Definition

A kilowatt-hour is equal to the amount of energy consumed (produced) by a one-kilowatt device in one hour. From here 1 kWh = 1000 W 3600 s = 3.6 MJ.

It should be noted that the correct spelling is “kWh” (power times time). The spelling "kW/h" (kilowatt per hour), often used in many media and even sometimes in official documents, is incorrect. This designation corresponds to the change in power per unit time (which usually interests no one), but not to the amount of energy. An equally common mistake is to use "kilowatt" (a unit of power) instead of "kilowatt-hour".

Examples

• An electric stove with a power of 2 kW in 15 minutes will consume from the electrical network and release into the environment energy equal to 2 kW · 0.25 h = 0.5 kWh;
• A 100 W electric lamp, turned on daily for 8 hours, consumes 0.1 kW · 8 h/day · 30 days = 24 kWh per month.
• An energy-saving lamp with a power of 20 W, turned on daily for 8 hours, consumes 0.02 kW · 8 h/day · 30 days = 4.8 kWh per month.
• A battery with a voltage of 12 V and a capacity of 50 Ah can theoretically supply 0.6 kWh of energy to the load (12 50 = 600 Wh = 0.6 kWh).

Conversion to other dimensions

Energy conversion table:

Cost kWh

Tariffs for the population

see also

• Help:Special characters

Notes

Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

See what “Kilowatt-hour” is in other dictionaries:

- (designation kWh or kWh). A unit of electrical energy equal to the amount of energy expended when one kilowatt (1000 watts) is used per hour. Kilowatts measure the amount of electricity consumed by businesses and individuals... Scientific and technical encyclopedic dictionary

KILOWATH-HOUR- a practical unit of measurement of energy (work), used by Ch. arr. to account for consumed or produced electrical energy; abbreviated Russian designation kW h or international KWh. Energy of 1 kWh is consumed by a device with a power of 1 ... Concise Encyclopedia of Housekeeping

A unit of energy equal to the work produced per hour by a 1-kilowatt machine. Large dictionary of foreign words. Publishing house "IDDK", 2007 ... Dictionary of foreign words of the Russian language

Kilowatt hour, kilowatt hour... Spelling dictionary-reference book

See Watt hour. Technical railway dictionary. M.: State Transport Railway Publishing House. N. N. Vasiliev, O. N. Isaakyan, N. O. Roginsky, Ya. B. Smolyansky, V. A. Sokovich, T. S. Khachaturov. 1941 ... Technical railway dictionary

An off-system unit of energy or work, used primarily in electrical engineering, is designated kWh. 1 kWh = 3.6.106 J ... Big Encyclopedic Dictionary

- (kW h, kW h), off-system units. energy or work applied preem. in electrical engineering. 1 kW h = 3.6 106 J. Physical encyclopedic dictionary. M.: Soviet Encyclopedia. Editor-in-chief A. M. Prokhorov. 1983 ... Physical encyclopedia

Kilowatt is a multiple unit derived from "Watt"

Watt

Watt(W, W) - system unit of power measurement.
Watt- a universal derived unit in the SI system, having a special name and designation. As a unit of measurement of power, the "Watt" was recognized in 1889. It was then that this unit was named in honor of James Watt (Watt).

James Watt - the man who invented and made a universal steam engine

As a derived unit of the SI system, "Watt" was included in it in 1960.
Since then, the power of everything has been measured in Watts.

In the SI system, in Watts, it is allowed to measure any power - mechanical, thermal, electrical, etc. The formation of multiples and submultiples of the original unit (Watt) is also allowed. To do this, it is recommended to use a set of standard SI prefixes, such as kilo, mega, giga, etc.

Power units, multiples of watts:

• 1 watt
• 1000 watts = 1 kilowatt
• 1000,000 watts = 1000 kilowatts = 1 megawatt
• 1000,000,000 watts = 1000 megawatts = 1000,000 kilowatts = 1 gigawatt
• etc.

Kilowatt hour

There is no such unit of measurement in the SI system.
Kilowatt hour(kWh, kW⋅h) is an off-system unit that is derived solely to account for used or produced electricity. Kilowatt-hours measure the amount of electricity consumed or produced.

