Power measures the rate at which energy is transferred, converted, or used. From the watts rating on your light bulbs to the horsepower of your car engine, power helps us understand how quickly work can be done. Our converter handles electrical units (watts, kilowatts), mechanical units (horsepower), and thermal units (BTU/hour).
The concept of power emerged during the Industrial Revolution when James Watt needed to compare his steam engines to horses. He coined 'horsepower' as a marketing term around 1782, estimating a horse could do 33,000 foot-pounds of work per minute. The watt was later named in his honor and became the SI unit of power.
Multiply mechanical horsepower by 0.7457 to get kilowatts.
Example: 200 hp × 0.7457 = 149.14 kW
Multiply kilowatts by 1.341 to get mechanical horsepower.
Example: 100 kW × 1.341 = 134.1 hp
Multiply BTU per hour by 0.293 to get watts.
Example: 10,000 BTU/h × 0.293 = 2,930 W
Watts and joules per second are equivalent (1 W = 1 J/s).
Example: 500 W = 500 J/s
A typical modern car engine produces around 150-200 horsepower.
An LED bulb producing the same light as a 60W incandescent uses only about 9 watts.
A 12,000 BTU/hour window AC unit is common for cooling a single room.
A large nuclear reactor can produce about 1,000 megawatts of electrical power.
A resting human body produces about 80-100 watts of heat energy.
A Tesla Model S Performance has a peak power output of about 670 horsepower.
| 1 W = 3.412141285851795 Btu/h | 1 watts equals 3.412141285851795 Btu-hour | 1 * 3.412141285851795 = X Btu/h |
| 1 W = 0.05686901819677783 Btu/min | 1 watts equals 0.05686901819677783 Btu-minute | 1 * 0.05686901819677783 = X Btu/min |
| 1 W = 0.0009478169879134378 Btu/s | 1 watts equals 0.0009478169879134378 Btu-second | 1 * 0.0009478169879134378 = X Btu/s |
| 1 W = 860.4206500956025 cal(th)/h | 1 watts equals 860.4206500956025 calories(th)-hour | 1 * 860.4206500956025 = X cal(th)/h |
| 1 W = 14.340344168260039 cal(th)/min | 1 watts equals 14.340344168260039 calories(th)-minute | 1 * 14.340344168260039 = X cal(th)/min |
| 1 W = 0.2390057361376673 cal(th)/s | 1 watts equals 0.2390057361376673 calories(th)-second | 1 * 0.2390057361376673 = X cal(th)/s |
| 1 W = 44.25366199052972 ft lbf/min | 1 watts equals 44.25366199052972 foot pounds-force-minute | 1 * 44.25366199052972 = X ft lbf/min |
| 1 W = 0.7375610331754953 ft lbf/s | 1 watts equals 0.7375610331754953 foot pounds-force-second | 1 * 0.7375610331754953 = X ft lbf/s |
| 1 W = 1e-9 GW | 1 watts equals 1e-9 gigawatts | 1 * 1e-9 = X GW |
| 1 W = 0.0013404825737265416 hp (electric) | 1 watts equals 0.0013404825737265416 horsepowers (electric) | 1 * 0.0013404825737265416 = X hp (electric) |
| 1 W = 0.0013410220895950279 hp (international) | 1 watts equals 0.0013410220895950279 horsepowers (international) | 1 * 0.0013410220895950279 = X hp (international) |
| 1 W = 0.0013404053117581694 hp (water) | 1 watts equals 0.0013404053117581694 horsepowers (water) | 1 * 0.0013404053117581694 = X hp (water) |
| 1 W = 0.0013596215248753635 hp (metric) | 1 watts equals 0.0013596215248753635 horsepowers (metric) | 1 * 0.0013596215248753635 = X hp (metric) |
| 1 W = 3600 J/h | 1 watts equals 3600 joules-hour | 1 * 3600 = X J/h |
| 1 W = 60 J/min | 1 watts equals 60 joules-minute | 1 * 60 = X J/min |
| 1 W = 1 J/s | 1 watts equals 1 joules-second | 1 * 1 = X J/s |
| 1 W = 0.8604206500956023 kcal(th)/h | 1 watts equals 0.8604206500956023 kilocalories(th)-hour | 1 * 0.8604206500956023 = X kcal(th)/h |
| 1 W = 0.014340344168260038 kcal(th)/min | 1 watts equals 0.014340344168260038 kilocalories(th)-minute | 1 * 0.014340344168260038 = X kcal(th)/min |
| 1 W = 367.1071953010279 kgf m/h | 1 watts equals 367.1071953010279 kilogram-force meters-hour | 1 * 367.1071953010279 = X kgf m/h |
| 1 W = 6.118303516800861 kgf m/min | 1 watts equals 6.118303516800861 kilogram-force meters-minute | 1 * 6.118303516800861 = X kgf m/min |
| 1 W = 0.001 kW | 1 watts equals 0.001 kilowatts | 1 * 0.001 = X kW |
| 1 W = 0.000001 MW | 1 watts equals 0.000001 megawatts | 1 * 0.000001 = X MW |
| 1 W = 1e-12 TW | 1 watts equals 1e-12 terawatts | 1 * 1e-12 = X TW |
| 1 W = 0.00028434512332474514 TR | 1 watts equals 0.00028434512332474514 ton of refrigeration | 1 * 0.00028434512332474514 = X TR |
| 1 W = 1e-15 PW | 1 watts equals 1e-15 petawatts | 1 * 1e-15 = X PW |