"my question: is it possible for the switch to send more than 1Gbps of data through the etherchannel knowing my interfaces can handle 1 Gbps at max ?"
Yes and no.
Etherchannel, by default, does load balancing using the platform's actively selected hashing algorithm. Depending on your traffic's attributes, and the selected hashing algorithm, you should see, over time, a balanced distribution of usage across all your Etherchannel links.
Some things to keep in mind:
Individual flows are never distributed across multiple links (don't confuse Etherchannel with multiple L3 link load balancing options). I.e. any one flow cannot obtain more than a single link's bandwidth.
Since load balancing is per flow, during short term time periods, or the nature of your traffic (e.g. high volume between just one pair of hosts) you might see some links, even over a long time period, utilization's higher, even much higher, than other links.
"Original" load balancing isn't optimally load balanced across non power of twos number of links. I.e. 2, 4 or 8 links will balance better than 3, 5, 6 or 7 links. Some later Etherchannel implementations (much) better balance across a non power of two number of links.
BTW, especially with 4 or more Etherchannel links, and port using transceivers (especially optically), the next higher bandwidth option (if available) is often a better choice for (more) bandwidth and (less) cost.
I recall (?) some of the later Etherchannel implementations support more than 8 links.
If platform supports it, often a good/best choice for the hashing algorithm is src-dst-ip.
Flows with the same attributes will always chose the same link as determined by the hashing algorithm.
Etherchannel does not distribute based on link load, so aggregate throughput is NOT just the sum of the number of links. For example, for a two channel Etherchannel, don't expect double the aggregate traffic throughput, expect more on the order of plus 50%. (Why? Consider first flow gets one link. Second flow has a "fifty/fifty" chance of using same link or the other. If sent to same link as first flow, overall throughput limited to just one link. Only if second flow sent to other link do you obtain twice the throughput.)
NB: platforms' default hashing algorithm vary. If configuring Etherchannel, confirm hashing algorithm is "optimal" for your traffic.
Although you've asked about Etherchannel bandwidth, don't overlook its other major feature, improved redundancy. Especially helpful when used on a platform's different port modules/cards and even more so when used on different physical platforms (i.e. stacked switches, VSS, vPC).
