Gigawatt
|
The gigawatt (symbol: GW) is a unit for measuring power corresponding to one billion (109) watts.
One gigawatt is 1000 megawatts (MW). One megawatt can power about 300 to 400 average American homes. One GW could power 300,000 to 400,000 homes.
In pop culture
The 1985 movie Back to the Future featured a time machine which required 1.21 gigawatts of electricity to operate. In the movie the word was pronounced with the correct but now rare "jigawatts".