British Thermal Unit (BTU) is the measurement for a unit of energy equivalent to the amount needed to heat one pound of water by 1 degree Fahrenheit. A BTU is used as the standard measurement unit to express how much energy a fuel has and to quantify how much output any device that generates heat can produce. For example, dry wood is considered to have approximately 7,000 BTUs per pound. Other heat producing devices such as gas grills are measured by the total capacity of BTUs that can be produced in an hour when used at full capacity.

What Are the Units Associated with the BTU?

BTU is short for BTU per hour. It can be abbreviated as BTU.h, BTU/h, or BTU. The BTU’s other units of measurement include:

  • 1000 BTU/h is approximately 293.071 W
  • 1 Watt is 3.41214 BTU/h
  • 1 therm is defined in the U.S. And EU as 100,000 BTU
  • 1 Quad is defined as 1015 BTU. The quad is used for expressing annual energy consumption for large countries or economies. 1 Quad is equivalent to 33.43 gigawatts.
  • 3412 BTUs are equivalent to approximately 1 BOTU (Board of Trade Unit).

Common BTU Conversions

Some BTU conversions used in everyday life and industry are listed below.

One BTU is equal to:

  • Between 778 and 782 ft-lbf (foot pounds of force)
  • 0.25 kcal
  • 0.293071 W-hr(watt hours)
  • Between 1.054 and 1.060 kJ
  • Between 252 to 253 calories
  • For natural gas use, 1 million BTUs is equivalent to 1.054615 GJ or 28.263682 meters cubed.
  • 1 Cubic Foot of Natural Gas can yield between 1010 and 1070 BTUs