Information AboutWatt-hour |
| CATEGORIES ABOUT WATT-HOUR | |
| units of energy | |
| electric power | |
| non-si metric units | |
| SHOPPER'S DELIGHT | |
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DEFINITION One watt-hour is equivalent to one Watt of Power used for one hour. This is equivalent to 3,600 joules. For example, a sixty watt light bulb uses 60 watt-hours of energy every hour. Similarly, a 100 watt light bulb uses 50 watt-hours in thirty minutes. MULTIPLES Milli-, kilo-, mega-, giga-, and tera- are the most-used prefixes. CONVERSIONS EXPLANATION The watt-hour is derived from the multiplication of the SI unit of Power ( Watt ) and the non-SI unit of time ( Hour ). The kilowatt-hour is commonly used for Electrical and Natural Gas energy. Many Electric Utility companies use the kilowatt-hour for billing. This is a convenient unit because the energy usage of a typical home in one month is several hundred kilowatt-hours. Megawatt-hours are used for metering of larger amounts of electrical energy. For example, a Power Plant 's daily output is likely to be measured in megawatt-hours. The Board of Trade Unit or '''B.O.T.U.''' is an obsolete UK synonym for kilowatt-hour. The term derives from the name of the government department that regulated the electricity industry. The B.O.T.U. should not be confused with the British Thermal Unit or BTU, which is a much smaller quantity of thermal energy. SEE ALSO |