Watt Hour to Gigajoule Converter

A watt-hour (Wh) is a unit of energy equal to the energy consumed by a device with a power rating of one watt operating for one hour. It equals 3,600 joules and is commonly used for measuring energy in small electronic devices.

The watt-hour developed alongside electrical technology as a convenient way to measure energy consumption in smaller electrical devices. It became particularly important with the rise of portable electronics and battery-powered devices where kilowatt-hours would be impractically large.

Watt-hours are commonly used for measuring battery capacity in portable electronics, energy consumption of small appliances, and in renewable energy systems for small-scale applications. They're standard for smartphone batteries, laptop batteries, and small solar power systems.

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.