WASCO

Energy Efficiency Training

 Energy efficiency is a
journey, not a destination.
Session 02: Units and calculators

Energy Basics
 • Units and calculators
• Energy conversion calculators
Outline • British thermal units (Btu)
• Degree days
Revison
• What is Energy?
• Forms of Energy
• Sources of Energy
• Laws of Energy
Energy Basics
Units and
Calculators
Physical units are measures of:
• Distances,
• Areas,
• Volumes,
• Heights,
• Weights,
• Mass,
• Force, and
• Energy.
To compare fuels with each other, we need to convert
their measurements to the same units.
Energy Basics
Units and
Calculators
Energy Basics
Units and
Calculators
We use different physical units to measure
different types of energy or fuels:
• Barrels or gallons for liquid petroleum
fuels.
• Cubic feet for natural gas
• Tons for coal.
• Kilowatthours for electricity
Energy Basics
Units and
Calculators
A barrel is a unit of volume or weight that is different depending
on who uses the term and what it contains.
For example
• 1 barrel of crude oil or petroleum products = 42 U.S. gallons
• 1 barrel of Portland cement = 376 pounds
• 1 barrel of flour = 196 pounds
• 1 barrel of fish = 200 pounds
• A barrel may be called a drum, but a drum usually holds 55
gallons.
Energy Basics
Units and
Calculators
Btu content of common energy units
• 1 barrel (42 gallons) of crude oil = 5,691,000
Btu
• 1 gallon of finished motor gasoline = 120,238 Btu
• 1 gallon of diesel fuel or heating oil = 137,381 Btu
• 1 gallon of heating oil = 138,500 Btu
• 1 barrel of residual fuel oil = 6,287,000
Btu
• 1 cubic foot of natural gas = 1,039
Btu
• 1 gallon of propane = 91,452 Btu
• 1 short ton (2,000 pounds) of coal = 18,934,000 Btu
• 1 kilowatthour of electricity = 3,412 Btu
Energy Basics
Units and
Calculators
Converting energy sources in different physical units to Btu

Example 1:
You have a natural gas furnace in your home that used 67,000 cubic feet of natural gas
for heating last winter.
Your neighbor has a furnace that burns heating oil that used 500 gallons of heating oil
last winter. You can convert the natural gas and heating oil consumption data into Btu
to determine which home used more energy for heating.
Energy Basics
Units and
Calculators
Converting energy sources in different physical units to Btu

Solution 1:

Btu
Natural Gas 67,000 cubic feet x 1,039 = 69,613,000 Btu
cubic feet

Btu
Heating Oil 500 gallons x 137,381 = 68,690,476 Btu
gallons
Energy Basics
Units and
Calculators
Converting energy sources in different physical units to Btu

Example 2:
You and your neighbor want to compare the price of the fuels for heating your homes on
an equal basis. You can compare the average of fuel prices over the winter in $ per
million Btu by dividing the average of the monthly winter prices for natural gas and
for heating oil per unit of the fuels by the Btu content of the fuels in million Btu per unit.

• Natural gas $13.52 per thousand cubic feet

• Heating oil $3.76 per gallon
Energy Basics
Units and
Calculators
Converting energy sources in different physical units to Btu

Solution 2:

$ MMBtu
Natural Gas 13.52 ÷ 1.039 = $ 13.01 per MMBtu
1000 cubic 1000 cubic
feet feet

$ MMBtu
Heating Oil $ 3.67 ÷ 0.137381 = $ 27.36 per MMBtu
gallons gallons
Energy Basics
Energy conversion
calculators
Energy Basics
Energy conversion
calculators
Energy Basics
Energy conversion
calculators
Energy Basics
Energy conversion
calculators
Energy Basics
Energy conversion
calculators
Energy Basics
Energy conversion
calculators
Energy Basics
Energy conversion
calculators
Measuring energy in food
Food calories are a measure of energy in food. One food calorie is equal to 1,000
calories, or 1 kilocalorie. For example, the energy in a 300-food calorie ice cream
cone is about the same as the amount of electricity required to light a 100-watt
incandescent light bulb for 3.5 hours.
Energy Basics
Energy conversion
calculators
Scientific notation explained
Scientific notation is a short-hand way of writing a number that has a lot of digits.
For example, the number 525,000,000 could be written as 5.25E+08.

