3 ms·

> is watt-hours the right unit of measurement here? That's how electricity is most commonly priced. What else would you want?

minimaxir 1y ago
It's more that every time the topic has come up, it's reported in watts and I'm not sure if there's a nuance I'm missing. It's entirely possible those reports have been in watt-hours though and using watts for shorthand. I still find the Technology Connections video counterintuitive. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OOK5xkFijPc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OOK5xkFijPc
- moab 1y ago
  Watt-hours is the only unit that makes sense here as we're describing the energy cost of some calculation. Watt, a rate unit, is not appropriate.
  - antihero 1y ago
    I mean you could use joule but wH is better.
- onlyrealcuzzo 1y ago
  A watt wouldn't make any sense. A watt needs a time unit to be converted to joules because a watt is a measure of power, while a joule is a measure of energy. Think of it like speed and distance: A watt is a RATE of energy use, just like speed (e.g., miles per hour) is a RATE of travel. A joule is a total amount of energy, just like distance (e.g., miles) is a total amount of travel. If you're traveling 60 mph but you don't specify for how long... You won't know how far you went, how much gas you used, etc.
- roywiggins 1y ago
  Watt-hours are what matter. If you want to boil a kettle, you need to use a certain minimum amount of watt-hours to do it, which corresponds to, say, burning a certain amount of propane. If you care about how many times you can boil a kettle on a bottle of propane, you care about the watt-hours expended. If you had perfect insulation you could boil a kettle by applying barely any watts for a long enough time and it would take the same amount of propane. There are situations where Watts per se matter, eg if you build a datacenters in an area that doesn't have enough spare electricity capacity to generate enough watts to cover you, and you'd end up browning out the grid. Or you have a faulty burner and can't pump enough watts into your water to boil it before the heat leaks out, no matter how long you run it.

minimaxir 1y ago

It's more that every time the topic has come up, it's reported in watts and I'm not sure if there's a nuance I'm missing. It's entirely possible those reports have been in watt-hours though and using watts for shorthand. I still find the Technology Connections video counterintuitive. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OOK5xkFijPc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OOK5xkFijPc

moab 1y ago
Watt-hours is the only unit that makes sense here as we're describing the energy cost of some calculation. Watt, a rate unit, is not appropriate.
- antihero 1y ago
  I mean you could use joule but wH is better.
onlyrealcuzzo 1y ago
A watt wouldn't make any sense. A watt needs a time unit to be converted to joules because a watt is a measure of power, while a joule is a measure of energy. Think of it like speed and distance: A watt is a RATE of energy use, just like speed (e.g., miles per hour) is a RATE of travel. A joule is a total amount of energy, just like distance (e.g., miles) is a total amount of travel. If you're traveling 60 mph but you don't specify for how long... You won't know how far you went, how much gas you used, etc.
roywiggins 1y ago
Watt-hours are what matter. If you want to boil a kettle, you need to use a certain minimum amount of watt-hours to do it, which corresponds to, say, burning a certain amount of propane. If you care about how many times you can boil a kettle on a bottle of propane, you care about the watt-hours expended. If you had perfect insulation you could boil a kettle by applying barely any watts for a long enough time and it would take the same amount of propane. There are situations where Watts per se matter, eg if you build a datacenters in an area that doesn't have enough spare electricity capacity to generate enough watts to cover you, and you'd end up browning out the grid. Or you have a faulty burner and can't pump enough watts into your water to boil it before the heat leaks out, no matter how long you run it.