It isn't as bad as you think. The BTU and the kilojoule are very close in value. So close they could be considered the same. So when you think in BTUs, think of it as a kilojoule. The only difference is that power would be kilojoues per hour instead of kilowatts, a factor of 3600.
I wonder if European power plants are more efficient then American plants because they use SI units. Jerry ________________________________ From: Aaron Harper <[email protected]> To: U.S. Metric Association <[email protected]> Cc: U.S. Metric Association <[email protected]> Sent: Saturday, April 11, 2009 4:32:52 PM Subject: [USMA:44589] Re: Steam energy Steam Enthalpy has been measured in BTUs for every power plant I have ever worked on so far. The day that I have to develop a control system using SI units, I will be in for some retraining. After 25 years of old school, I am sure it will be a bit of an effort, but at least I was taught SI, I've just never had a need to use it in practice yet. Aaron On Sat, Apr 11, 2009 at 12:27 AM, Pat Naughtin <[email protected]> wrote: On 2009/04/11, at 3:54 PM, Aaron Harper wrote: No matter what system of units are used, to speak of steam in terms of any unit of volume is not very meaningful, unless you also include the temperature and pressure of the steam. In power plants, we talk of steam in terms of mass, or we simply state the temperature and pressure of the steam which is directly related to the energy contained within the steam and available to do work. Aaron Harper Dear Aaron, What units do you use for the energy content of steam? Do you use the sole SI unit for energy: joules, kilojoules, and megajoules, etc.? Cheers, Pat Naughtin PO Box 305 Belmont 3216, Geelong, Australia Phone: 61 3 5241 2008 Metric system consultant, writer, and speaker, Pat Naughtin, has helped thousands of people and hundreds of companies upgrade to the modern metric system smoothly, quickly, and so economically that they now save thousands each year when buying, processing, or selling for their businesses. Pat provides services and resources for many different trades, crafts, and professions for commercial, industrial and government metrication leaders in Asia, Europe, and in the USA. Pat's clients include the Australian Government, Google, NASA, NIST, and the metric associations of Canada, the UK, and the USA. See http://www.metricationmatters.com/for more metrication information, contact Pat at [email protected] or to get the free 'Metrication matters' newsletter go to: http://www.metricationmatters.com/newsletter to subscribe.