The +08 indicates the decimal should be moved eight places to the right. A negative
number after the E means the decimal should be moved a certain number of places
to the left.
For example, 5.25E-03 is the same as 0.00525.
Energy Basics
Energy conversion
calculators
15 Minutes

Activity
Time
5 Minutes

Break
Energy Basics
British thermal units
(Btu)

What is a British thermal unit?

A British thermal unit (Btu) is a measure of the heat content of fuels or energy
sources.
It is the quantity of heat required to raise the temperature of one pound of liquid
water by 1 degree Fahrenheit at the temperature that water has its greatest
density (approximately 39 degrees Fahrenheit).
Energy Basics
British thermal units
(Btu)

One British thermal unit (Btu) is

approximately equal to the energy
released by burning a match.
Energy Basics
British thermal units
(Btu)
A single Btu is very small in terms of the amount of energy a single
household or an entire country uses. In 2021, the United States used about
97.33 quadrillion Btu of energy.

Written out, 1 quadrillion is a 1 followed by 15 zeros:

1,000,000,000,000,000.
Energy Basics
British thermal units
(Btu)
Why use British thermal units?
Energy or heat content can be used to compare energy sources or fuels on an
equal basis. Fuels can be converted from physical units of measure (such as weight
or volume) to a common unit of measurement of the energy or heat content of
each fuel.
Most energy producing or consuming companies use Btu as a unit of energy
content.
Energy Basics
British thermal units
(Btu)
Companies collect data on the physical amounts (volume or weight) of
energy sources produced, imported, exported, and consumed, then convert
those amounts into Btu equivalents to compare the sources on an equal
basis.
Energy Basics
British thermal units
(Btu)
For example, the physical volumes of fossil fuels consumed in the United States in
2021 and Btu equivalents were:

 Petroleum 7.22 billion barrels 35.07 quadrillion Btu

 Natural gas 30.29 trillion cubic feet 31.34 quadrillion Btu
 Coal 545.67 million short tons 10.55 quadrillion Btu
Energy Basics
British thermal units
(Btu)
Energy Basics
Degree Days

What is a degree day?

Degree days are measures of how cold or warm a location is. A degree
day compares the mean (the average of the high and low) outdoor temperatures
recorded for a location to a standard temperature, usually 25° Celsius (C) in Egypt.

The more extreme the outside temperature, the higher the number of degree days.

A high number of degree days generally results in higher levels of energy use for
space heating or cooling.
Energy Basics
Degree Days
Heating degree days (HDD) are a measure of how cold the temperature was on a
given day or during a period of days. For example, a day with a mean temperature
of 10°C has 15 HDD. Two such cold days in a row have a total of 30 HDD for the
two-day period.

Cooling degree days (CDD) are a measure of how hot the temperature was on a
given day or during a period of days. A day with a mean temperature of 40°C has
15 CDD. If the next day has a mean temperature of 43°C, it has 18 CDD. The total
CDD for the two days is 33 CDD.
Energy Basics
Degree Days
What do people use degree day data for?
People study degree day patterns to assess the climate and to assess the heating
and cooling needs for different regions of the country during the seasons of the
year.
Energy Basics
Degree Days
What are population-weighted degree days?

Degree day data can be weighted according to the population of a region to

estimate energy consumption. The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA)
uses population-weighted degree days to model and project energy consumption
for the United States and for U.S. census divisions
Energy Basics
Degree Days
Where can people find degree day data?
https://www.degreedays.net/
5 Minutes

Recap