Watts & Tons

Watts & Tons

A free weekly index of the physical economy, priced in physical units. Edition of 2026-10-21. Watch Elon Musk on wattage and tonnage

Watt-Ton reading

What $1,000 buys this week:

5,102
kWh
via retail electricity, as of 2026-09
324
GPU-hours (H100)
via OCPI, as of 2026-10-21
22,831
ton-miles by rail UNVERIFIED
via BTS, as of 2024 (annual)
0.14
kg to orbit
via rideshare, as of 2026-08
69
kg of copper
via Pink Sheet, as of 2026-09

The index

Power
$0.196 $/kWh
US average retail electricity (BLS CPI average price, U.S. city average)

Week-over-week: n/a (no weekly prior) · Period change: +0.0% vs prior month (2026-08)

2017-01 → 2026-09

As of 2026-09 · source

Power
$265.40 $/MWh
PJM West hub real-time peak, weighted avg (ICE via EIA)

Week-over-week: +284.2% vs 2026-10-06 ($69.07) · Period change: n/a

2026-08-12 → 2026-10-13

As of trade date 2026-10-13 · source · data file · Single-hub daily spot price; volatile.

Compute
$3.09 $/GPU-hour
H100 SXM rental, Ornn Compute Price Index (OCPI)

Week-over-week: n/a (no weekly prior) · Period change: n/a

History: n/a (no sourced history fetched)

As of 2026-10-21 · source

Freight UNVERIFIED
$0.0438 $/ton-mile
Class I rail average freight revenue (BTS NTS Table 3-21)

Week-over-week: n/a (no weekly prior) · Period change: n/a

History: n/a (no sourced history fetched)

As of 2024 (annual) · source · Figure came from a search summary of the BTS table; the BTS spreadsheet download was blocked (403), so not confirmed from the source file.

Launch
$7,000 $/kg to orbit
SpaceX rideshare published rate, 2026 launches (SSO/LEO)

Week-over-week: n/a (no weekly prior) · Period change: n/a

2023 → 2027

As of 2026-08 · source

Metals
$14,474 $/metric ton
Copper, LME grade A (World Bank Pink Sheet)

Week-over-week: n/a (no weekly prior) · Period change: +1.0% vs prior month

2025-10 → 2026-09

As of 2026-09 · source

Metals
$3,283 $/metric ton
Aluminum (World Bank Pink Sheet)

Week-over-week: n/a (no weekly prior) · Period change: +1.0% vs prior month

2025-10 → 2026-09

As of 2026-09 · source

Carbon
$32.48 $/metric ton CO2e
California–Québec joint auction #48 current-auction settlement price

Week-over-week: n/a (no weekly prior) · Period change: +12.7% vs prior quarterly auction (May 2026)

2024-08 → 2026-08

As of 2026-08-19 · source

Converter

Also: 1 H100 GPU-hour at 700 W max draw = 0.7 kWh (NVIDIA H100 spec), costing $0.137 at the US retail rate. kWh conversions go through dollars at listed prices; they are price equivalents, not physical energy equivalents.

Why watts and tons

Musk

Mass

Energy

History

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