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.
Energy is also consumed for occupational activities which differ relative to the type of occupation.
| 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 | 17 |
| Carrying a load on back - Returning without load | 20 |
| Up and Down ladders | 19 |
| Turning a Handle or a Crang | 21 |
| Walking up and down stairs | 23 |
| Pulling a cart | 24 |
| Cycling | 24 |
| Pushing a cart | 27 |
| Level walking | 27 |
| Walking uphill | 30 |
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