On Fri, 8 Dec 2000 22:33:05 -0500, "Duncan Bath"
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:

>IEEE/ASTM SI 10-1997  3.3.2.5 Energy
>"The SI unit of energy , the joule, together with its multiples and
>submultiples, is preferred for all applications.
>The kilowatthour is widely used as a measure of electric energy. This unit
>should not be introduced into any new fields, and eventually it should be
>replaced.  The unit to use is the megajoule.
>Duncan

The decision to use the kWh for gas was presumably done because it was
the standard unit for electricity. It makes sense to have a common
unit. However, electricity meters are still largely mechanical, so
cannot display in joules. A conversion could be done on bills, of
course. It should be noted that the standard above is, of course, a
USA one. I don't think this is an area I would expend much energy (!)
on; I'm just glad that new metres measure in m3 for gas, and it gets
converted to MJ rather than therms!

-- 
Chris KEENAN
UK Metrication: http://www.metric.org.uk/
UK Correspondent, US Metric Association

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