Zettajoules: Why They Are So Important To Warming Oceans And Climate Change
Most people have heard of joules, a unit of measure for energy. But, what about zettajoules?
That term will be more prevalent in the near future, regarding climate change and our warming oceans.
What Is A Zettajoule?
I know it’s going to sound ridiculous, but a zettajoule is a billion trillion joules.
That is one and 21 zeros! For reference, a billion has nine zeros.
Why Does It Matter?
We have been using this unit of measure to calculate the Earth’s energy imbalance.
The higher the number, the worse our energy balance. We want this number to stay low because an increasing energy imbalance means our Earth is absorbing too much energy and thus not releasing it back out into space.
Our planet absorbs a lot of energy in the oceans, so warming oceans can have devastating impacts on the weather. From stronger hurricanes to increased flooding from rainstorms, you will start to see stronger weather events.
And 2025 showed a very real problem that is right on our doorstep.
(Photo by Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)
Records Broken
Between 2005 and 2025, the energy imbalance increased by 11 zettajoules per year, which is about 18 times the total human energy usage.
But 2025 alone saw the energy imbalance increase by 23 zettajoules. That is about 39 times the total human energy usage.
Our planet is absorbing this energy through burning fossil fuels and greenhouse gases, which shows that this is an active problem that needs to be addressed.