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Writer's pictureOmer T. Karaguzel

SOME BIG NUMBERS AND ENERGY TERMS

Here is a line up of some big numbers, their power terms and the prefixes. These are also applicable to the building energy consumption terms (mostly in the SI system).

10^0 = 1 = One 10^1 = 10 = Ten 10^3 = 1,000 = Thousand (Kilo-*) 10^6 = 1,000,000 = Million (Mega-*) 10^9 = 1,000,000,000 = Billion (Giga-*) 10^12 = 1,000,000,000,000 = Trillion (Tera-*) 10^15 = 1,000,000,000,000,000 = Quadrillion (Peta-*) 10^18 = 1,000,000,000,000,000,000 = Quintillion (Exa-*) 10^21 = 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 = Sextillion 10^100 = Googol (This is not a typo!) 10^10^100 = Googolplex = 10^googol

SI System (which is more organized as expected)

Wh = Watt-Hour = 1 Wh = 10^0 = One Wh kWh = Kilo Watt-Hour = 1,000 Wh = 10^3 Wh = One Thousand Wh MWh = Mega Watt-Hour = 1,000,000 Wh = 10^6 Wh = One Million Wh GWh = Giga Watt-Hour = 1,000,000,000 Wh = 10^9 Wh = One Billion Wh TWh = Tera Watt-Hour = 1,000,000,000,000 = 10^12 Wh = One Trillion Wh PWh = Peta Watt-Hour = 1,000,000,000,000,000 = 10^15 Wh = One Quadrillion Wh EWh = Exa Watt-Hour = 1,000,000,000,000,000,000 = 10^18 Wh = One Quintillion Wh ZWh = Zetta Watt-Hour = 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 = 10^21 Wh = One Sextillion Wh

IP System (which is quite irregular) BTU = British Thermal Unit = 1 BTU = 10^0 = One BTU kBTU = Kilo British Thermal Unit = 1,000 BTU = 10^3 BTU = One Thousand BTU MBTU = M British Thermal Unit = 1,000 BTU = 10^3 BTU = One Thousand BTU Yes, that’s true, kBTU and MBTU are both used to indicate 1,000 BTUs. kBTU is used for total energy consumption (also for heating and cooling energy consumption combined) and MBTU is used for natural gas consumption only. MMBTU = Million British Thermal Unit = 1,000,000 BTU = 10^6 BTU = One Million BTU Bbtu = Billion British Thermal Unit = 1,000,000,000 BTU = 10^9 BTU = One Billion BTU Tbtu = Trillion British Thermal Unit = 1,000,000,000,000 BTU = 10^12 = One Trillion BTU Quad = Quad British Thermal Unit = 1,000,000,000,000,000 BTU = 10^15 BTU = One Quadrillion BTU Yes, 10^15 BTUs is just called a “Quad”. That’s it.

SI: Système international (The International Système of Units) IP: Imperial Units ((also known as British Imperial or Exchequer Standards of 1825)


Omer T. Karaguzel, PhD

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