BTU to kWh Converter
Type BTU to get kWh. 12,000 BTU, the heat a one-ton air conditioner moves in an hour, is about 3.5 kWh.
12,000 Btu =
3.5169kWh
12,000 British thermal units is 3.5169 kilowatt-hours.
- 1 Btu
- 0.0002931 kWh
- 1 kWh
- 3,412.14 Btu
How this works: Method, 3 sources,
How this works
Method
Divide British thermal units by 3,412.14. The International Table Btu is 1,055.05585262 J and a kilowatt-hour is 3,600,000 J, so one kWh holds 3,412.14 Btu. The divisor is rounded to six figures; the converter uses the exact values. Full method
Sources
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Changes
- Ask understands “5 ft 9 in to cm” and “2 cups of flour in grams” and answers at once, and a decimal comma (“2,5”) reads as 2.5.
- First published: 89 everyday units across ten quantities, with 58 pages for common pairs such as cm to inches and Celsius to Fahrenheit.
How to convert BTU to kWh
Divide British thermal units by 3,412.14. The International Table Btu is 1,055.05585262 J and a kilowatt-hour is 3,600,000 J, so one kWh holds 3,412.14 Btu. The divisor is rounded to six figures; the converter uses the exact values.
A US therm of natural gas is 100,000 Btu: 100,000 ÷ 3,412.14 = 29.31 kWh. That makes it easy to compare a gas bill priced per therm with an electricity bill priced per kWh.
Heating and cooling equipment is usually rated in Btu per hour, a power. Divide by 3,412.14 to get kW: a 60,000 Btu/h furnace is a 17.6 kW heater.
kilowatt-hours = British thermal units ÷ 3,412.14 (rounded)
- NIST lists the International Table Btu as 1,055.056 J and a ton of refrigeration (12,000 Btu per hour) as 3.516 853 kW. Source: NIST SP 811, Appendix B.8: conversion factors by unit.
How to estimate BTU to kWh in your head
Count thousands of Btu and multiply by 0.3. 24,000 Btu is 24 × 0.3 = 7.2 kWh; the exact figure is 7.03, so trim about 2%. Or remember that 3,400 Btu is almost exactly one kWh.
BTU to kWh table
Heating, cooling and gas quantities in kilowatt-hours (or kW, for Btu per hour).
| British thermal units (Btu) | Kilowatt-hours (kWh) | Example |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 0.0002931 | |
| 100 | 0.02931 | |
| 500 | 0.1465 | |
| 1,000 | 0.2931 | |
| 3,412 | 1 | about one kWh |
| 5,000 | 1.4654 | |
| 6,000 | 1.7584 | |
| 8,000 | 2.3446 | |
| 9,000 | 2.6376 | |
| 10,000 | 2.9307 |
Show all 19 rowsShow fewer
| 12,000 | 3.5169 | one ton of air conditioning (per hour) |
| 15,000 | 4.3961 | |
| 18,000 | 5.2753 | |
| 24,000 | 7.0337 | |
| 36,000 | 10.5506 | |
| 48,000 | 14.0674 | |
| 60,000 | 17.5843 | a mid-size furnace (per hour) |
| 100,000 | 29.3071 | one US therm of gas |
| 1,000,000 | 293.071 | one MMBtu of gas |
Frequently Asked Questions
How many kWh is 12,000 BTU?
12,000 Btu is 3.517 kWh. An air conditioner rated 12,000 Btu/h (one “ton”) moves 3.5 kW of heat; the electricity it draws is lower, because air conditioners move more heat than they consume.
How do I compare a gas furnace with a heat pump?
Put both in kWh. A furnace rated 60,000 Btu/h is about 17.6 kW of output. For running cost, convert your gas price per therm into a price per kWh by dividing by 29.31.
What is the difference between BTU and BTU/h?
Btu is an amount of energy; Btu/h is a rate, like kWh against kW. Air conditioner labels say “BTU” but mean Btu per hour.