What is a BTU?
A BTU, short for British Thermal Unit, is a basic measure of thermal (heat) energy. One BTU is the amount of energy needed to heat one pound of water one degree Fahrenheit, measured at its heaviest point. In other words, if you placed 16 ounces of water at 59°F into a stovetop pan and turned on the gas burner, it would take one BTU to raise the temperature of the water to 60°F. As more BTUs continue to flow from the gas flame, the water will eventually reach the boiling point of 212°F. A BTU is also the equivalent of 252 heat calories, not to be confused with the kilo-calories of food, and of approximately a third of a watt-hour. When speaking of cooling power, the BTU also works in reverse. The air-cooling power of an air conditioning system refers to the amount of thermal energy removed from an area. Hence a 65,000 BTU heater and a 65,000 BTU air conditioner are of roughly the same capacity and size. The higher the BTU output, the more powerful the heating or cooling system. Strangel
BTU stands for the British Thermal Unit (Btu). It is a unit of heat energy in the inch-pound unit system, which is common today in the United States. The Btu is defined as the amount of heat necessary to raise the temperature of one pound of water one degree Fahrenheit from 58.5 to 59.5. A Btu is commonly used to indicate the heating and cooling capacity of a system, heat losses, and heat gains. To give an example of system capacity, a 10,000 Btu window air conditioner is capable of removing 10,000 Btus of heat per hour. To give an example in terms of heat gains, the typical heat gain added to a room by a person at rest is about 230 Btu/hour.
A BTU or British Thermal Unit is a standard unit of energy that is used in the United States and sometimes in the United Kingdom. It represents the amount of thermal energy necessary to raise the temperature of one pound of pure liquid water by one degree Fahrenheit at the temperature at which water has its greatest density (39 degrees Fahrenheit). Generally, in a room with adequate insulation and typical ceilings, each 10,000 BTU’s of heat output from an efficient gas appliance will heat approximately 350 sq. ft. If the area to be heated has pitched or vaulted ceilings, poor insulation, or drastic air movement then the heating ability will be reduced. Though the amount of warmth generated varies among manufacturers and models, normally around 4,500 to 5,000 BTUs of heat is generated from an average electric fireplace and 3,000 BTUs from a gel fireplace.
Btu stands for British Thermal Unit, which is a unit of energy consumed by or delivered to a building. A Btu is defined as the amount of energy required to increase the temperature of 1 pound of water by 1 degree Fahrenheit, at normal atmospheric pressure. Energy consumption is expressed in Btu to allow for consumption comparisons among fuels that are measured in different units.
BTU stands for British Thermal Unit, a measure of energy. One BTU is not much: it’s equal to 0.25 food calories or about the amount of energy in the tip of a match. To put this in perspective, the food energy in a peanut butter and jelly sandwich is about 1250 BTU, one kwh of electricity is equivalent to 3,412 BTU, a gallon of gasoline contains about 125,000 BTU, and one short ton of coal (2000 lbs) contains about 20 million BTU. Because a single BTU is so small, energy is usually measured in thousands or millions of BTU. For entire economies, energy is measured in quadrillion BTU, or “quads” for short. A quadrillion is equal to 10^15. In 2002, total US energy consumption was 97.4 quads. The metric equivalent of the BTU is the Joule. One quad equals approximately 1.055 Exajoules (10^18 Joules).
