The Global Lightning Energy Census: Total Power of the Planetary Spark

Lightning energy is computed as E=QV: cloud-to-ground flashes release 2.0e9 to 3.0e10 J (central 7.5e9 J) and intracloud flashes 5.0e8 to 4.5e9 J. With the satellite global flash rate of 44 per second, split 25% cloud-to-ground and 75% intracloud, total global lightning power is 132 GW (range 38.5-478.5 GW), 0.66% of human power use, 7.6e-5% of intercepted solar power, and about 352 times the fair-weather global circuit power. Lightning is spectacular per event and negligible in the planetary energy budget.

Authors

Publication Details

Journal
Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)
Published
2026-11-10
DOI
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.24102301
Primary Topic
Lightning and Electromagnetic Phenomena
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
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article

The Global Lightning Energy Census: Total Power of the Planetary Spark

William Alexander Aldred
Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)
Lightning and Electromagnetic Phenomena
article

The Global Lightning Energy Census: Total Power of the Planetary Spark

William Alexander Aldred
article en

Abstract

Lightning energy is computed as E=QV: cloud-to-ground flashes release 2.0e9 to 3.0e10 J (central 7.5e9 J) and intracloud flashes 5.0e8 to 4.5e9 J. With the satellite global flash rate of 44 per second, split 25% cloud-to-ground and 75% intracloud, total global lightning power is 132 GW (range 38.5-478.5 GW), 0.66% of human power use, 7.6e-5% of intercepted solar power, and about 352 times the fair-weather global circuit power. Lightning is spectacular per event and negligible in the planetary energy budget.

Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)
Lightning and Electromagnetic Phenomena
DOIOpen Access PDFOpenAlex
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The Global Lightning Energy Census: Total Power of the Planetary Spark — William Alexander Aldred · Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research) (2026) | TGRS Research Map | TGRS