What are the units of energy used?
A Q-BTU is a quadrillion (one billion million) British Thermal Units (BTU). It is used as the standard unit of measure by the U.S. government for comparing various energy sources. (See Part 4 for additional information on this topic.) The M-BTU, used later, is one million BTUs. It is a measure of per capita energy consumption. There are one billion M-BTUs in a Q-BTU. The advantage of using these two units is that they enable extremely large magnitudes of national and personal energy consumption to be described with numeric values that are easily comprehended. Why are all of the NRH reserves combined into one total? As a heat source and as a raw material for the chemicals industry, modern technology has made oil, coal, and natural gas interchangeable. Coal can be transformed into either a gas product to replace natural gas or a transportation fuel to replace oil. One major oil company is touting the conversion of natural gas into a liquid transportation fuel. As the reserves of oil are
