What can one kilogram
of wood do?

Have you ever held a bag of wood pellets? One kilogram is about the weight of a carton of milk. It feels solid enough in the hand, yet hardly impressive. Just small wooden pellets, resting in a bag.

And yet, within this ordinary-looking kilogram hides a power far greater than you might think. Today, let's measure that power by translating it into the things we use every day.

First, one number

Burning one kilogram of wood pellets yields about 4.85 kilowatt-hours (kWh) of heat. If the unit "kilowatt-hour" feels unfamiliar, think of it this way: it's the very unit printed on the electricity bill you receive each month. Since an average household uses a dozen or so kWh a day, you can sense that 4.85 is not such a small number.

That heat, however, does not all become electricity. When a power plant turns heat into electricity, only part of it converts. Accounting for that, one kilogram of pellets produces roughly 1.8 kilowatt-hours of electricity. So — what can we do with it?

Charge a smartphone 100 times

Let's start with something familiar. Fully charging a smartphone today takes very little electricity. So the electricity from one kilogram of pellets can charge a smartphone about 100 times. Charging once a day, that's over three months' worth. Wooden pellets the weight of a milk carton keep your phone alive for a whole season.

Keep a bulb lit for a whole week

Now let's turn it into light. To keep one of today's common LED bulbs lit, the electricity from one kilogram of pellets can shine for about a week without pause. Not a day or two, but seven full days and seven full nights. Small pellets gather to become the light that fills a room for a whole week.

Watch more than ten movies

Now let's go a bit more leisurely. If you switch on the television for a movie, the electricity from one kilogram of pellets can play more than ten two-hour films. Even a whole weekend of binge-watching on the sofa wouldn't use it all. A single bag of wood carries an entire long weekend of enjoyment.

Drive an electric car 10 kilometers

Finally, let's drive. Today's ever more common electric cars travel roughly 5 to 6 kilometers on one kilowatt-hour. So with the electricity from one kilogram of pellets, an electric car can drive about 10 kilometers. A single bag of wooden pellets rolls a car more than once around the neighborhood.

Great power in a small thing

Of course, these figures shift a little depending on how you calculate. They rise and fall with the device you use and with how much heat becomes electricity in generation. That's why we attached the words "roughly" and "about." We aren't boasting of exact numbers, but inviting you to feel the sheer size of the power held in this little pellet.