Using hamsters to power your home is slightly far-fetched. It is important to consider, however, dogs that were utilized in history to power items. When considering this, however, it is important to consider how much energy is used by typical American households.
Most Americans utilize an average of 901 kWh every month, with 1 kWh being 3.6 Megajoules. This equates to 38,880 Megajoules being used a year. A hamster running on its wheel produces 0.5 joules per second. When breaking this down, it is important to understand the number of seconds in a year that a hamster would be required to keep up with.
There are 31,540,000 seconds in a year, so a hamster would need to produce 15.77 Megajoules per year. This would require non-stop stamina for the hamster without sleep pr rest. This could be provided by utilizing 2,465 hamsters in one home that are running non-stop on their wheels. You would need 2.1 million hamsters in America to power all homes.
American households would need to spend at least $10 million for thirteen years of power. You will also need to purchase cages which would equate to about $15 million. It may be possible, however, that the manufacturer of the cages will give you a discount for buying in bulk. You can use the same cage for multiple hamsters, but you have to ensure that breeding is controlled and that each hamster get two square feet of cage space.
There is another cost to consider as well which is food for the hamsters which will keep them energized. Feeding the number of hamsters that are required for American households will cost roughly $30 million every year. For one household, it would be about $1 million a year. The American government would probably not provide subsidies for this either as they do for coal power.
You also need to consider the price of the electrical equipment that will be hooked to the hamster’s wheel. These will cost roughly $1.5 million just for the electrical motors. Warehouse space will also need to be considered as up to a million square feet will be needed for all of the hamster cages, electrical wiring, and electrical motors. If you are stacking the cages ten high, you will need 192,000 square feet of space. The mortgage on this space would add to at least $960,000 a year.
You will need to pay for the cost of trash removal as hamsters use the bathroom quite a bit. You will also need to keep cages clean which will require employees and the cost of bedding. This could all equate to over $40 million every year. Your hamsters will also need water every day which will cost $1.50 for every 1000 gallons. Replacing the wood chips every week will add to $34 million per year.
It is important to have a mild climate so the hamsters do not use their energies on temperature control systems. If you chose the wrong environment, you could add on costs of $60,000 every year. Any wiring that is required for the energy needs, however, will add to $50,000. With the millions of dollars required in total, hamster supplied power is truly significantly more expensive than other sources of electrical power.
