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Kilowatt-hours to Kilowatts (kWh to kW) Calculator There often is a time when it is necessary to convert the energy consumption (represented by Kilowatt-hours which is abbreviated as kWh) to electric power (represented by Kilowatts which is abbreviated as kW). Although it may seem to be easiest to do this calculation using any of the available online converters the formula is so simple that it makes more sense to just calculate the conversion using any calculator. What is a Kilowatt? A Kilowatt is 1000 Watts. A watt is a unit of power that equals 1 joule per second. Think of power as being the rate that energy is either being produced or used. One way to visualize wattage is to think of it in terms of speed such as miles per hour or kilometers per hour. We all are exposed to watts on a daily basis, in fact, the typical application for the Watt is on appliances and light bulbs. So when you flip on that 100 Watt light bulb you are using 100 watts of power and over the period of an hour you can figure out how many Kilowatt-hours the energy consumption of that bulb is. What is Kilowatt-hour? A Kilowatt-hour (kWh) is a unit of energy that equals the amount of energy that one Kilowatt would generate if sustained for one hour. Think of energy as being the amount of 'fuel' that is used over time or is stored inside of something. Basically, if you were to run a 1000 Watt appliance (1kw) for one hour you would have used 1 Kilowatt-hour of energy. It should be noted though that running a 100 Watt lightbulb for 10 hours would also equal 1 kWh of energy or, a 4000 Watt appliance would take only fifteen minutes to reach 1 kWh. The unit kWh is only a way to represent the amount of energy being consumed not that 1000 Watts was consumed over an hour. This unit of measure is used by electric power companies to determine energy consumption for billing purposes. The Formula The formula for converting kWh to kW is very simple but it requires knowing over how many hours you would like the Kilowatts for. Since these two units of measurement represent different quantities you must also use the number of hours in your equation to get proper values. To convert from kWh to kW: kWh/H = kW To convert from kW to kWh: kW x H = kWh How to calculate the conversion Let's say you want to know the power consumption (kW) with an energy consumption of 6000 Kilowatt-hours over 6 hours, you would calculate it like this kWh/H = kW 6000/6 = 1000 kW The answer is 1000 kW The process is reversed as such: To determine the energy consumption of 1000 kW over 6 hours you would simply: kW x H = kWh 1000 x 6 = 6000 kWh The answer is 6000 kWh Conclusion As you can see the process in which this conversion is made is remarkably simple and intuitive. Just remember the differences between the two units and that these formulas require the time in hours in order to complete. Related Articles kW to kWh

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