By Michael McDonald - Jun 17, 2015, 5:06 PM CDT
In the pantheon of American culture, no event is more iconic and distinctly American than the Super Bowl. Like all things American, the Super Bowl is huge, expensive, and a source of incredible passion for fans. Just running a 30-second commercial to the more than 100 million people that watch the game costs nearly $5 million.
So how much electricity and energy go into putting on the Super Bowl?
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There are lots of components here, but the biggest indisputable three are TVs used to watch the game, lighting and possibly climate control in a stadium, and fuel used in traveling to the game (by car or plane). Related:Why The Oil Rally May Well Be Over
Worldwide, roughly 30 million televisions watched the five-hour extravaganza, assuming a little over five people per Super Bowl party. The average TV uses around 100 watt-hours. Plasma TVs use more electricity, and presumably people watch the Super Bowl on the biggest brightest TV they have available, so maybe the average TV watching the Super Bowl actually uses more like 125 watt-hours. To sum it up,the average TV would use 1.25 kWh, thus the 30 million households around the world watching the game would use 37.5 million kilowatt hours of electricity or 37.5 GWh; add in the 30 million households additional 1.25 kWh for fridges, lighting etc. and that's another 37.5GWh. The total comes to a staggering 75GWh!At an average price across the country of about $0.11 per kwh, that works out to a total cost of roughly $8,250,000.
