11. Lakhs, Crores and Other Enumeration Terms, with Standard Conversions

Ar—[Japan.] An archaic unit of measurement; none of my interpreters could define it.

Celsius to Fahrenheit—(9∕5° C + 32)

Crore—[Southeast Asia.] 107 [= 10 million].

Division nomenclature:

X per Y [for example, miles per gallon, or milligrams emitted per liter combusted] = X/Y = X Y−1 [as in: “It has been reported that 20 to 100 Tg y−1 of CH4 is emitted from paddy fields”].

Exa—1018 [= 1 quintillion]. One exajoule [EJ] = 1018 joules = 0.9481 quadrillion BTUs = 0.948 quads (see here).

Fahrenheit to Celsius—5∕9 (F°−32)

Foot = 0.3048 meters

1 square foot = 0.092903 square meters

1 BTU per minute per square foot = 189.226 watts/m2

1 cubic foot = 0.0283166 cubic meters

Gallon to liter:

1 U.S. gallon = 0.83 Imperial gallons = 3.78 liters. All of these measures were commonly used for fuel. But only U.S. gallons were employed in this book.

Giga—109 [= 1 billion].

1 gigagram (Gg) = 1 metric kiloton (kt or KT) = 1,000 metric tons = 2,204,600 lbs

Gram:

1 g = 0.000001 metric ton = 1/453.59 lb

Hectare—10,000 square meters = 2.47 acres

Kilo—103 [= 1,000].

Kilogram—103 grams, or 2.2046 pounds.

This holds for gases as well as for liquids. Methane’s density of 0.716 grams per liter, or 0.000716 kilograms per liter, thus works out to 0.00597502 pounds per gallon.

Lakh—[Southeast Asia.] 105 [= 100,000].

Liter to gallon:

1 liter = 0.265 U.S. gallon = 0.220 Imperial gallons

Maund—82.6 pounds [in the former British Indian Empire. In other parts of Southeast Asia—not relevant to this volume—it can be less].

Mega—106 [= 1 million].

1 megagram (Mg) = 1 metric ton [q.v.]

1 metric megaton [MT] = 2,204,620,000 lbs

Meter = 3.28 feet.

1 square meter = 10.758 square feet

1 watt/m2 = 0.00528469 BTUs/min/ft2

1 cubic meter = 35.315 cubic feet = 6.289 barrels [of oil and other such fuels].

1 barrel = 42 U.S. gallons = 159 liters

Micro—10−6 [= 1 millionth], as in “microsievert,” a millionth of a Sv.

Milli—10−3 [= 1 thousandth], as in “millisievert,” a thousandth of a Sv.

Peta—1015 [= 1 quadrillion]. 1015 BTUs is a quad, or 1 Q-BTU.

1 petagram = 1 Pg = 1 quadrillion grams = 2.2 × 1012 pounds. [Pg are common units in national and global greenhouse inventories.]

One petajoule [PJ] = 1015 [= 1 quadrillion] joules = 9.481 × 1011 BTUs = 0.000948 quads (see here).

Pound = 453.59 grams.

1 lb/cu ft = 0.0160 g/cm2

[Pressure conversion: 1 psi = 0.00689457 mPa]

1 lb/gal = 119.8264 kg/m3 = 0.1198264 kg/liter, “since there are 1,000 liters in 1 m3.”

Tera—1012 [= 1 trillion]. 1,000,000,000,000.

1 teragram = 1 Tg = 1.0 × 1012 grams = 1 million metric tons. [Tg and million metric tons are often used to detail greenhouse gas emissions.]

1 Tg = 1,102,311 short tons = 2.2 × 109 pounds.

1 terawatt [TW] = 56,884,000,000 [56.9 billion] BTUs/min.

Ton—There are three kinds. [The word “tonne” usually refers to a metric ton but may sometimes mean “long ton.”]

Short ton—2,000 lbs = 0.907 metric tonnes.

Metric ton—1,000 kg or 2,204.6 lbs = 0.985 long ton = 1.1023 short ton.

1 kg/metric ton [often seen in expressions of emission factors] = 1 pound per thousand pounds, a ratio of 0.001

1 metric ton per terajoule [another typical expression of emission factor] = 1 pound per 430,955 BTUs

1 g = 0.000001 metric ton

Long ton—2,240 lbs = 1.0158 metric tons = 1.12 short tons.

Tsubo—[Japan.] First referring to a little enclosed garden, this word came to mean the area occupied by two ordinary tatami mats side by side: 3.306 square meters.

Years to minutes—To estimate the power required per minute to make possible a year’s energy consumption, divide the latter by 525,600. For example, consumption of 1 exajoule per year requires [948,000,000,000,000 / 525,600] = 1,803,652,968 BTUs per minute.

Years to seconds—Divide by 31,536,000 [see previous entry].