Energy, what is the energy content of various forms of energy we use?
Confused about energy and cost per unit of energy, maybe, maybe not, but here goes:
Most common energy form you likely are familiar with:
1 gallon of gasoline; contains ~ 120,500 btu’s (British thermal units).
1 gallon of diesel; contains ~ 137,400 btu’s. Diesel contains 14% more energy!
1 gallon of propane; contains ~ 91,333 btu’s. Only 76% of the energy of gasoline. So don’t be enticed by the lower price of propane and the cost of a conversion kit for your car/truck unless propane is nearly half the price per gallon.
1 kwh of electricity; contains 3,412 btu’s.
So very simply a gallon of gas has 35x the energy content of 1 kwh of electricity (not including efficiencies, power ratios and other factors).