With a nod to Abbott and Costello: it’s an international system of units of measurement, derived from the metric system. 😀

Apparently btuh would measure angular momentum. 🙂 I sometimes have to reassure myself that kWh/day is just a measure of (usually average) power.

Watt is SI.

I fully support teaching SI at all educational levels, but not at the expense of IP units. We need both. Our industry uses both, especially, those of us that serve global markets. As for “watts”, that is an IP unit for electricity, it just isn’t used for thermal power.

This is somewhat analogous to schools that quit teaching cursive writing as being outdated. Many schools have regretted that decision and are now putting cursive back in the curriculum.

Well, K-12 schools, at least around Southeast, have been trying hard to introduce SI units. The dinosaur in the room seems to be the industry. Change is hard.

And yet, for some reason, as Allison already mentioned, we’ve been calling light bulbs in Watts! This SI/IP cacophony is quite unique to the US.

Would I kid about a thing like this 😉
But seriously, IP units (Inch-Pounds, even the English abandoned them, so we had to rename them) are a fact of life in the U.S., especially in our industry. Almost all engineering schools only teach SI and completely ignore IP. They seem to think that they can help accelerate the transition by doing this, but really it is just laziness. SI units are easier to use and teach. I taught engineering for quite a few years at a major university and all of my classes were dual units. The students didn’t like it, but at least they were better prepared for jobs in the U.S. I have been in industry for quite few more years, and am disappointed that I have to hire new graduates who don’t understand our measurement system.

Superiority of English units? You’re kidding, right?