Key Energy Conversion Factors
A common question for anyone engaging with energy data is:
“Which unit of measurement should I be using?”
Few industries use as many units of measurement as the energy sector. Even experienced professionals often find it challenging to quickly and accurately convert one unit into another
This section is therefore dedicated entirely to practical conversion factors, covering primary energy, mass, volume, natural gas, petroleum products and SI Prefixes
In the primary energy section, we focus on real-world conversions among Joules, Calories, BTUs, GWh, and MTOE — not as an exercise in physics, but as conversions routinely encountered in industry
The mass section covers conversions among kilograms, pounds, short tons, and long tons
The volume section addresses conversions among US gallons, imperial gallons, barrels, cubic feet, litres, and cubic metres
In the section on Natural Gas, we highlight gas related conversions amongst cubic meter /cubic feet / calorific value / gas requirement in power. In the section on LNG, we highlight conversions amongst BCM / BCF / Ton of LNG / MTOE / TBTU and MBOE
The petroleum products section highlights specific gravity relationships, barrels-per-ton conversions, ton-to-TOE factors, and calorific values
In the section on SI Prefixes, we go beyond our school / college days familiarity of deka, hecto, and kilo which mean, respectively, 10, 100, and 1000, and deci, centi, and milli, which mean, respectively, one-tenth, one-hundredth, and one-thousandth, and cover real life prefixes like giga / tera / peta and exa that are most common in the modern energy systems and datasets
This dedicated section is intended to remove hesitation and uncertainty, enabling readers to confidently work across units without second-guessing