Terms & Terminologies of Electricity

 

 

What is Kilowatt-hour (kWh)?

A kWh is a unit of measure for using one kilowatt of power for one hour. In other words, it is a way to measure how much energy you are using; and “not the number of kilowatts you are using in an hour”.

 

For instance, A kWh is the amount of energy that you would consume by keeping a 1,000watt appliance running/using for an hour.

 

Let’s have an example.

I have a 100watt bulb. Let us calculate the energy in kWh that will be used by this very appliance in an hour. And we know that 1000 watt is equal to 1 kW. Calculating the number of hours that 100watt would take to use 1 kWh is 10 hours. i.e., 100 watt*10hrs=1000Wh=1kWh.

 

Similarly, a 2000watt appliance would take only half an hour to use 1 kWh of energy. i.e., 2000 watt/1000=2kW. Now, if 2kWh is the energy used in an hour, in half an hour, only 1kWh will be used i.e., if 2kWh in an hour, we derive 30 mins time to consume 1kWh of energy.

 

Thus, we again define ‘a kilowatt-hour’ as

A kilowatt-hour is a unit of measure for energy usage. It’s using one kilowatt of power (1000 watts) used for one hour. It’s abbreviated as kWh.

Now, what is the difference between Kilowatt-Hour and Kilowatt?

A kilowatt (kW) is 1,000 watts and is a measure of how much power something needs to run; whereas kilowatt hour (kWh) is a measure of the amount of energy somethings uses over the time.

If you have a 1,000 watt drill, it takes 1,000 watts (or one kW) to make it work. If you run that drill for one hour, you’ll have used up one kilowatt of energy for that hour, or one kWh.

Some tips to know the time taken to consume 1kWh of energy by the following appliances at your home.

o   Running a dishwasher (1,000 watts): 1 hour

o   Watching a 50″ LED TV (50 watts): 20 hours

o   Cooking in the oven (2000 Watts): 30 minutes

o   Running the refrigerator (300 Watts): 3 hours

o   Using a Playstation 4 (150 Watts): 6.66 hours

How do I calculate what 1 kWh will power?

1. Locate the wattage for the device.
2. Convert the wattage from watts (W) to kilowatts (kW). To do that, just divide the number of watts by 1000.
3. Divide 1kWh by the kW that you got in Step 2, to see how long it takes for your device to use 1 kWh.

How long can you play your Playstation 4 if you only use 1 kWh?

Number of Watts: 150 watts

150 watts / 1000 = .15 kilowatts

Number of Hours to use 1 kWh hour = 1 kWh / .15 kilowatts = 6.66 hours

Note. Please note that this 1 kWh consumption by PS 4 in 6.66 hours does not include the electricity used by your display/TV that is connected to the electricity/source.

Others?

o   Amp: an amp, short for ampere, is one unit of constant electrical current

o   Volts: a volt (V) is a unit of electrical potential. Voltage is the potential for energy to move.

o   Ohms: a measure of electrical resistance.

o   Watts: a watt is a measure of power consumption.

What is a megawatt?

A megawatt (MW) is equal to one million watts. A megawatt-hours is a megawatt being used continuously for 1 hour.

What is a gigawatt?

A gigawatt (GW) is equal to one billion watts.