Kilowatt Hour to Gigajoule Converter

A kilowatt-hour (kWh) is a unit of energy equal to the energy consumed by a device with a power rating of one kilowatt operating for one hour. It equals 3.6 megajoules and is the standard unit for measuring electrical energy consumption.

The kilowatt-hour was developed with the commercialization of electricity in the late 19th century. It provided a practical way for electric utilities to measure and bill for electrical energy consumption, becoming the standard unit for electrical energy trading worldwide.

Kilowatt-hours are universally used for measuring and billing electrical energy consumption in homes, businesses, and industries. They're found on every electricity bill, used in energy efficiency ratings for appliances, and are standard in renewable energy system specifications and grid energy trading.

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.