The use of “kilowatt-hour” as a unit of measurement in Russia is regulated by GOST 8.417-2002, which clearly indicates the name, designation and scope of “kilowatt-hour”.

Download GOST 8.417-2002 (downloads: 3113)

Extract from GOST 8.417-2002 “State system for ensuring the uniformity of measurements. Units of quantities", clause 6 Units not included in the SI (fragment of table 5).

Non-systemic units acceptable for use along with SI units

What is a kilowatt hour for?

GOST 8.417-2002 recommends using “kilowatt-hour” as the basic unit of measurement for accounting for the amount of electricity used. Because “kilowatt-hour” is the most convenient and practical form that allows you to obtain the most acceptable results.

At the same time, GOST 8.417-2002 has absolutely no objection to the use of multiple units derived from “kilowatt-hour” in cases where this is appropriate and necessary. For example, during laboratory work or when accounting for generated electricity at power plants.

The resulting multiple units of “kilowatt-hour” look like this:

• 1 kilowatt-hour = 1000 watt-hour,
• 1 megawatt hour = 1000 kilowatt hours,
• etc.

How to write kilowatt-hour correctly⋅

Spelling of the term “kilowatt-hour” according to GOST 8.417-2002:

• The full name must be written with a hyphen:
  watt-hour, kilowatt-hour
• The short notation should be written separated by a dot:
  Wh, kWh, kW⋅h

Note Some browsers misinterpret the HTML code of the page and instead of a period (⋅) display a question mark (?) or other gibberish.

Analogues of GOST 8.417-2002

Most of the national technical standards of current post-Soviet countries are linked to the standards of the former Union, therefore, in the metrology of any country in the post-Soviet space, you can find an analogue of the Russian GOST 8.417-2002, or a link to it, or its revised version.

Designation of power of electrical appliances

It is common practice to mark the wattage of electrical appliances on their body.
The following designation of electrical equipment power is possible:

• in watts and kilowatts (W, kW, W, kW)
  (designation of mechanical or thermal power of an electrical appliance)
• in watt-hours and kilowatt-hours (Wh, kW⋅h, W⋅h, kW⋅h)
  (designation of the consumed electrical power of an electrical appliance)
• in volt-amperes and kilovolt-amperes (VA, kVA)
  (designation of the total electrical power of an electrical appliance)

Units of measurement for indicating the power of electrical appliances

watt and kilowatt (W, kW, W, kW)- units of measurement of power in the SI system. Used to indicate the total physical power of anything, including electrical appliances. If there is a designation on the body of an electrical unit in watts or kilowatts, this means that this electrical unit, during its operation, develops the specified power. As a rule, the power of an electrical unit, which is a source or consumer of mechanical, thermal or other type of energy, is indicated in “watts” and “kilowatts”. In “watts” and “kilowatts” it is advisable to denote the mechanical power of electric generators and electric motors, the thermal power of electric heating devices and units, etc. The designation in “watts” and “kilowatts” of the produced or consumed physical power of an electrical unit occurs on the condition that the use of the concept of electrical power will confuse the end user. For example, for the owner of an electric heater, the amount of heat received is important, and only then the electrical calculations.

watt-hour and kilowatt-hour (W⋅h, kW⋅h, W⋅h, kW⋅h)— non-system units of measurement of consumed electrical energy (power consumption). Power consumption is the amount of electricity consumed by electrical equipment per unit of operating time. Most often, “watt-hours” and “kilowatt-hours” are used to indicate the power consumption of household electrical equipment, according to which it is actually selected.

volt-ampere and kilovolt-ampere (VA, kVA, VA, kVA)— SI units of electrical power, equivalent to watt (W) and kilowatt (kW). Used as units of measurement for apparent AC power. Volt-amps and kilovolt-amps are used in electrical calculations in cases where it is important to know and operate with electrical concepts. These units of measurement can be used to indicate the electrical power of any AC electrical appliance. Such a designation will best meet the requirements of electrical engineering, from the point of view of which all alternating current electrical appliances have active and reactive components, therefore the total electrical power of such a device should be determined by the sum of its parts. As a rule, the power of transformers, chokes and other purely electrical converters is measured and denoted in “volt-amperes” and their multiples.

