Update: I am actually searching for really simple, intuitive ways to explain it. I have a background in engineering, but am struggling to explain why we “pay for kwh”, and not kw (on our electricity bill) to someone who doesn’t. I have tried in many ways but maybe I’m not giving the right examples or making the right comparisons. I am really searchig for a way to ELI5.
In: 24
Think of it as gas mileage on your car. The trip computer will tell you at any one time how much fuel you’re currently using but to know how much you’ve used in total you need to multiply that by the distance you’ve travelled.
A kW rating tells you how much energy a device uses at any one moment, but to know how much energy you’ve used in total you need to multiply that by how long you’ve used it for.
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