What is a "Kilowatt-Hour"?
A kilowatt-hour is an unit of measurement equivalent to 3600 kilowatts, which is equivalent to 3.6 million Watts, or 3.6 million Joules1. The factor 3600 refers to the number of seconds in an hour. A kilowatt-hour does NOT mean an amount of energy consumed over an hour. It just means a "ton" of Watts. If something consumes 3600 kilowatts in one second, we say it has consumed 1 kilowatt-hour in one second. The unit is abbreviated kWh.
References
- http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/thermo/houseenergy.html (accessed 2025-02-12) ↩︎