name symbol aliases equivalent_to description source exclude_from_results
joules J 1 J The joule is the SI standard measure of energy. It is used by scientists.
kilojoules kJ 1000 J The kilojoule is a thousand joules. The joule is the SI standard measure of energy. It is used by scientists.
megajoules MJ 1000 kJ The megajoule is a million joules. The joule is the SI standard measure of energy. It is used by scientists.
gigajoules GJ 1000 MJ The gigajoule is a billion joules. The joule is the SI standard measure of energy. It is used by scientists.
terajoules TJ 1000 GJ The terajoule is a thousand billion joules. The joule is the SI standard measure of energy. It is used by scientists.
petajoules PJ 1000 TJ The petajoule is a million billion joules. The joule is the SI standard measure of energy. It is used by scientists.
exajoules EJ 1000 PJ The exajoule is a billion billion joules. The joule is the SI standard measure of energy. It is used by scientists.
tonnes of oil equivalent toe 41.868 GJ A tonne of oil equivalent is the energy content of a very specific tonne of oil. It is not the energy content of any particular tonne of oil. It is used by the IEA statistics and the UK Digest of Energy Statistics when counting overall demands and supplies for all types of energy.
thousands of tonnes of oil equivalent ktoe 1000 toe A thousand tonnes of oil equivalent is the energy content of a very specific thousand tonnes of oil. It is not the energy content of any particular tonne of oil. It is used by the IEA statistics and the UK Digest of Energy Statistics when counting overall demands and supplies for all types of energy.
millions of tonnes of oil equivalent Mtoe 1E6 toe A million tonnes of oil equivalent is the energy content of a very specific million tonnes of oil. It is not the energy content of any particular tonne of oil. It is used by the IEA statistics and the UK Digest of Energy Statistics when counting overall demands and supplies for all types of energy.
square metres m2 "square meter, meter2, metre squared, meter squared" 1 m2 A square metre is the SI standard measure of area. It is used by scientists.
million hectares Mha 1e6 ha A million hectares is a metric measure of area. It is used when referring to country sized areas of land.
hectares ha 100 ares A hectare is a metric measure of area. It is used when referring to areas of land.
ares a 100 m2 "The are is a metric unit of area, equal to 100 square meters, used for measuring land area. It was defined by older forms of the metric system, but is now outside of the modern International System (SI). It is commonly used to measure real estate, in particular in Indonesia and in French-, Portuguese-, Slovakian-, Czech-, Polish-, Dutch-, and German-speaking countries and also in India. Sotka is the Russian name. Source: Wikipedia."
petagrams of carbon PgC 1e15 gC "The traditional measure of greenhouse gas quantity, when considered at a global scale"
grams of carbon gC 1 gC "The fundamental unit of measure of greenhouse gas quantity, but too small for practical use."
grams of carbon dioxide equivalent gCO2e gCO2 0.27272727272727272727272727 gC "A measure of greenhouse gas quantity. There is some debate about the right factor to use when converting to this value from other greenhouse gases (e.g., methane). "
kilograms of carbon dioxide equivalent kgCO2e kgCO2 1000 gCO2e "A measure of greenhouse gas quantity. There is some debate about the right factor to use when converting to this value from other greenhouse gases (e.g., methane). "
tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent tCO2e tCO2 1000 kgCO2e "A measure of greenhouse gas quantity. There is some debate about the right factor to use when converting to this value from other greenhouse gases (e.g., methane). "
thousand tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent ktCO2e ktCO2 1000 tCO2e "A measure of greenhouse gas quantity. There is some debate about the right factor to use when converting to this value from other greenhouse gases (e.g., methane). "
megatonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent MtCO2e MtCO2 1000 ktCO2e "A measure of greenhouse gas quantity. Useful for representing a country's emissions. There is some debate about the right factor to use when converting to this value from other greenhouse gases (e.g., methane). "
gigatonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent GtCO2e GtCO2 1000 MtCO2e "A measure of greenhouse gas quantity. Useful for representing the world's emissions. There is some debate about the right factor to use when converting to this value from other greenhouse gases (e.g., methane). "
watt-hours Wh 3600 J A watt-hour is the energy emitted by running something with 1 watt of power for 1 hour.
kilowatt-hours kWh 1000 Wh Kilowatt-hours are the unit used by electricity companies when reporting how much electricity a house has used. It is a thousand watt-hours.
