That might be about to change, though, as South Korea's state-owned Korea Electronics Technology Institute has announced a new image sensor chip that promises to take "vibrant photos" in extreme low-light conditions -- all the way down to 1 lux, which is the equivalent light output of a candle shining one meter away.
ENGADGET: South Korean image-sensing chip enables 1-lux photography
That's about 1.5% of total U.S. electricity consumption, more than the electricity used by American televisions, or equivalent to the output of about 15 typical power plants.
The government says that a pyre's output is equivalent only to that produced by two bonfire nights.
It is worth reminding you that three banks - HSBC, RBS and Barclays - each have gross loans and investments equivalent to annual British economic output, GDP, or more.
Carl Sheldon, chief executive of Taqa, said the billion-dollar deal, which is to be completed in 2013, would add 21, 000 barrels of oil equivalent a day to its output, establishing the Abu Dhabi group "as a leading operator in the UK North Sea".
This is equivalent to a total drop in output, relative to potential, of 7%.
IMF, central banks have 34, 000 tonnes of gold in their vaults, equivalent to 13 years of mine output.
First Spain which is already struggling to reduce a substantial deficit would be adding debt equivalent to 10% of its economic output or GDP to its already sharply rising national debt.
According to Gianfranco Viesti, an economics professor from Bari, the fiscal rigour needed for Italy to qualify for monetary union has led to cuts in public spending in the mezzogiorno equivalent to roughly 5% of local output.
According to Gold Fields Mineral Services, a consultancy, official sales rose last year to 412 tonnes, equivalent to one-sixth of new mine output.
Now, although that is less than many analysts think is needed, it is still a fair chunk of change, equivalent to around 6% of Spanish economic output or GDP.
The company announced last month that full-year 2012 output was 105, 050 gold-equivalent ounces, with production in 2013 forecast to grow by 24% to 130, 000 gold-equivalent ounces.
FORBES: Rob McEwen Looks For Gold To Keep Rising As Nations Run Up Debt Levels
Shortly prior to its ceasefire announcement MEND had carried out its boldest attack against Nigeria's oil installations since it launched its campaign of violence in late 2005, when an attack on Shell's Bongo facility, 120km out to sea, forced the Anglo-Dutch major temporarily to halt production equivalent to about 10% of Nigeria's output, and to declare force majeure.
ECONOMIST: A big rebel group in the Niger Delta calls off its ceasefire
Or to put it another way, Spain's banks over seven years would lose a sum equivalent to two and a half times the entire annual output of Portugal.
Slim's wealth is the equivalent of roughly 7% of Mexico's annual economic output.
The UK's net sovereign debt was the equivalent of 68% of the country's annual economic output, or GDP, at the end of last year.
BBC: UK loses top AAA credit rating for first time since 1978
The firm is planning to increase its output to four million barrels of oil and gas equivalent by 2017-18, up from current levels of about 3.3 million.
Credit ratings agency Fitch has said the country, which has a population of one million, would need 4bn euros to support its banks, the equivalent of almost a quarter of its GDP, or economic output, last year.
BBC: Cyprus not for sale, president says after bailout talks
The Shell Petroleum Development Co is the largest oil and gas company in Nigeria - Africa's top energy producer - with an output of more than one million barrels of oil or equivalent per day.
That's the equivalent of subtracting one-fifth to one-sixth of a work day from overall output.
Output, now at nearly 150, 000 tonnes (with gas measured in its oil equivalent), has shot up over the past few years.
The ONS measures construction output from the activity of business in Britain, not including Northern Ireland, which conducts its own equivalent survey.
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