British Thermal Unit - BTU's Explained

BTU = British Thermal Unit. A BTU is the amountbarrels of oil equivalents, metric tons of oil
of energy required to raise one pound of waterequivalents, metric tons of coal equivalents. In the
one degree fahrenheit. Below are some BTUUnited States, the British Thermal Unit (Btu), a
equivalents of various fuels for comparison:measure of heat energy, is the most commonly
1 gallon of #2 oil = 140,000 BTUused unit for comparing fuels. Since energy used
1 barrel of crude oil = 42 US gallons, 5.80 millionin different countries comes from different places,
BTUthe Btu content of fuels varies slightly from
1 gallon of LP gas=91,500 BTUcountry to country. The Btu content provided
1 gallon of Kerosene=135,000 BTUbelow and used in the energy calculator reflect
1 cubic foot LP gas = 2,550 BTUthe average energy contents for fuels consumed
1 cubic foot natural gas = 1,000 BTUin the United States.
1 KWH electricity= 3,413 BTUEXAMPLES OF CONVERTING TO BTU
1 therm. natural gas = 100,000 BTUYou have a natural gas furnace in your home that
1,000 BTU = 1 lb of steamused 81,300 cubic feet of natural gas for heating
1 ton of coal = 28,000,000 BTUlast winter. Your neighbor, with the identical house,
1 cord of firewood *20,000,000 BTUhas an oil furnace that used 584 gallons of heating
1 pound of firewood *8,000 BTUoil last winter. To determine which home used
*Firewood BTU based on air dried wood logs andmore energy for heating, you can convert the
is a subjective average of common US woodnatural gas and heating oil consumption figures into
species.Btu, as follows:
Physical units reflect measures of distances,Natural Gas: 81,300 cubic feet
areas, volumes, heights, weights, mass, force,(your house) x 1,031 Btucubic foot = 83,820,300
impulse and energy. Different types of energyBtu
are measured by different physical units: barrelsHeating Oil: 584 gallons
or gallons for petroleum; cubic feet for natural(neighbor's house)x 139,000 Btu gallon =
gas; tons for coal; kilowatt-hours for electricity.81,176,000 Btu
To compare different fuels, we need to convertIn the example above, you used more energy to
the measurements to the same units. Someheat your house!
popular units for comparing energy include: Btu,