This page provides notes and information on human work and energy levels
Introduction
The notes below are very simple notes identifying very approximate working and energy levels for typical UK humans.
The units used are ISO units of mechanical work. A kiloJoule is 1000 Joules and a joule defined as the energy expended (or work done)
in applying a force of one newton through a distance of one metre (1 newton metre or N�m). The dietary/nutritional energy values are
normally identified using kilogram calorie (kcal ) . ( 1 bar of dark Kit Kat has a nutritional value of 243kcal = 1013 kJ ).
The conversion factor is
1 kcal = 4,187 kJ.
the current UK normal calorie intake for a man to maintain his weight is about 2 500kcal per day = 12 217 kJ per day
Reference Standard.
BS EN ISO 8996:2004 :
Ergonomics of the thermal environment. Determination of metabolic rate
Human work and energy levels.
The normal uses energy at a standard rate when lying down with an empty stomach. The rate
is called the basal metabolism and for a 70 kg man this is about 7000kJ per 24 hours.
A person also consumes energy (leisure joules) for everyday activities not associated with
work rate required to do normal tasks. The average leisure joules for a man is about 2400kJ per day.
( A man not engaged any physical activity other than light leisure activities would use about 9400kJ )
Energy is consumed for occupational activities which differ relative to the type of occupation. The following table lists
the daily energy levels related to humans involved in different employments.
Type of Work
Example
Men
Women
kJ /day
kJ /day
Light Work-Sitting
Accountant
9 600
8 400
Normal Manual Work
Production Engineer
12 500
9 800
Moderate bodily work
Bricklayer
15 000
12 000
Heavy manual work
Miner
19 500
Extreme effort
Lumberjack
20 500
Specific activities consume energy at different rates as shown below;
Activity
Energy consumption kJ/min
Mowing Lawn
30
Level Walking (5 km/hr)
17
Light Gardening
12-15
Digging Soil
33
Walking uphill
32-40
Swimming
20-40
Sawing Wood
28
Cycling (20 km/hr)
40
Bowls
16
Jogging (10 km/hr)
40-48
The human energy efficiency in completing task is illustrated below:
Activity
Efficiency
Shovelling Soil (stoop)
3
Screw Driving
5
Shovelling Soil (upright)
6
Lifting weights
9
Turning a Handwheel
13
Carrying a load on back (level)- Returning without load
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Roy Beardmore passed away on 9th March 2013. He is sadly missed. This website, Roymech, has been an invaluable resource for engineers around the world and we hope to maintain this incredible legacy going forward.