Convert BTU to Kilowatt-hours

About converting BTU to Kilowatt-hours

BTU (BTU) and Kilowatt-hours (kWh) are both units of energy, so converting between them is a single multiplication: multiply your BTU figure by 0.0002931. Ten BTU comes to 0.002931 Kilowatt-hours, and a hundred works out at 0.02931 Kilowatt-hours.

Rule of thumb: going from BTU to Kilowatt-hours divides, so the figure always shrinks — it takes about 3,412.14 BTU to make a single Kilowatt-hour. If your answer came out bigger, you have the conversion the wrong way round.

What is a BTU?

The BTU is the heat needed to raise one pound of water by one degree Fahrenheit — and there is no single BTU. Water takes slightly different amounts of heat to warm depending on the temperature it starts from, so several definitions exist (thermochemical, International Table, 39 °F, 59 °F, 60 °F and others), differing from one another by a fraction of a percent. This converter uses one common value, so treat the result as convention-dependent rather than absolute. In the US it is the unit of heating and cooling capacity, though air conditioners are really rated in BTU per hour and the "per hour" is routinely dropped in marketing.

What is a Kilowatt-hour?

The kilowatt-hour is the unit your electricity bill is charged in, and almost the only energy unit most people meet by name. It is energy, not power: a kilowatt is a rate of use, a kilowatt-hour is the amount consumed by running at that rate for an hour. Utilities bill in kWh because that is what they actually deliver — a meter counts accumulated energy, not instantaneous demand. It is also the unit that sizes batteries. An EV pack and a home storage unit are both quoted in kilowatt-hours, so the figure tells you how much range or backup you have bought, while the kilowatt rating only says how fast it can be delivered.

To put both in perspective: a wooden kitchen match releases roughly one BTU, while an electric car covers roughly five kilometres on a kilowatt-hour.

The converter above updates as you type, and the table lists common values for quick reference. Need the opposite direction? Use the Kilowatt-hours to BTU converter, or browse all Energy converters.