BTU to Kilowatt Hours
Convert btu (BTU) to kilowatt hours (kWh). Both measure work and power, and the conversion comes up in nutrition, electricity, fitness work.
The Formula
``
kilowatt hours = btu × 0.000293071070172
btu = kilowatt hours × 3412.14163313
`
One BTU is 2.9307e-4 kilowatt hours, and one kilowatt hour is 3,412.14 btu.
Conversion Table
| BTU | Kilowatt Hours |
|---|---|
| 1 BTU | 2.9307e-4 kWh |
| 2 BTU | 5.8614e-4 kWh |
| 5 BTU | 0.001465 kWh |
| 10 BTU | 0.002931 kWh |
| 25 BTU | 0.007327 kWh |
| 50 BTU | 0.014654 kWh |
| 100 BTU | 0.029307 kWh |
| 500 BTU | 0.146536 kWh |
| 1,000 BTU | 0.293071 kWh |
The Other Direction
| Kilowatt Hours | BTU |
|---|---|
| 1 kWh | 3,412.14 BTU |
| 2 kWh | 6,824.28 BTU |
| 5 kWh | 17,060.71 BTU |
| 10 kWh | 34,121.42 BTU |
| 25 kWh | 85,303.54 BTU |
| 50 kWh | 170,607.08 BTU |
| 100 kWh | 341,214.16 BTU |
| 500 kWh | 1,706,070.82 BTU |
| 1,000 kWh | 3,412,141.63 BTU |
What Each Unit Is
BTU (BTU) — the energy to raise one pound of water by one degree Fahrenheit, or 1,055 joules. The imperial thermal unit, still standard for US heating, cooling and gas.
Kilowatt Hours (kWh) — 1,000 watt-hours, or 3.6 million joules. The unit electricity has been billed in since metering began.
A Sense of Scale
A window air conditioner is 5,000–12,000 BTU/h- US furnaces are rated in BTU
- A home uses 8–30 kWh a day
- An EV takes 15–20 kWh per 100 km
Precision
The factor 0.000293071070172 is rounded. For engineering work carry more digits than the table above, and round only at the end — rounding at each step compounds.
In Code
`javascript
const btuToKilowattHour = (value) => value * 0.000293071070172;
``
Where This Conversion Comes Up
- Nutrition
- Electricity
- Fitness
- Heating
- Fuel
How Many Decimals Do You Need?
Rounding the factor costs accuracy, and how much depends on the factor. Converting 137 BTU with the factor truncated at each decimal place:
| Decimals kept | Factor | 137 BTU becomes | Error |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | 0 | 0 | 100.0000% |
| 1 | 0 | 0 | 100.0000% |
| 2 | 0 | 0 | 100.0000% |
| 3 | 0 | 0 | 100.0000% |
| 4 | 0.0003 | 0.0411 | 2.3642% |
The right number of significant figures is set by your input, not by the converter. If you measured btu to three significant figures, the answer in kilowatt hours is only good to three — writing more digits claims precision the measurement never had.