megawatt-hours MWh 1000 kWh "Megawatt-hours are thousands of kilowatt-hours, which are the unit you see on your electricity bill. This unit is typically used for total electricity consumed by a factory over a year."
gigawatt-hours GWh 1000 MWh "Gigawatt-hours are millions of kilowatt-hours, which are the unit you see on your electricity bill. This unit is typically used for total electricity consumed or produced by a power station."
terawatt-hours TWh 1000 GWh "Terawatt-hours are billions of kilowatt-hours, which are the unit you see on your electricity bill. This unit is typically used for total electricity consumed or produced at a National level. "
therms thm 105.56e6 J The Therm is an archaic British measure of energy. Equal to 100 000 BTUs. http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=CELEX:11972BN01/10/PT1A16:EN:HTML Yes
British thermal units Btu 1055.06 J The British Thermal Unit is an archaic British measure of energy. http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=CELEX:11972BN01/10/PT1A16:EN:HTML Yes
quads quad 1e15 btu The Quad is a thousand trillion british thermal units (1015). It is used by the US Department of Energy.
watts W 1 W A watt is the SI standard measure of power. It is a joule per second. It is used by scientists. It is a light-bulb sized amount of power.
kilowatt kW 1000 W A kilowatt is a thousand watts. It is a kilojoule per second. It is widely used. It is a kettle sized amount of power.
megawatt MW 1000 kW A megawatt is a million watts. It is a megajoule per second. It is widely used. It is a train engine sized amount of power.
gigawatt GW 1000 MW A gigawatt is a billion watts. It is a gigajoule per second. It is widely used. It is a power station or city sized amount of power.
terawatt TW 1000 GW A terawatt is a trillion watts. It is a terajoule per second. It is widely used. It is a continental sized amount of power.
petawatt PW 1000 TW A petawatt is a thousand trillion watts. It is a petajoule per second. It is widely used. It is a planetary sized amount of power.
ergs per second erg/s 0.0000001 W An erg per second is ? http://physics.nist.gov/Pubs/SP811/appenB9.html#ENERGY
horsepower h.p. "hp, bhp" 7.4570e2 W "A horsepower is a measure of power. Its value varies, but we assume here that it is the UK horsepower that is being used. It is rarely used now, even for car engine power."
watt-hours per year Wh/y 0.0001140771161 W A watt-hour per year is a measure of power. It is rarely used. But it gives a sense of the energy output from running a particular amount of power for a year.
kilowatt-hours per year kWh/y 0.1140771161 W A kilowatt-hour per year is a measure of power. It is rarely used. But it gives a sense of the energy output from running a particular amount of power for a year.
megawatt-hours per year MWh/y 0.1140771161e3 W A megawatt-hour per year is a measure of power. It is rarely used. But it gives a sense of the energy output from running a particular amount of power for a year.
gigawatt-hours per year GWh/y 0.1140771161e6 W A gigawatt-hour per year is a measure of power. It is rarely used. But it gives a sense of the energy output from running a particular amount of power for a year.
terawatt-hours per year TWh/y 0.1140771161e9 W A terawatt-hour per year is a measure of power. It is used in UK renewable energy accounting. It gives a sense of the energy output from running a particular amount of power for a year.
