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M

m Ransley

Jan 1, 1970
0
How do I compare Kwh costs to Ng. I pay 0.12 Kwh and 1$ per therm. Is
one therm equal to 100000 btu and 1 kwh hr equal to 450btu? Is my cost
for electricity nearly 300% that of Ng?.
 
N

News

Jan 1, 1970
0
m Ransley said:
How do I compare Kwh costs to Ng. I pay 0.12 Kwh and 1$ per therm. Is
one therm equal to 100000 btu and 1 kwh hr equal to 450btu? Is my cost
for electricity nearly 300% that of Ng?.

A BTU is a measure of ENERGY. 1 lb of water raised 1F. No power there at
all. The POWER is energy by time hence BTU/hr for output.

You can have an electric motor turning a compressor. The compressors input
is power in.

To clarify for you:

POWER

The watt (W) is a unit of Power.

The kilowatt (kW) is simply 1,000 watts. A one-bar 1 kilowatt electric fire
or ten 100 watt light bulbs will consume one kilowatt.

BTU/hr is a unit of Power


ENERGY

Energy is Power x Time.

You pay for energy not power. What you have to pay for is the product of
power and time. This is obvious - the electric fire operating for three
hours is going to cost three times a much as for one hour. Therefore the
chargeable electricity 'unit' is the:

kilowatt-hour (kWh) Which is ENERGY.

This is by tradition in the world of electricity metering just called a
'unit'. What you are paying for is energy, rather than power.

kWh is energy
Wh is energy

BTU is energy.


BOILERS & CAR ENGINES

Although some people think of the watt (a unit of power) as an electrical
unit, it's not restricted to electricity. Boilers, whether powered by
natural gas, LPG or oil, and heat emitters (radiators) have power outputs
quoted in watts or kilowatts. So do car engines nowadays.

In days gone by in the UK, boilers etc. were rated in British thermal units
(BTU or formerly BThU) per hour (BThU/hr), which is POWER.

The BTU is a unit of ENERGY

The BTU is not power. Hence the division by time (BTU divided by hr
[BTU/hr]) to get power. People often speak of say, a "60,000 BTU boiler";
when what they really mean is 60,000 BTU/hr.

One kWh (energy) is equivalent to 3,412 BTU (energy) Note: One figure has a
time factor and one does not.

A 60,000 BTU/hr (power) boiler is rated at approx 17.6 kW (power). Note: The
time factor figures are reversed for power.

For the engine, horsepower was used, and:

One HP is 746W.

So a 75 kW engine is equivalent to near enough 100 HP.

GAS

Is charged in kWh (energy), just like electricity. There is a difference
though in that the electricity meter measures kWh directly, whereas the gas
meter records the volume of gas used in multiples of 100 cubic feet (or in
cubic metres on newer ones). The calculation to get from volume to energy
in kWh (energy) is shown on the gas bill.

The conversion factor is not constant since it involves the calorific value
of the fuel, which varies from region to region.


THERM

Again, in the past, and still in the USA, gas was charged for by yet another
energy unit, the Therm. One therm is simply 100,000 BTU (energy),
equivalent therefore to 29.31 kWh (energy).
 
R

Richard W.

Jan 1, 1970
0
News said:
THERM

Again, in the past, and still in the USA, gas was charged for by yet another
energy unit, the Therm. One therm is simply 100,000 BTU (energy),
equivalent therefore to 29.31 kWh (energy).
I was told by the gas company years ago that 1 therm was equal to almost
1 gallon liquid.
 
D

daestrom

Jan 1, 1970
0
m Ransley said:
How do I compare Kwh costs to Ng. I pay 0.12 Kwh and 1$ per therm. Is
one therm equal to 100000 btu and 1 kwh hr equal to 450btu? Is my cost
for electricity nearly 300% that of Ng?.

A 'therm' of natural gas is that amount of gas that, when burned cleanly,
will deliver 100000 btu (about 100 ft^3). So yes, you have that part right.
One kilo-watt-hour of energy (in any form) is equal to 3413 btu (not the 450
number you have).

So if you pay $0.12 for 1 kwh in the form of electricity, that is $0.12 for
3413 btu of electricity. Scaling that up to a 'therm' would put the price
at $3.52 per 'therm' of electricity.

So if a particular energy need can be satisfied by burning NG, it is much
cheaper source of energy. But it is pretty hard to pump water with NG
without going through some kind of engine. If you burn NG in an engine to
pump water, the engine is less than 1/3 efficient. Whereas an electric
motor used to pump water can be 90% efficient. So in the case of pumping
water, you would burn about 3 times the natural gas. The marginal cost for
pumping the water would be about the same in the end.

But if you just want to heat up water, or heat your home, or cook dinner,
the inefficiency of a heat-engine doesn't enter into it and NG then is a
much cheaper way to cook dinner.

daestrom
 
G

Gìmmìe Bob

Jan 1, 1970
0
Good stuff but some of your terminalogy is off a bit.

Power is never "consumed" but rather the "Rate of consumption"

What is a "one-bar"? The only bar I know of is for barometric pressure and
the units named "bar" for about 15 PSI

News said:
m Ransley said:
How do I compare Kwh costs to Ng. I pay 0.12 Kwh and 1$ per therm. Is
one therm equal to 100000 btu and 1 kwh hr equal to 450btu? Is my cost
for electricity nearly 300% that of Ng?.

