Power-Energy Units Confusion

Comments focus on correcting and debating confusions between power units like watts/kilowatts (instantaneous power) and energy units like watt-hours/kilowatt-hours (energy over time) in articles about consumption and utilities.

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#2048
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Keywords

MPG US YEAR MW WH OP MJ PER PH HP kwh watt watts kw hours units energy unit hour power

Sample Comments

spockz • Aug 7, 2021 • View on HN

They probably just meant kW instead of kWh.

voxadam • Jul 15, 2024 • View on HN

Watts are a measure of instantaneous power, wouldn't the number of Watt-hours (or kW⋅h) be more interesting in this context?

recursive • Apr 10, 2023 • View on HN

The units don't make sense. You might mean megawatt-hours?

euroderf • Nov 12, 2022 • View on HN

Um, in units of WH or kWH pls ?

jdsully • Dec 11, 2022 • View on HN

watt/hours is the typical measurement. Raw wattage is insufficient without a time component.

smolder • Mar 10, 2020 • View on HN

I'm assuming that should be kW and not kWh

rjmunro • Aug 26, 2020 • View on HN

I was put off by the following sentence:> ... 14.8 watts, or 129.65 kilowatt-hours - the metric commonly used by power companies ...It should say 129.65 kilowatt-hours PER YEAR. Without the time, it's like saying "a car goes at 50mph or 1000 miles". It's just nonsense.

badosu • Nov 23, 2017 • View on HN

Probably because power consumption of utilities are measured by watt, so watt/h gives more intuition on how much energy was consumed.

twic • Aug 20, 2019 • View on HN

Surely we need to measure this in kWh?

JAlexoid • Jan 7, 2022 • View on HN

You're right, I forgot that it was kWh already.