kilocalories kcal "large calorie, kilogram calorie" 1000 cal "This is a food calorie, which confusingly is 1000× the thermal calorie and is therefore officially known as the kilocalorie. It is approximately the energy required to raise the temperature of 1 kg of water by 1 degree Celsius." http://physics.nist.gov/Pubs/SP811/appenB9.html#ENERGY
calories cal 4.19002 J "This is the chemical calorie. If you see it in relation to food, then it is probably being used as shorthand for the kilocalorie which is 1000× larger. Please be careful to make sure you are using the right unit here." http://physics.nist.gov/Pubs/SP811/appenB9.html#ENERGY
ergs erg 1e-7J The erg is a very small unit of energy. It isn't used much. http://physics.nist.gov/Pubs/SP811/appenB9.html#ENERGY
tons of TNT 4.184e9 J The ton of TNT is a popular way of suggesting something is a lot of energy. http://physics.nist.gov/Pubs/SP811/appenB9.html#ENERGY Yes
homes 3 MWh The home is a popular way of suggesting something is a lot of energy. Unfortunately it is really imprecise. Normally it refers to the electricity consumed by a typical home (that is what we have assumed here) but it could refer to the gas used (which could be triple the electricity) or the total energy (which could be quadruple). In reality homes vary a lot. https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/ofgem-publications/64026/domestic-energy-consump-fig-fs.pdf Yes
thousand homes 1000 homes The home is a popular way of suggesting something is a lot of energy. Unfortunately it is really imprecise. Normally it refers to the electricity consumed by a typical home (that is what we have assumed here) but it could refer to the gas used (which could be triple the electricity) or the total energy (which could be quadruple). In reality homes vary a lot. https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/ofgem-publications/64026/domestic-energy-consump-fig-fs.pdf Yes
million homes 1000000 homes The home is a popular way of suggesting something is a lot of energy. Unfortunately it is really imprecise. Normally it refers to the electricity consumed by a typical home (that is what we have assumed here) but it could refer to the gas used (which could be triple the electricity) or the total energy (which could be quadruple). In reality homes vary a lot. https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/ofgem-publications/64026/domestic-energy-consump-fig-fs.pdf Yes
Wales "waleses, the size of wales, the area of wales, waless" 8023 square miles "The Wales is a popular British way of suggesting that something covers a larger area. It is pretty precise, so not as bad as the home as a unit of energy." http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=area+of+wales Yes
square miles mi2 "mi2, miles squared" 2.589988e6 m2 The square mile is the imperial measure of area. http://physics.nist.gov/Pubs/SP811/appenB9.html
kilowatt-hours per day per person kWh/d/p "kWh/p/d, kilowatt-hours per person per day" 23.266425 TWh "The kilowatt-hour per person per day is a unit for British energy supply and demand, popularised by David Mackay in his book Sustainable Energy Without the Hot Air. Because the number of people in the UK changes, this value will change over time. It uses the 2012 UK ONS population estimate."
gigawatt-hours per day GWh/day GWh/d 41.6666666666666666667 MW The gigawatt-hour per day is a unit used in the National Grid future energy scenarios when talking about the different levels of heating demand. Yes
million standard cubic meters of gas per day mscm/d mscm/day 458.33333333 MW Millions of standard cubic meters per day is the unit the National Grid use to report flows of natural gas through the UK gas grid. http://www2.nationalgrid.com/UK/Industry-information/Gas-transmission-operational-data/calorific-value-description/ Yes
million standard cubic meters of gas mscm mcm 39.6e6 MJ Millions of standard cubic meters per day is the unit the National Grid use to report flows of natural gas through the UK gas grid. The energy content varies by +/- 10% or so. http://www2.nationalgrid.com/UK/Industry-information/Gas-transmission-operational-data/calorific-value-description/ Yes
billion standard cubic meters of gas bscm bcm 1000 mscm Billions of standard cubic meters of natural gas is used when discussing gas demand at a European level. https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/208608/physical_gas_flows_across_europe_in_2011.pdf Yes
barrel of oil equivalent boe 0.1364 toe "The barrel of oil equivalent is usually used for crude oil or for oil and gas together. Its energy content varies based on where the oil is from, so the conversion is approximate. This one is from BP. The ""equivalent"" means that this boe is usually using the ratio of six Mscf of natural gas to one barrel of crude oil, condensate or natural gas liquids, but BP uses 5.8 Mscf (not 6 Mscf) to be 1 boe." http://www.bp.com/en/global/corporate/investors/results-and-reporting/glossary.html
kilogram of hydrogen kgH2 39 kWh The kilogram of hydrogen appears to be used when specifying electrolysers. http://www.withouthotair.com/c26/page_199.shtml Yes
