# Is it true that the average American uses more energy than a blue whale? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 20, 2010, 6:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-true-that-the-average-american-uses-more-energy-than-a-blue-whale/564810 "2010-12-20T06:42:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2010, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-true-that-the-average-american-uses-more-energy-than-a-blue-whale/564810/41 "2010-12-21T18:34:06Z")
> [@DrFidelius](#): > > Whales would like to point as well, but they don’t have fingers. This is also why so very few whales are active on the internet and ties in with the fact that you very rarely observes whales hitch-hiking. They are very good at trolling though. ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_Robson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gary_robson/32/3448_2.png) [@Gary\_Robson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Robson)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2010, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-true-that-the-average-american-uses-more-energy-than-a-blue-whale/564810/42 "2010-12-21T19:01:31Z")
> [@The\_Second\_Stone](#): > > Mods, please close this thread. It serves no porpoise. [moderating] It’s not supposed to serve a porpoise. It’s supposed to serve a blue whale. Actually, the blue whale is supposed to serve itself. Does a blue whale call its girlfriend “Doll-fin”? Has SETI found cetaceans? Did it rename them SETaceans? Bah, I’m baleen outta here! [/moderating] ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2010, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-true-that-the-average-american-uses-more-energy-than-a-blue-whale/564810/43 "2010-12-21T19:18:46Z")
[quote=“Gary “Wombat” Robson, post:42, topic:564810”] [moderating] It’s not supposed to serve a porpoise. It’s supposed to serve a blue whale. Actually, the blue whale is supposed to serve itself. Does a blue whale call its girlfriend “Doll-fin”? Has SETI found cetaceans? Did it rename them SETaceans? Bah, I’m baleen outta here! [/moderating] [/QUOTE] Yeah, right. ---
**Author:** ![petew83](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7bcc69/32.png) [@petew83](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/petew83)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2010, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-true-that-the-average-american-uses-more-energy-than-a-blue-whale/564810/44 "2010-12-21T19:19:15Z")
I’m glad we’re having so much pun with this thread 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2010, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-true-that-the-average-american-uses-more-energy-than-a-blue-whale/564810/45 "2010-12-21T19:21:46Z")
> [@The\_Second\_Stone](#): > > Mods, please close this thread. It serves no porpoise. There once was a scientist who had a theory that a certain species of porpoise that lived off the coast of Africa never died of natural causes - they were essentially immortal unless they were killed. In order to test this theory, he photographed porpoise schools by attaching an automatic camera to gulls, sending the bird out over the ocean, and then retrieving it when it returned to the beach. One day he head just recaptured one of these camera-laden gulls on a narrow spit of land that jutted out into the ocean. When he turned around, to his horror he saw a lion reclining at the base of the spit and blocking his path. But upon looking more closely he saw that the lion seemed to be very placid, and was not making any threatening moves. Gathering his courage, he clutched the gull to his chest and ran down the spit, leaping over the lion in a single bound. He was immediately arrested. Why? For crossing a sedate lion with a gull for immortal porpoises. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2010, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-true-that-the-average-american-uses-more-energy-than-a-blue-whale/564810/46 "2010-12-21T19:41:59Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > There once was a scientist who had a theory that a certain species of porpoise that lived off the coast of Africa never died of natural causes - they were essentially immortal unless they were killed. In order to test this theory, he photographed porpoise schools by attaching an automatic camera to gulls, sending the bird out over the ocean, and then retrieving it when it returned to the beach. > > One day he head just recaptured one of these camera-laden gulls on a narrow spit of land that jutted out into the ocean. When he turned around, to his horror he saw a lion reclining at the base of the spit and blocking his path. But upon looking more closely he saw that the lion seemed to be very placid, and was not making any threatening moves. > > Gathering his courage, he clutched the gull to his chest and ran down the spit, leaping over the lion in a single bound. > > He was immediately arrested. Why? > > For crossing a sedate lion with a gull for immortal porpoises. Old, old, old. ---
**Author:** ![Autolycus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/22d042/32.png) [@Autolycus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Autolycus)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2010, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-true-that-the-average-american-uses-more-energy-than-a-blue-whale/564810/47 "2010-12-21T19:54:01Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > Pfft. What’ve blue whales done for me lately? Well, if you cod accept a rain check, they will save us from some space probe sometime in the future. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2010, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-true-that-the-average-american-uses-more-energy-than-a-blue-whale/564810/48 "2010-12-21T20:31:06Z")
Some people are just posting in this thread for the halibut. ---
