anyone know how many BTUs there are...

[grasswire]

...in a "unit" of natural gas?

I'm trying to figure out how much it costs per hour to use a burner on a gas range. A gas burner uses 9,000 BTU per hour. But my gas company bills in "units" that aren't BTUs.

I'm wondering if the whole face of frugal cooking isn't going to change with rising costs of energy. Used to be that a cheap meal would be beans that had cooked all day on the stove. It won't be that way from now on. Quick cooking will save energy costs. Stir fried chicken might be more economical than barley soup.

Someone oughta do a cookbook right now, 'cause people are going to need to revamp their whole approach to frugality in the kitchen. We'll be eating food that doesn't require much transportation, too.

Does that mean giving up bananas and oranges?

[amerikat]

1. btu's

http://www.exothink.com/Pages/btu.html

[grasswire]

2. thanks.....but it still doesn't define a "unit" of natural gas

I guess I'll phone the company next week.

[amerikat]

3. natural gas is billed to the end user in 1000 cu.ft increments

usually. Maybe a unit is 1000 cu.ft?

[grasswire]

4. good hint....that may be it. Thanks. (eom)

[grasswire]

5. oh but wait....

....but if my bill for the month is $93, that means I've used 93,000 cubic feet of btus. And if my range uses 9,000 btus for a burner for an hour, that doesn't make sense.

[A HERETIC I AM]

6. Your range doesn't USE 9000 BTU's....it PRODUCES them...

A "British Thermal Unit" is a way of measuring energy, as the above poster's link says "The amount of heat required to raise the temperature of one pound of water one degree."
It doesn't put out 9,000 BTU's all the time, either. If it is set to low, it is producing much less but your stoves capacity is nine thousand British Thermal Units.

You don't use "cubic feet of BTU's"
You use cubic feet of natural gas (or Propane, as the case may be) and those cubic feet are converted to BTU's by your stove, Dryer, Furnace, etc.