Gasoline Energy Equivalents and Conversion Calculator

The energy in one gallon of gasoline equals:

• 124,000 Btu
• 36.3 kilowatt-hours (See the Soltrex Interactive Energy Calculator to relate kWh to other outputs.)
• 48.7 horsepower/hour
• 31,250 kilocalories
• 1.24 therms
• 124 cubic feet of natural gas
• 1.36 gallons of propane
• 12.4 lbs. of coal (depending on quality)
• 0.89 gallon of home heating or diesel oil
• 0.005 standard cord of firewood

Put in a value for any one element, and all the others will fall in line. Don't use commas.
(Thanks to www.unitconversion.org.)

kilowatt-hour [kW*h]:
watt-hour [W*h]:
horsepower hour [hp*h]:
kilocalorie (IT) [kcal (IT), kcal]:
Btu (IT) [Btu (IT), Btu]:
foot-pound [ft*lbf]:
therm:
fuel oil equivalent @barrel (US):

Examples of Moves You Can Make:

1. I just put an insulation blanket around my electric hot-water heater. Estimated electrical savings are 5 percent. At 4700 kWh per year, savings would be about 235 kWh. 235 kWh = 6.47 gallons of gasoline.

Here's the US DOE EERE Energy Cost Calculator for Electric and Gas Water Heaters.
Here's the US DOE EERE page, "Insulate Your Water Heater Tank for Energy Savings"

2. I'm carpooling to work with my neighbor two days a week. This saves me about three gallons of gas a week (and completely eliminates two person/days of pollution). Three gallons of gas per week - 3.72 therms (1.24 x 3). That would be 182 therms per year (49 weeks x 3.72) or 3 barrels of oil. Wouldn't it be helpful if a few million more people did that every day?

3. I walk to my friend's house now instead of driving. It's about a mile each way. If I do that twice a week for a year, it's 4 miles x 50 weeks = 200 miles / 25 miles per gallon = 8 gallons of gasoline, or 992,000 Btu, or 9.92 therms.

4. In the example above, those walks to the friend's house also burn about 120 kilocalories per round-trip (that's for a 150-lb person; see the Soltrex Interactive Energy Calculator for kilowatt-hours, which you can then convert onward). So 120 kilocalories x 2 trips per week x 50 per year = 12,000 kilocalories. That's less than half a gallon of gasoline -- no wonder we're so addicted to petrofuel. On the other hand, 12,000 calories is about 4 pounds of fat.

5. Here's a combination example. Instead of using a leaf blower to clean up my yard this year, I used a rake. I saved a quart of gas and oil, or 31,000 Btu (124,000 Btu / 4), and I burned about 700 calories in two hours.