The choice of units of measurement in each case occurs individually, at the discretion of the manufacturer. Therefore, you can find household microwave ovens from different manufacturers, the power of which is indicated in kilowatts (kW, kW), in kilowatt-hours (kWh, kW⋅h) or in volt-amperes (VA, VA). And the first, and the second, and the third will not be a mistake. In the first case, the manufacturer indicated the thermal power (as a heating unit), in the second - the consumed electrical power (as an electrical consumer), in the third - the total electrical power (as an electrical appliance).

Since household electrical equipment is low-power enough to take into account the laws of scientific electrical engineering, then at the household level, all three numbers are practically the same

Considering the above, we can answer the main question of the article

Kilowatt and kilowatt-hour | Who cares?

• The biggest difference is that a kilowatt is a unit of power, while a kilowatt-hour is a unit of electricity. Confusion and confusion arises at the household level, where the concepts of kilowatt and kilowatt-hour are identified with the measurement of the produced and consumed power of a household electrical appliance.
• At the level of a household electrical converter device, the only difference is in the separation of the concepts of output and consumed energy. The output thermal or mechanical power of an electrical unit is measured in kilowatts. The consumed electrical power of an electrical unit is measured in kilowatt-hours. For a household electrical appliance, the figures for generated (mechanical or thermal) and consumed (electrical) energy are almost the same. Therefore, in everyday life there is no difference in what concepts to express and in what units to measure the power of electrical appliances.
• Linking the units of measurement kilowatt and kilowatt-hour is applicable only for cases of direct and reverse conversion of electrical energy into mechanical, thermal, etc.
• It is completely unacceptable to use the unit of measurement “kilowatt-hour” in the absence of an electricity conversion process. For example, “kilowatt-hour” cannot measure the power consumption of a wood heating boiler, but it can measure the power consumption of an electric heating boiler. Or, for example, in “kilowatt-hour” you cannot measure the power consumption of a gasoline engine, but you can measure the power consumption of an electric motor
• In the case of direct or reverse conversion of electrical energy into mechanical or thermal energy, you can link the kilowatt-hour with other energy units using the online calculator at tehnopost.kiev.ua:

When choosing a hair dryer, blender or vacuum cleaner in a store, you will notice that on its front panel there are always numbers with the Latin letter W. Moreover, according to sellers, the higher its value, the better and faster this electrical appliance will perform its direct functions. Is this statement true? Perhaps this is another publicity stunt? How does W stand for, and what is this value? Let's find out the answers to all these questions.

Definition

The above letter is a Latin abbreviation for the quantity familiar to everyone from physics lessons - watt. According to the International SI Standards, Watt (W) is a unit of measurement of power.

If we return to the issue with the characteristics of household electrical appliances, then the higher the number of watts in any of them, the more powerful it is.

For example, on the display case there are two blenders with the same price: one of them is from a popular company with 250 W (W), the other is from a lesser-known manufacturer, but with a power of 350 W (W).

These numbers mean that the second one will chop or beat food faster than the first one over the same period of time. Therefore, if the buyer is primarily interested in the speed of the process, it is worth choosing the second option. If speed does not play a key role, you can purchase the first one, as it is more reliable and, possibly, durable.

Who came up with the idea of ​​using watts?

Oddly enough it sounds today, but before the advent of watts, the unit of measurement of power almost throughout the world was horsepower (hp, in English - hb), less often foot-pound-force per second was used.

Watts were named after the man who invented and introduced this unit - Scottish engineer and inventor James Watt. Because of this, this term is abbreviated with a capital letter W (W). The same rule applies to any SI unit named after a scientist.

The name, like the unit of measurement itself, was first officially considered in 1882 in Great Britain. After this, it took the watt a little less than a hundred years to be accepted throughout the world and become one of the units of the International SI System (this happened in 1960).

Formulas for finding power

From physics lessons, many remember various problems in which it was necessary to calculate the current power. Both then and today the formula is used to find watts: N = A/t.

It was deciphered as follows: A is the amount of work divided by the time (t) during which it was completed. And if we also remember that work is measured in Joules, and time in seconds, it turns out that 1 W is 1 J/1 s.