A BTU is a measure of ENERGY. 1 lb of water raised 1F. No power there at
all. The POWER is energy by time hence BTU/hr for output.

You can have an electric motor turning a compressor. The compressors input
is power in.

To clarify for you:

POWER

The watt (W) is a unit of Power.

The kilowatt (kW) is simply 1,000 watts. A one-bar 1 kilowatt electric fire
or ten 100 watt light bulbs will consume one kilowatt.

BTU/hr is a unit of Power


ENERGY

Energy is Power x Time.

You pay for energy not power. What you have to pay for is the product of
power and time. This is obvious - the electric fire operating for three
hours is going to cost three times a much as for one hour. Therefore the
chargeable electricity 'unit' is the:

kilowatt-hour (kWh) Which is ENERGY.

This is by tradition in the world of electricity metering just called a
'unit'. What you are paying for is energy, rather than power.

kWh is energy
Wh is energy

BTU is energy.


BOILERS & CAR ENGINES

Although some people think of the watt (a unit of power) as an electrical
unit, it's not restricted to electricity. Boilers, whether powered by
natural gas, LPG or oil, and heat emitters (radiators) have power outputs
quoted in watts or kilowatts. So do car engines nowadays.

In days gone by in the UK, boilers etc. were rated in British thermal units
(BTU or formerly BThU) per hour (BThU/hr), which is POWER.

The BTU is a unit of ENERGY

The BTU is not power. Hence the division by time (BTU divided by hr
[BTU/hr]) to get power. People often speak of say, a "60,000 BTU boiler";
when what they really mean is 60,000 BTU/hr.

One kWh (energy) is equivalent to 3,412 BTU (energy) Note: One figure has a
time factor and one does not.

A 60,000 BTU/hr (power) boiler is rated at approx 17.6 kW (power). Note: The
time factor figures are reversed for power.

For the engine, horsepower was used, and:

One HP is 746W.

So a 75 kW engine is equivalent to near enough 100 HP.

GAS

Is charged in kWh (energy), just like electricity. There is a difference
though in that the electricity meter measures kWh directly, whereas the gas
meter records the volume of gas used in multiples of 100 cubic feet (or in
cubic metres on newer ones). The calculation to get from volume to energy
in kWh (energy) is shown on the gas bill.

The conversion factor is not constant since it involves the calorific value
of the fuel, which varies from region to region.


THERM

Again, in the past, and still in the USA, gas was charged for by yet another
energy unit, the Therm. One therm is simply 100,000 BTU (energy),
equivalent therefore to 29.31 kWh (energy).
 
N

News

Jan 1, 1970
0
Gìmmìe Bob said:
Good stuff but some of your terminalogy is off a bit.

Power is never "consumed" but rather the "Rate of consumption"

What is a "one-bar"?

Old fashioned electric heaters had "bars" of 1 kW. You could see the size
by looking at the bars.
 
D

Derek Broughton

Jan 1, 1970
0
News said:
A BTU is a measure of ENERGY. 1 lb of water raised 1F. No power there at
all. The POWER is energy by time hence BTU/hr for output.
....long rant snipped.

I fell asleep before figuring out if he even came close to answering the
question, which really had nothing to do with a misuse of terms for power
vs. energy, and simply asked if the OP was paying 300% the cost of gas for
his electricity. In a word, no. But I couldn't say what the difference
really is...
 
N

News

Jan 1, 1970
0
Derek Broughton said:
...long rant snipped.

A rant?
I fell asleep before figuring out

You should pay attention.
if he even came close to answering the
question, which really had nothing to do with a misuse of terms for power
vs. energy,

Do you mean the above was wrong?
and simply asked if the OP was
paying 300% the cost of gas for
his electricity.

All the OP had to do look at the part that was applicable to him. All
there. Simple.
 
D

Derek Broughton

Jan 1, 1970
0
News said:
A rant?
Yeah...

You should pay attention.

When it's relevant.
Do you mean the above was wrong?

I'm sure it wasn't. But why focus on the fact that he (like probably 90% of
the general population) doesn't know the difference between energy and
power, instead of just (if you really had to) mentioning that they aren't
the same and answering the question he actually asked?
All the OP had to do look at the part that was applicable to him. All
there. Simple.

Not so simple at all. I sure didn't see the answer there, and I understood
your point. All that would happen is he'd see you were more interested in
flaming than answering and skip to another post - where he'd actually get a
decent answer.
 
N

News

Jan 1, 1970
0
Derek Broughton said:
When it's relevant.


I'm sure it wasn't. But why focus on the fact that he (like probably 90% of
the general population) doesn't know the difference between energy and
power, instead of just (if you really had to) mentioning that they aren't
the same and answering the question he actually asked?

Not so simple at all. I sure didn't see the answer there, and I understood
your point. All that would happen is he'd see you were more interested in
flaming than answering and skip to another post - where he'd actually get a
decent answer.

Flaming? Are you serious?

All he had to do was look at therm.
 
N

News

Jan 1, 1970
0
100 cubic feet of gas = 1 Therm = 100,000 British thermal units (Btu).

100 cu feet = 1 therm? Not quite. It depends on the calorific value of the
gas. With natural gas it is approx 1000. So, 100 cu feet = 1 therm is
ballpark. The CV can vary from region to region.
 
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