TakingITGlobal - Panorama

Published on: Sep 3, 2002

Topic:

Type: Opinions

https://www.tigweb.org/express/panorama/article.html?ContentID=597

Johannesburg, September (GYRP) – Maybe the words ‘sustainable development’ – repeated here like a mantra by World Summit delegates and media – could be harnessed for a useful purpose? Like to generate electricity?

Consider the following proposition.

A straw poll of 50 people, primarily media, at the conference centre found that say the ‘SD’ words an average of 31.7 times per day. This means they are probably pronounced a total of 697,400 times per day by all the 22,000 Summit participants. By the end of the conference, it follows, the words will have been said 6,974,000 times. That is, if the summit doesn’t run into overtime.

Suppose the amount of human energy to speak is equivalent to .01 watts per syllable. With the catch phrase being uttered close to 7 million times in the course of ten days, almost 558 kWh of human energy will be used.

That’s enough to power four television sets for an hour!

© GLOBAL YOUTH REPORTERS PROGRAMME

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by Dan Jones
Published on: Sep 3, 2002
Topic:
Type: Opinions
https://www.tigweb.org/express/panorama/article.html?ContentID=597


Johannesburg, September (GYRP) – Maybe the words ‘sustainable development’ – repeated here like a mantra by World Summit delegates and media – could be harnessed for a useful purpose? Like to generate electricity? Consider the following proposition. A straw poll of 50 people, primarily media, at the conference centre found that say the ‘SD’ words an average of 31.7 times per day. This means they are probably pronounced a total of 697,400 times per day by all the 22,000 Summit participants. By the end of the conference, it follows, the words will have been said 6,974,000 times. That is, if the summit doesn’t run into overtime. Suppose the amount of human energy to speak is equivalent to .01 watts per syllable. With the catch phrase being uttered close to 7 million times in the course of ten days, almost 558 kWh of human energy will be used. That’s enough to power four television sets for an hour! © GLOBAL YOUTH REPORTERS PROGRAMME « return.