**Author:** ![TimeWinder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bcef8e/32.png) [@TimeWinder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TimeWinder)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2010, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-true-that-the-average-american-uses-more-energy-than-a-blue-whale/564810/49 "2010-12-21T20:43:33Z")
> [@don\_t\_ask](#): > > And they’d need waterproof laptops. And let’s see them use them with those enormous flippers to type and control a mouse. Kinect. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2010, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-true-that-the-average-american-uses-more-energy-than-a-blue-whale/564810/50 "2010-12-21T20:49:02Z")
These puns glow red like a thousand hot sunfish. So you jokesters seem pretty spunky until your puns milt. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2010, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-true-that-the-average-american-uses-more-energy-than-a-blue-whale/564810/51 "2010-12-21T20:55:31Z")
> [@The\_Second\_Stone](#): > > Old, old, old. I prefer to think of it as a classic.🙂 ---
**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2010, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-true-that-the-average-american-uses-more-energy-than-a-blue-whale/564810/52 "2010-12-21T23:29:36Z")
Well, this thread is really sort of a flounder, when it should be krilled. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2010, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-true-that-the-average-american-uses-more-energy-than-a-blue-whale/564810/53 "2010-12-21T23:42:41Z")
> [@The\_Second\_Stone](#): > > Well, this thread is really sort of a flounder, when it should be krilled. Any mod will do it just for the halibut. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2010, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-true-that-the-average-american-uses-more-energy-than-a-blue-whale/564810/54 "2010-12-22T00:30:28Z")
Do we have a moderator who is a Finn? Will that mod blow it out his/her blowhole? Is this whole thread a breech of board rules? Should we all be baleen on this sinking ship? ---
**Author:** ![Cheshire\_Human](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Cheshire\_Human](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheshire_Human)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2010, 7:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-true-that-the-average-american-uses-more-energy-than-a-blue-whale/564810/55 "2010-12-22T07:02:31Z")
> [@runner pat](#): > > Any mod will do it just for the halibut. You think the mods around here are so petty as to krill the thread for no reason? I’m sharked at your low opinion of them! ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2010, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-true-that-the-average-american-uses-more-energy-than-a-blue-whale/564810/56 "2010-12-22T14:03:04Z")
I don’t have time for this. I’m gonna go get my iPod and listen to Moby, Dick. ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2010, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-true-that-the-average-american-uses-more-energy-than-a-blue-whale/564810/57 "2010-12-22T14:14:51Z")
How can you tell if a whale is sad in the first place? ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2010, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-true-that-the-average-american-uses-more-energy-than-a-blue-whale/564810/58 "2010-12-22T14:44:39Z")
Is anybody here a marine biologist?!!! An architect will do in a pinch. ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2010, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-true-that-the-average-american-uses-more-energy-than-a-blue-whale/564810/59 "2010-12-22T17:40:14Z")
> [@CC](#): > > Running the air conditioner and the computer are factored in to a human’s life, but not lights or other electricity uses. I don’t think the intent was to explicitly exclude other electricity uses. In fact, including them only helps their case. I think the intent was just to list a couple of examples that are high power users. > [@](#): > > Compared to a whale doing what? sitting at a computer with the air conditioning on? Swimming? Diving to the bottom of the ocean? They chose a terrible illustration for the point they were trying to make. Well, the point is to attempt some level of comparison of the energy use humans have compared to the ecology. So factoring the total energy use of a blue whale vs the total energy use of a human makes some weird sort of sense, the same way people do energy calculations and try to be ecological by lowering their carbon footprint or whatever. Except you have to buy into the premise that this kind of comparison is meaningful. **Xema** said: > [@](#): > > Well, when you add up all our calories and then you add up the energy needed to run the computer and the air-conditioner, you get an incredibly large number, somewhere around 11,000 watts. > This seems to be saying that energy and power are the same thing. Which suggests it has not been thought through especially well. Eh, it’s an informal description to a non-technical audience using common language. It would be one thing if he labeled it “energy in watts”, but he didn’t do that. Given the overview nature of the description, I wouldn’t fault it just for non-specific wording. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2010, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-true-that-the-average-american-uses-more-energy-than-a-blue-whale/564810/60 "2010-12-22T19:15:42Z")
> [@billfish678](#): > > Is anybody here a marine biologist?!!! > > An architect will do in a pinch. The sea was angry that day, my friends… [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/0u8KUgUqprw/hqdefault.jpg "Seinfeld - Marine Biologist") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0u8KUgUqprw) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-true-that-the-average-american-uses-more-energy-than-a-blue-whale/564810.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-true-that-the-average-american-uses-more-energy-than-a-blue-whale/564810.md?page=4)