Gigajoule to Therm Converter

A gigajoule (GJ) is a unit of energy equal to one billion joules (10⁹ J). It represents large amounts of energy, commonly used for measuring building energy consumption, industrial processes, and fuel energy content.

The gigajoule became important with the growth of energy-intensive industries and the need to measure energy consumption in large buildings and facilities. It provided a convenient scale for energy auditing, HVAC system sizing, and industrial energy management in the latter half of the 20th century.

Gigajoules are commonly used in building energy analysis, HVAC engineering, industrial energy management, and fuel energy content specifications. They're standard for measuring annual energy consumption of large buildings, industrial process energy requirements, and natural gas energy content.

A therm (thm) is a unit of energy equal to 100,000 BTUs or approximately 105.5 megajoules. It's commonly used for measuring natural gas consumption and energy content in the United States gas industry.

The therm was introduced in the early 20th century by the gas industry in the United States as a convenient unit for measuring and billing natural gas consumption. It provided a practical scale for residential and commercial gas usage where BTUs would result in large numbers.

Therms are primarily used in the United States for natural gas billing, gas appliance ratings, and energy content specifications for natural gas. They're found on residential and commercial gas bills, used in gas utility planning, and for measuring heating energy consumption.