"[Solomon's] Temple … used tonnes of gold, pure gold...We are not going to build a temple of gold, but we will spend tonnes of money, without a shadow of doubt".
The first part of McKay's task involves basic reconnaissance, he said: "I figure out what's there, define that the building is eligible [for the historic tax credit], using tonnes of photos".
For example, the Large Hadron Collider uses 600 tons of superconducting strands, while the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor is estimated to use 600 tonnes of Nb3Sn strands and 250 tonnes of NbTi strands.
A battle re-enactment in the Solent will use ten tonnes of gunpowder.
The International Energy Agency IEAA) has forecast that the world will use 1b tonnes more coal in 2019 than today.
By some estimates China alone might use 26m tonnes a year within a decade and a half.There are other factors at work besides the world's population pressures.
"City of Edinburgh Council had to use 7.5 tonnes of grit to clean the A720 at Bankhead and the west bound A8. "Lothian Buses removed its vehicles from the roads for a spell while the cleaning operation was carried out.
The helicopter is transporting 300 bags of fine slate over two days, helping to create part of a defence that will use 15,000 tonnes of boulders, clay and soil.
Each Australian rifle company then methodically searched its area of operations, while engineers destroyed the underground facilities; a task which required the use of tonnes of explosives.
In early 2004, when gold and platinum prices rose steeply, China began fabricating significant volumes of palladium jewelry and used 37 tonnes of palladium for this purpose in 2005.
