One nuclear reactor can power enough holiday lights that could wrap around the earth more than 27 times.
December 14, 2020
minute read time
‘Tis the season to be jolly—and to be amazed by fun energy stats!
Did you know that 94 nuclear reactors produce around 20% of our country’s electricity each year?
They also make up more than half of America’s carbon-free electricity.
But, if you really want to turn heads this holiday season keep this stat in your ugly sweater:
Just one nuclear reactor can power enough holiday lights to wrap around the globe 27 times over.
Breaking Down The Numbers
A typical U.S. nuclear reactor produces 1 gigawatt of power. That’s a billion watts for this calculation.
Why do holiday lights burn out all the time? We find out the answer, and do it in rhyme.
A set of LED mini lights can use up to 7 watts of power. For this exercise, we used the higher wattage and an estimated cord length of 25 feet.
Here’s how it broke down…with some rounding:
1,000,000,000 watts ÷ 7 watts = 142,857,143 sets of 100 count LED mini lights.
142,857,143 X 25 feet = 3,571,428,575 feet of lights.
3,571,428,575 ÷ 5,280 feet = 676,407 miles.
676,407 miles ÷ 24,900 miles (the equatorial distance around the earth) = 27.1 times around the world!