kilogram of hydrogen per day kgH2/day kgH2/d 1.625 kW The kilogram of hydrogen per day appears to be used when specifying electrolysers. http://www.withouthotair.com/c26/page_199.shtml Yes
cubic foot of natural gas cf cubic feet of natural gas 1025 Btu The cubic foot of natural gas is used in the USA . Its energy content varies. This conversion has taken the 2013 US average energy content. http://www.eia.gov/tools/faqs/faq.cfm?id=45&t=8
hundred cubic feet of natural gas Ccf 100 cf "In the USA, natural gas is sometimes measured in hundreds of cubic feet. The actual energy content of this gas can vary. In this conversion we have taken the 2013 average for the USA." http://www.eia.gov/tools/faqs/faq.cfm?id=45&t=8 Yes
thousand cubic feet of natural gas Mcf 1000 cf "In the USA, natural gas is sometimes measured in millions of cubic feet. The actual energy content of this gas can vary. In this conversion we have taken the 2013 average for the USA." http://www.eia.gov/tools/faqs/faq.cfm?id=45&t=8
million cubic feet of natural gas MMcf 1000000 cf "In the USA, natural gas is sometimes measured in millions of cubic feet. The actual energy content of this gas can vary. In this conversion we have taken the 2013 average for the USA." http://www.eia.gov/tools/faqs/faq.cfm?id=45&t=8
trillion cubic feet of natural gas Tcf 1000000 Mcf "In the USA, natural gas is sometimes measured in trillions of cubic feet. The actual energy content of this gas can vary. In this conversion we have taken the 2013 average for the USA." http://www.eia.gov/tools/faqs/faq.cfm?id=45&t=8
thousand Btu MBtu 1000 Btu "In the USA, heating for a house is sometimes measured in thousands of Btu ." Yes
million Btu MMBtu 1000000 Btu "In the USA, the price of natural gas is often quoted per million Btu as this normalises the effect of different types of gas having different calorific values." Yes
standard cubic foot of natural gas scf standard cubic feet of natural gas 1 cf The cubic foot of natural gas is used in the USA . Its energy content varies. This conversion has taken the 2013 US average energy content. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standard_cubic_foot Yes
hundred standard cubic feet of natural gas Cscf 1 Ccf "In the USA, natural gas is sometimes measured in hundreds of cubic feet. The actual energy content of this gas can vary. In this conversion we have taken the 2013 average for the USA." Yes
million standard cubic feet of natural gas Mscf 1 Mcf "In the USA, natural gas is sometimes measured in millions of cubic feet. The actual energy content of this gas can vary. In this conversion we have taken the 2013 average for the USA." Yes
trillion standard cubic feet of natural gas Tscf 1 Tcf "In the USA, natural gas is sometimes measured in trillions of cubic feet. The actual energy content of this gas can vary. In this conversion we have taken the 2013 average for the USA." Yes
million Btu per hour MMBtu/hour MMBtu/h 24 MMbtu/day "In the USA, the maximum heating rate for a house is sometimes measured in millionBtu per hour" Yes
million Btu per day MMBtu/day MMBtu/d 12.21 kW "In the USA, the heating requirement for a house is sometimes measured in million Btu per day" Yes
billion of cubic feet equivalent of natural gas Bcfe 1000 MMcf "In the USA, a term used in the natural gas industry to measure the size of a reserve, or a quantity delivered over years. The ""equivalent"" means that this boe is using the ratio of six Mscf of natural gas to one barrel of crude oil, condensate or natural gas liquids. (BP uses 5.8 Mscf not 6 Mscf to be 1 boe.)" http://www.bp.com/content/dam/bp/en/corporate/pdf/bp-annual-report-and-form-20f-2014.pdf Yes
tons of LNG tonLNG 0.907185 tonneLNG "In the USA, liquefied natural gas (LNG) supplied in tankers is measured in thousands of tons." http://mineralmanagers.com/glossary.html Yes
tonnes of LNG tonneLNG tLNG 20.89 GJ Liquefied natural gas (LNG) supplied in tankers is measured in thousands of tonnes. http://www.withouthotair.com/cI/page_331.shtml
ton ton 0.907185 tonne "In the USA, the imperial ton is used (not the british ton)" Yes
tonne tonne te 1000 kg The metric tonne is 1000 kg
million tonnes Mt mmte 1000000 tonne "A million metric tonnes is a unit of mass, which may be used for CO2 or oil or other fuel." http://www.bp.com/en/global/corporate/investors/results-and-reporting/glossary.html
kilogram of LNG kgLNG 20.89 MJ The energy in a kilogram of LNG is the same as in a kilogram of natural gas (higher heating value) http://www.withouthotair.com/cI/page_331.shtml
dekatherm dthm 10 thm "Ten therms: a therm is an archaic unit of heat, and a dekatherm is one million Btu (MMBtu)" Yes
million barrels of oil per day mmbpd 66.55 GW The oil output of a field or nation is expressed in million barrels of oil per day
barrel of oil per day bpd 66.55 kW The oil output of an oilfield is expressed in barrels of oil per day Yes
barrel of oil bbl 5.75 GJ A standard barrel of oil is 42 US gallons or 159 litres. http://www.withouthotair.com/cI/page_331.shtml Yes
kilogram kg 1000 g a kilogram is a unit of mass equal to 1000 grams.