I agree. These out of context questions really bother me, as I have no frame of reference to relate the quantity to to know if it's excessive or not. It just seems like a pure ply for attention. Here are some questions that would make for a better answer:

How much energy do household TV's use?

How much energy does the sports industry use?

How much energy does it take to run our traffic system?

How much energy does the gold mining industry use?

How much energy does it take to run the US Stock Exchange?

At least the article should put up a fair power comparison...