What is gigawatt?
A gigawatt is a unit of power equal to one billion watts. It is used to express the total power output of national electricity grids, large power stations, and national energy policy targets.
Real-world uses
Gigawatts describe the generating capacity of entire national grids, large hydroelectric dams (Three Gorges Dam: ~22.5 GW), and the total installed solar or wind capacity of countries. Global electricity demand is often expressed in terawatts (1,000 GW). Energy policy discussions use GW to compare national ambitions.
History
Gigawatts entered common use in discussions of national and continental electricity systems during the 20th century. As installed generation capacity in large countries reached the gigawatt scale, this unit became standard for energy policy, grid planning, and international energy statistics.
Common mistakes
Confusing GW (power) with GWh (energy). A 22 GW dam running at full capacity for one hour generates 22 GWh of energy. Also, the pop-culture reference "1.21 gigawatts" from Back to the Future is frequently cited but would equal about 1,210 MW—a large power plant.
What is ton of refrigeration?
A ton of refrigeration is a power unit measuring the heat removal capacity of cooling systems, equal to 12,000 BTU per hour. It is the standard capacity rating for commercial and industrial air conditioning units in the United States.
Real-world uses
The ton of refrigeration (TR) is used for rating commercial and industrial cooling systems, chillers, and large-scale HVAC equipment. A small commercial building might need a 20–100 TR chiller. Data centres measure cooling capacity in TR. One TR = 12,000 BTU/h = approximately 3.517 kW.
History
The ton of refrigeration originated in the 19th century ice trade, when mechanical refrigeration systems were judged by their ability to replace ice delivery. One ton was defined as the cooling equivalent of melting one ton of ice per day. As mechanical refrigeration displaced natural ice by the early 20th century, TR became a standard industrial cooling unit.
Common mistakes
Confusing refrigeration tons with metric tons of mass—they are completely unrelated. Also, the "ton" in TR originated from the cooling power needed to melt one short ton (2,000 lb) of ice in 24 hours, not from any mass being cooled.
When is this conversion used?
Converting between gigawatt and ton of refrigeration is common when working across metric and imperial systems, such as international trade, travel between countries with different measurement standards, or following instructions from a different region.
Worked examples
1 gigawatt = 284,345.13626109 ton of refrigeration
1 ton of refrigeration = 3,516.85284 watt
How to convert gigawatt to ton of refrigeration
To convert gigawatt to ton of refrigeration, multiply the value by 284,345.13626109.
To convert ton of refrigeration back to gigawatt, multiply by 0.00000352.
Measurement standards
The watt is the SI derived unit of power, defined as one joule per second (kg·m²/s³). Horsepower remains in widespread informal use, particularly in the automotive industry, but has no single universal definition across regions.
Did you know?
The human body at rest produces about 80 watts of power — roughly enough to keep an incandescent light bulb glowing. During intense exercise, a trained cyclist can sustain over 400 watts, and elite sprinters briefly exceed 2,000 watts.
Quick reference: gigawatt to ton of refrigeration
| gigawatt | ton of refrigeration |
|---|---|
| 0.1 | 28,434.51362611 |
| 0.5 | 142,172.56813054 |
| 1 | 284,345.13626109 |
| 2 | 568,690.27252218 |
| 5 | 1,421,725.68130545 |
| 10 | 2,843,451.3626109 |
| 25 | 7,108,628.40652724 |
| 50 | 14,217,256.81305448 |
| 100 | 28,434,513.62610896 |
| 250 | 71,086,284.06527241 |
| 500 | 142,172,568.13054481 |
| 1,000 | 284,345,136.26108962 |
Common values
| gigawatt | ton of refrigeration | |
|---|---|---|
| LED light bulb | 1.000000e-08 gigawatt | 0.00284345 ton of refrigeration |
| Desktop computer | 3.000000e-07 gigawatt | 0.08530354 ton of refrigeration |
| Microwave oven | 0.000001 gigawatt | 0.28434514 ton of refrigeration |
| Small car engine | 0.000075 gigawatt | 21.32588522 ton of refrigeration |
| Wind turbine (large) | 0.003 gigawatt | 853.03540878 ton of refrigeration |
Available Power units
More gigawatt conversions
- Convert gigawatt to watt
- Convert gigawatt to kilowatt
- Convert gigawatt to horsepower (mechanical)
- Convert gigawatt to megawatt
- Convert gigawatt to milliwatt
- Convert gigawatt to microwatt
- Convert gigawatt to BTU per hour
- Convert gigawatt to kilocalorie per hour
- Convert gigawatt to ton of refrigeration
Assumption: horsepower values use mechanical horsepower.