We visited the Falkirk Wheel last month! It lifts 500 tonnes 80ft into the air using only 1.5KWh of power (it's actually energy Nβ€’m/s).

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Do you mean 1.5kW of power or 1.5kWh of energy? The first is the continues stream of electrical energy, the latter is the sum (integral) of all electrical power (electricity bill).

It's 1.5KWh of work. Energy introduced to the system as calculated by the work energy theorem.

I am speaking colloquially here though and the average reader knows what I mean. If you'd like to attend one of my physics lectures, we can speak about how much is lost or used in all the different forms of energy though.

Does one say power instead of energy in colloquial English? I am not a native speaker, but in German many people do it, but because they confuse both. (I know that it is technically work, but that's definitely out of scope for public communication)

Yes, absolutely. People will frequently use either term interchangeably when talking about electricity. It's less likely in a scientific or engineering context of course, but it occasionally does happen.

Yes, people frequently get it wrong and when they are dismissive about it, they are demonstrating their lack of willingness to educate themselves.

It may seem like semantics to quibble over technical language but if I ask someone to pass me a saucepan, when I want to use a frying pan, then it’s pretty stupid of me, isn’t it?

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