1. How much power in a bolt of lightning?

An inquisitive reader recently asked a curious question on Facebook: Does a bolt of lightning provide enough energy to power a town? I don’t know, but there is a way to get a fair estimate.

From articles in Windpower Engineering & Development, we learn that lightning bolts carry from 5 kA to 200 kA and voltages vary from 40 kV to 120 kV. So if we take some averages, say, 100 kA and 100 kV, this bolt would carry this much power …