The considered formula can be slightly modified. To do this, it is worth remembering the simplest scheme for finding work: A = F x S. According to it, it turns out that work (A) is equal to the derivative of the force that performs it (F) by the path traveled by the object under the influence of a given force (S). Now, to find the power (watts), we combine the first formula with the second. It turns out: N = F x S /t.

Sub-unit watts

Having dealt with the question “Watts (W) - what is it?”, it is worth finding out what sub-multiple units can be formed based on the available data.

When making measuring instruments for medical purposes, as well as important laboratory research, it is necessary that they have incredible accuracy and sensitivity. After all, not just the result, but sometimes a person’s life depends on it. Such “sensitive” devices, as a rule, need little power - tens of times less than a watt. In order not to suffer with degrees and zeros, sub-unit watts are used to determine it: dW (deciwatts - 10 -1), sW (centiwatts - 10 -2), mW (milliwatts - 10 -3), µW (microwatts - 10 -6 ), nW (nanowatts -10 -9) and several smaller ones, up to 10 -24 - iW (ioctowatts).

An ordinary person does not encounter most of the above-mentioned submultiple units in everyday life. As a rule, only research scientists work with them. Also, these values ​​appear in various theoretical calculations.

Watts, kilowatts and megawatts

Having dealt with submultiples, it is worth considering multiple units of watts. These are exactly what every person encounters quite often when heating water in an electric kettle, charging a mobile phone or performing other daily “rituals”.

In total, today scientists have identified about a dozen such units, but only two of them are widely known - kilowatts (kW - kW) and megawatts (MW, MW - in this case the capital letter “m” is used so as not to confuse this unit with milliwatts - mW).

One kilowatt is equal to a thousand watts (10 3 W), and one megawatt is equal to a million watts (10 6 W).

As in the case of fractional units, among the multiples there are special ones that are used only in narrow-profile enterprises. Thus, power plants sometimes use GW (gigawatts - 10 9) and TW (terawatts - 10 12).

In addition to those mentioned above, petawatts (PW - 10 15), exawatts (EW - 10 18), zettawatts (ZW - 10 21) and iotawatts (IW - 10 24) are distinguished. Like especially small submultiples, large multiples are used mainly in theoretical calculations.

Watt and watt-hour: what is the difference?

If on electrical appliances power is indicated by the letter W (W), then when looking at a regular household electricity meter you can see a slightly different abbreviation: kW⋅h (kWh). It stands for "kilowatt-hour".

In addition to them, watt-hours (Wh - W⋅h) are also distinguished. It is worth noting that according to international and domestic standards, such units in abbreviated form are always written only with a dot, and in the full version - with a dash.

Watt hours and kilowatt hours are different units from W and kW. The difference is that with their help it is not the power of transmitted electricity that is measured, but the electricity itself. That is, kilowatt-hours show exactly how much of it was produced (transmitted or used) per unit of time (in this case, one hour).

You need to pay for electricity, just like for any other resources and services. In order not to be deceived when paying, you need to learn how to calculate its expenses. There are special devices for this, for example, an individual meter, which is installed in each house or apartment. However, it shows the total consumption, and we will tell you how to calculate the electricity consumption of a separate device in this article.

Power, voltage and current

The main characteristics of electrical appliances are voltage, current and power. In this case, either all three parameters can be indicated on the body or in the passport of the device, or in a selective order. In Russia and neighboring countries, electrical appliances are used that are designed for 220V AC mains voltage; in America, for comparison, the voltage may be 110 or 120V.

Let us remind you:

Current is measured in Amperes (A), voltage in Volts (V), and power in Watts (W) (see -). If the device is low-power, the power will most likely be indicated in Watts; for powerful consumers, such as a washing machine or kitchen electric stove, it is usually indicated in kilowatts (kW). 1kW = 1000W.

In the device passport, depending on the specific case, the power may not be explicitly indicated at all, but the electricity consumption for a certain period, for example, kW per year or per day or for another period of time.

So, you pay your electricity bills according to the kWh you consume. Let's take a closer look at what kilowatt hours are and how to calculate them.

Electricity meter

Nowadays, every apartment has an electricity meter or, in simple words, an electricity meter. Modern models have a display that shows the amount of kWh you have consumed since it was installed.

On older models, this is indicated on a mechanical display-indicator consisting of rotating drums with numbers printed on them.

