Course: REEC 120 Sustainability and Renewable Energy

Unit 2 Overview

page 2

In the Quick Reference section of the book, notice that all of the science and measurements we will be using involves SI, or the metric system. In the book, the most basic energy value used is kWh, kilowatt hour.

The kWh is the measure of energy we use electrically. While it is not used in energy consumed in a vehicle or in heating, we want to use a measure we can all relate to.
For example, when you leave a 100W light bulb on for exactly 1 hour, 60 minutes, you will have used 100Wh. Leaving that same bulb on for 10 hours will yield 1000Wh or 1kWh. With only one light bulb glowing, it is a lot of energy when looking at the big picture.

Now let us explore the science behind why we are looking and exploring the concepts that we have developed.