Swarthmore Resources
Demand is an instantaneous reading in kilowatts (kW) of the power needed to light the lights, run the fans and everything else plugged into the campus circuits. A kilowatt-hour, kWh is the measure of time that the demand is used. For comparison, your speedometer tells you how fast you are going. The odometer tells you how far you have gone. Think of kilowatt demand as the speedometer. If we can slow it down by using less we’ll save kilowatt-hours, money and reduce green house gases. What’s a kilowatt? It’s ten 100 watt light bulbs lit at once. If they burn for an hour, that’s a kilowatt hour. Turning them off drops demand and reduces kilowatt-hours.
