Q-My wife and I were looking at a portable space heater in a store recently and became confused by the wide-ranging British thermal unit ratings on different equipment. What does BTU mean?
A-British thermal units provide an excellent way for consumers to make meaningful comparisons of energy performance. Looking at the BTU output of a heater will give you a measure of how much heat it will produce. A BTU is a precise measure of energy. It is best defined as the amount of energy needed to raise the temperature of 1 pound of water 1 degree Fahrenheit.
Consider these energy equivalents from the U.S. Department of Energy: 1,000 BTUs equal the energy from one hour of bicycling, one average candy bar, two 5-ounce glasses of table wine or four-fifths of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. You can see that talking about one BTU doesn’t mean very much, since it takes quite a few BTUs to get measurable energy.
In a recent year, the average single-family household in the United States consumed about 101 million BTUs of energy. When you consider the energy use of an entire country, experts often talk about billions, trillions and even quadrillions of BTUs. The U.S., for example, uses a little more than 81 quads of energy per year, which translates to 81 quadrillion BTUs of energy.
Each quadrillion BTUs is equal to about 470,000 barrels of oil every day for one year. So that’s what a BTU is. For practical purposes, even if you don’t fully understand how much heat a certain number of BTUs is, you can use the output figures of the heater to give you a point for comparison with other heaters. You obviously will get more heat from a system that puts out more BTUs. Your job is to read the sales literature and determine how many BTUs you need to heat a given area; then calculate the various prices of the systems to see what is most cost-effective for your needs.
Asbestos patrol
Q-I still see stories in the newspaper about asbestos problems in buildings. In fact, a school in our town was closed most of last year while the asbestos was removed. How can I be sure there is no asbestos in my house?
A-Unless your house was built in the last few years, the odds are good that you have some asbestos. Asbestos is a mineral fiber that was used widely in duct insulation and in materials used to insulate furnaces in houses built before 1978. It also often is found in older homes in ceiling and floor coverings, acoustic tile and in many common building materials used throughout the house.
Experts generally say that asbestos won’t cause any health problems unless it is disturbed. In other words, unless you’re planning to remodel your house or put holes in your walls, floors or ceilings, you don’t need to worry about asbestos problems. But if you’re going to be doing some work, you need to take precautions against stirring up the fibers and getting asbestos into the air.