You can, if you turn off all consumers and leave the one that interests you, for example, for 1 hour, then you can find out how much Wh or kW/h it consumes. But this method is not always convenient or possible.

Note:

On most meters, the rightmost digit is usually either separated by a comma, highlighted in a different color, or indicated in some other way. This is a tenth of a kilowatt; it is not taken into account when taking readings for payment.

It is also worth noting that not all electrical equipment consumes the power indicated in the documentation during the entire operating time. This is due to the operating mode. For example, a washing machine consumes current depending on whether the heating is on, whether the pump is running, at what speed the motor rotates, and so on.

A little later we will look at a simple way to determine the real consumption of such equipment.

Electricity consumption by power

If you know the electrical power of the device, then to calculate electricity consumption you need to multiply the power by the number of hours. Let's give an example, let's say we have 2 light bulbs - 100 and 60 W and an electric kettle with a power of 2.1 kW. The light bulbs shine for about 6 hours a day, and the kettle boils for 5 minutes. You drink tea 4 times a day, which means that in total it works for 20 minutes a day.

Let's calculate the energy consumption of all this equipment.

Two light bulbs:

100W*6h=600W/h

60W*6h=360W/h

The electric kettle works 20 minutes a day, since we need to convert it to hours, this is 1/3 of an hour, then:

2100W*(1/3)h=700W/h

600+360+700=1660W/h

Let's convert to kW/h:

1660/1000=1.66kW/h

This set of electrical equipment consumes 1.66 kW/h per day.

The total cost of operating the listed equipment is:

1.66*4=6.64 rubles

How to convert amperes to kilowatts?

In cases where the data on the parameters of an electrical device indicate only voltage and current of the type:

Before calculating consumption, it is necessary to calculate the power, for this we use the formula: P=U*I

For example:

220V*1A=220W

Without going into details, this is true for a load with cosФ equal to one, and in fact for most household electrical equipment. Further calculations are similar to the previous ones.

How to find out the real electricity consumption of the device?

Calculations will not show real values; to find them out, you just need to take measurements. The most reliable way is to use an electricity meter. The most convenient option is to use a special meter for the outlet.

They are also called an energy meter or a wattmeter, perhaps this will help you find a device on sale.

What can an energy meter do? This is a universal measuring device with the following set of functions:

Measuring the power currently consumed.

Measuring consumption over a period of time.

Measurement of current and voltage.

Calculation of expenses at the tariffs you set.

That is, you just need to plug it into a socket, and connect the device, the consumption of which you need to easily determine, into the socket located on the energy meter. After this, you can observe how the power consumption changes during operation and how much is consumed per operating cycle.

An example of using a socket meter to determine the electricity consumption of a refrigerator is shown in the video.

Conclusion

Calculation of electricity consumption may be needed in a number of situations, for example, to check the consumption of new equipment, or when sharing powerful consumers with neighbors for equal payment. The best way is to install an individual meter on the device or its socket version, as described above.

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1 joule [J] = 6.241506363094E+27 nanoelectronvolt [neV]

Initial value

Converted value

joule gigajoule megajoule kilojoule millijoule microjoule nanojoule picojoule attojoule megaelectronvolt kiloelectronvolt electron-volt millielectronvolt microelectronvolt nanoelectronvolt picoelectronvolt erg gigawatt-hour megawatt-hour kilowatt-hour kilowatt-second watt-hour watt-second newton- meter horsepower-hour horsepower (metric) -hour international kilocalorie thermochemical kilocalorie international calorie thermochemical calorie large (food) cal. British term. unit (int., IT) British term. unit of term. mega BTU (int., IT) ton-hour (refrigeration capacity) ton of oil equivalent barrel of oil equivalent (US) gigaton megaton TNT kiloton TNT ton TNT dyne-centimeter gram-force-meter · gram-force-centimeter kilogram-force-centimeter kilogram -force-meter kilopond-meter pound-force-foot pound-force-inch ounce-force-inch foot-pound inch-pound inch-ounce pound-foot therm therm (EEC) therm (USA) energy Hartree equivalent gigatons of oil equivalent megatons oil equivalent to a kilobarrel of oil equivalent to a billion barrels of oil kilogram of trinitrotoluene Planck energy kilogram reciprocal meter hertz gigahertz terahertz kelvin atomic mass unit

Specific fuel consumption

More about energy

General information

Energy is a physical quantity of great importance in chemistry, physics, and biology. Without it, life on earth and movement are impossible. In physics, energy is a measure of the interaction of matter, as a result of which work is performed or the transition of one type of energy to another occurs. In the SI system, energy is measured in joules. One joule is equal to the energy expended when moving a body one meter with a force of one newton.

