Okay so found this from MIT website here: The problem is that the energy in lightning is contained in a very short period of time, only a few microseconds. Fur

Okay so found this from MIT website here: The problem is that the energy in lightning is contained in a very short period of time, only a few microseconds. Further, to obtain that 1 million joules, one would have to handle a voltage of several million volts. But even at 1 million joules, the typical lightning strike contains only about ¼ of a kilowatt-hour of power, which is not enough to make much difference on our electric bill.