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Units of Energy

James Prescott Joule (1818 − 1889) was a self-educated British physicist and brewer whose work in the midnineteenth century contributed to the establishment of the energy concept. The international unit of energy bears his name:

1 Joule [J] = 1 Watt-second [Ws] = 1 V A s = 1 N m = 1 kg m2s−2.

It takes about 1 J to raise a 100-g-apple 1 m. Energy units can be preceded
by various factors, including the following:

kilo (k=103), mega (M=106), giga (G=109), tera (T=1012), peta (P=1015),
Exa (E=1018).

Thus, a kiloJoule (kJ) is 1000 Joules and a megaJoule (MJ) is 1,000,000 Joules.

A related unit is the Watt, which is a unit of power (energy per unit time). Power units can be converted to energy units through multiplication by seconds [s], hours, [h], or years [yr].

For example, 1 kWh [kilowatt hour] = 3.6 MJ [megaJoule]. With 1 kWh, about 10 liters of water can be heated from 20 ºC to the boiling point.

There are many other energy units besides the "Système International d'Unités (SI)". A "ton of coal equivalent" (tce) is frequently used in the energy business. 1 tce equals 8.141 MWh. It means that the combustion of 1 kg of coal produces the same amount of heat as electrical heating for one hour at a rate of 8.141 kW.

More Units of Energy

1 calIT = 4.1868 J, International Table calorie
1 calth = 4.184 J, thermochemical calorie
1 cal15 ≈ 4.1855 J, calorie to heat 1 cm3 water from 14.5 °C to 15.5 °C
1 erg = 10−7 J, cgs [centimeter-gram-second] unit
1 eV ≈ 1.60218×10−19 J, electron volt
1 Eh ≈ 4.35975×10−18 J, Hartree atomic energy unit
1 Btu = 1055.06 J, British thermal unit according to ISO, to heat 1 pound water from 63 °F to 64 °F
1 tce = 29.3076×109 J, ton of coal equivalent, 7000 kcalIT
1 toe = 41.868×109 J, ton of oil equivalent, 10000 kcalIT

Calories and/or kilocalories [cal and/or kcal] were historically often used to measure heat (energy) and are still used fot thi sometimes today. Heating a gram of water 1 ºC requires 1 cal. Different definitions are often the result of inconsistent starting temperatures of the heating.

Multiplication Table of Units

Symbol Exponential Prefix Quantity
k 103 kilo thousand
M 106 mega million
G 109 giga billion
T 1012 tera trillion
P 1015 peta quadrillion
E 1018 exa quintillion

The unit Megagram is not used, since there is a special name for one million grams, one ton (t): 1 t = 1000 kg.

Multiplication of the Units of Power with Units of Time

When the Watt is multiplied by a unit of time, an energy unit is formed as follows: 1 Ws = 1 J. The use of the kilowatt-hour is more common: 1 kWh = 3600 kWs = 3.6 MJ. Besides the second [s] and the hour [h], the day [d] and the year [yr] are also used, with 1 yr = 365.2425 d = 31,556,952 s. So, for example,

Conversion of Energy Units

The unit conversions indicated on this page can be performed with a calculator. One can also find conversion calculators on the internet such as the International Energy Agency, unitconversion.org and at Robert Fogt's page.