Energy in physics

Kinetic and potential energy

Kinetic energy of a body of mass m, moving at speed v equal to the work done by a force to give a body speed v. Work here is defined as a measure of the force that moves a body over a distance s. In other words, it is the energy of a moving body. If the body is at rest, then the energy of such a body is called potential energy. This is the energy required to maintain the body in this state.

For example, when a tennis ball hits a racket in flight, it stops for a moment. This happens because the forces of repulsion and gravity cause the ball to freeze in the air. At this moment the ball has potential energy, but no kinetic energy. When the ball bounces off the racket and flies away, it, on the contrary, acquires kinetic energy. A moving body has both potential and kinetic energy, and one type of energy is converted into another. If, for example, you throw a stone up, it will begin to slow down as it flies. As this slows down, kinetic energy is converted into potential energy. This transformation occurs until the supply of kinetic energy runs out. At this moment the stone will stop and the potential energy will reach its maximum value. After this, it will begin to fall down with acceleration, and the energy conversion will occur in the reverse order. The kinetic energy will reach its maximum when the stone collides with the Earth.

The law of conservation of energy states that the total energy in a closed system is conserved. The energy of the stone in the previous example changes from one form to another, and therefore, although the amount of potential and kinetic energy changes during the flight and fall, the total sum of these two energies remains constant.

Energy production

People have long learned to use energy to solve labor-intensive tasks with the help of technology. Potential and kinetic energy are used to do work, such as moving objects. For example, the energy of river water flow has long been used to produce flour in water mills. As more people use technology, such as cars and computers, in their daily lives, the need for energy increases. Today, most energy is generated from non-renewable sources. That is, energy is obtained from fuel extracted from the depths of the Earth, and it is quickly used, but not renewed with the same speed. Such fuels include, for example, coal, oil and uranium, which is used in nuclear power plants. In recent years, the governments of many countries, as well as many international organizations, such as the UN, have made it a priority to explore the possibilities of obtaining renewable energy from inexhaustible sources using new technologies. Many scientific studies are aimed at obtaining such types of energy at the lowest cost. Currently, sources such as solar, wind and waves are used to generate renewable energy.

Energy for domestic and industrial use is usually converted into electricity using batteries and generators. The first power plants in history generated electricity by burning coal or using the energy of water in rivers. Later they learned to use oil, gas, sun and wind to generate energy. Some large enterprises maintain their power plants on site, but most of the energy is produced not where it will be used, but in the power plants. Therefore, the main task of energy engineers is to convert the energy produced into a form that allows the energy to be easily delivered to the consumer. This is especially important when expensive or hazardous energy production technologies are used that require constant supervision by specialists, such as hydro and nuclear power. That is why electricity was chosen for domestic and industrial use, since it is easy to transmit with low losses over long distances via power lines.

Electricity is converted from mechanical, thermal and other types of energy. To do this, water, steam, heated gas or air drive turbines, which rotate generators, where mechanical energy is converted into electrical energy. Steam is produced by heating water using heat produced by nuclear reactions or by burning fossil fuels. Fossil fuels are extracted from the depths of the Earth. These are gas, oil, coal and other combustible materials formed underground. Since their quantity is limited, they are classified as non-renewable fuels. Renewable energy sources are solar, wind, biomass, ocean energy, and geothermal energy.

In remote areas where there are no power lines, or where economic or political problems regularly cause power outages, portable generators and solar panels are used. Generators running on fossil fuels are especially often used both in everyday life and in organizations where electricity is absolutely necessary, for example, in hospitals. Typically, generators operate on piston engines, in which fuel energy is converted into mechanical energy. Also popular are uninterruptible power supply devices with powerful batteries that charge when electricity is supplied and release energy during outages.

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