How big is your TOE?

A useful benchmark for consumption is Tonnes of Oil Equivalent.

Mineral oil (petrol, diesel, gasoline and friends) has a very high energy content per volume.  That means less weight per joule which is important if you’ve got to move or carry fuel, eg in a car fuel tank.

This comparison list from Wikipedia shows the energy equivalent of other fuels. It is interesting to see that biodiesel is in the range of mineral oil (80%) though bioethanol is only half as energy dense.

• 1 t diesel = 1.01 toe
• 1 m³ diesel = 0.98 toe
• 1 t petrol = 1.05 toe
• 1 m³ petrol = 0.86 toe
• 1 t biodiesel = 0.86 toe
• 1 m³ biodiesel = 0.78 toe
• 1 t bioethanol = 0.64 toe
• 1m³ bioethanol = 0.51 toe^[3]
• 1 MWh = 0.086 toe ^[4] (therefore 1 toe = 11630.0 KWh) ^[5]

So you could guesstimate your TOE.  Say fill up the tank 3 times (150 litres), plus heating, plus food, … maybe half a tonne to a tonne a week?  It’s a big number.

So moving to solar, wind, hyrdo, bio is helpful, and reducing consumption is necessary.