“(One kW is equal to 1000 W, and 1.5 kW is the typical, average power consumption of a US home.)”
No it’s not. Just the water heater alone draws more.
You’re thinking in terms of pre collapse to tecnocratic authoritarian socialism American usage. After that event, we’ll use about that much running the 3 compact flourescents, 600 watt microwave and fan alloted to each house...
“No it’s not. Just the water heater alone draws more.”
That’s true but the water heater doesn’t run all the time. The 1.5KW is an average consumption, which is roughly what an household uses. Take a look at your electric bill and you’ll see that that’s close to what you use. Obviously when you have your TV on, and the fridge is running and you’re drying your hair all at the same time, your peak usage will be much more, but that doesn’t last that long. At night when you’re asleep you don’t use much at all.
1.5 kW in a day is 625 AmpH/day. This equates to the roughly 12 deep cycle batteries you will need to meet peak loads. Water heaters do not run continuously. Neither does your 1600 watt microwave or hair dryer. If you are in college, your 200 watt stereo might.
It actually sounds about right for a small home with 2-3 residents.
Saying that a house uses 1 kilowatt of electricity is like saying a car uses 1 gallon of gas. True, it will run, but for how long?
In cars, they measure energy used over distance, or the miles traveled per gallon. In houses, they use kilowatt-hours, the energy used over time.
A kilowatt is only a snapshot of how much power is being used at a given time.
So sure, at idle, with nothing running like TV sets, computers, air conditioning and the like, your house probably draws 1 Kw. As soon as the thermostat kicks on the water heater, or someone powers up a hairdryer, or you put the toast down, you’re probably already above 1 Kw.
Look up the wattage of some of your favorite appliances and you’ll realize how small a kilowatt is. Now, imagine everything that runs in that hour, and add in all those watts too. Lots more than 1 Kw.
I'm more than a little skeptical of this. The first thing I would check is to see if the cathode and anode are being chemically changed. If this is acting as a big battery when the electrolyte gets wet you could get electricity and hydrogen and oxygen without any mythic "low energy" form of hydrogen. You'll just be getting energy from the corrosion of the plates like it is a potato battery.