⁵ × (J/s) × 86.4 × 10³ × s = 14.6 × 10²¹ × J = 14.6 ZJ However, I also think "of solar energy" could be read as specifying the type of energy for the "rate of energy transfer", which is already implied in 'watt'. And since it's related to energy usage (rate), there really is no need to leave the "rate of energy transfer" interpretation at all and get hung up on "energy vs. power": "Earth receives 170 petawatts as solar energy - 10,000 times the energy humanity uses, at any moment. Edit: And let's be real, we all only feel very smart here because we just watched the latest Technology Connections video https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/OOK5xkFijPc https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/OOK5xkFijPc :D