I know this is a bit late but after some recent conversations with my friends I’ve realised that a lot of people don’t necessarily understand how energy is measured. The thing is if we want to do things properly it is essential to know the basics before we can advance to alternative energies.
Energy is a measure of light, work, or heat. The following are ways we can measure energy:
• Kilowatt – hours of electricity
• Therms of natural gas
• Gallons of propane
• Barrels of oil
• Pounds of steam
Kilowatts and Therms will be the most common measurements that I talk about when addressing energy efficiency. How many kilowatts and therms can we save? As much as possible!
Before we can talk about saving kilowatts and therms we need to know what those are…..
What is a kilowatt? - A kilowatt is 1,000 watts
What is a watt? – A simple measurement of electricity
What is a therm? – A therm is equal to 100,000 BTUs (British Thermal Units)
What is a BTU? – It is the heat required to raise the temperature of 1 pound of water 1 degree Fahrenheit
Then there’s the whole Ohm’s Law thing but all we need to know is that electricity is measured in kilowatts and natural gas is measured in therms.
Interesting fact: The United States comprises only 5% of the world’s population yet it consumes 25% of the world’s energy.
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