# 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:** 6\ **Page:** 4
**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 23, 2010, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-true-that-the-average-american-uses-more-energy-than-a-blue-whale/564810/61 "2010-12-23T00:40:24Z")
> [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](#): > > How can you tell if a whale is sad in the first place? If he’s using less energy? ---
**Author:** ![goodie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/839c29/32.png) [@goodie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/goodie)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2010, 6:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-true-that-the-average-american-uses-more-energy-than-a-blue-whale/564810/62 "2010-12-23T06:09:29Z")
Of course whales don’t use very much energy, duh, if they burned fat instead of storing it, they wouldn’t be such big fat fatties…(Don’t worry about me, folks, I never was going to swim in the ocean again, anyway.) ---
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2011, 11:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-true-that-the-average-american-uses-more-energy-than-a-blue-whale/564810/63 "2011-08-19T11:42:48Z")
I’m bumping this slightly zombie thread (last posted to in Dec 2010, eight months ago) to note that Cecil Himself has tackled this in his current column: [http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/3010/does-the-average-american-use-more-energy-than-a-blue-whale](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/3010/does-the-average-american-use-more-energy-than-a-blue-whale) Congratulations, **petew83** , on being one of the lucky few! ---
**Author:** ![phouka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c5a1d2/32.png) [@phouka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phouka)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2011, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-true-that-the-average-american-uses-more-energy-than-a-blue-whale/564810/64 "2011-08-20T21:22:41Z")
My first thought on reading the title of this thread was: “Well, I dunna, but someone’s gonna have to go back and get a shitload of di- I mean krill.” I’m so glad no one else posted that. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2011, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-true-that-the-average-american-uses-more-energy-than-a-blue-whale/564810/65 "2011-09-06T21:25:52Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > Pfft. What’ve blue whales done for me lately? You couldn’t use more clean burning lamp oil? ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Panda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ee7513/32.png) [@Darth\_Panda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Panda)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2011, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-true-that-the-average-american-uses-more-energy-than-a-blue-whale/564810/66 "2011-09-06T22:31:40Z")
> [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](#): > > I’m bumping this slightly zombie thread (last posted to in Dec 2010, eight months ago) to note that Cecil Himself has tackled this in his current column: [Does the average American use more energy than a blue whale? - The Straight Dope](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/3010/does-the-average-american-use-more-energy-than-a-blue-whale) > > Congratulations, **petew83** , on being one of the lucky few! So you’re saying that **Cecil** can bring whales back to life? Add that to list, I guess. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-true-that-the-average-american-uses-more-energy-than-a-blue-whale/564810.md?page=3)