Convert Gigawatts to Ergs per Second
Convert Gigawatts (GW) to Ergs per Second (erg/s) instantly and accurately.
Conversion Formula
erg/s = GW × 1.000000000e+16
About Gigawatts
A gigawatt (GW) is 10⁹ W - the scale of national grid capacity. UK peak demand is 40-70 GW; France 80-100 GW. Japan's Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear complex totals 8.2 GW. World installed solar PV surpassed 1,000 GW in 2022. The North Sea Link Norway-UK undersea cable carries 1.4 GW. Global data centre consumption exceeds 200 GW. A lightning bolt peaks at ~1 GW for ~30 µs, yielding only ~250 kJ total energy - power is extreme, energy modest. 1 GW = 10⁹ W.
About Ergs per Second
An erg per second (erg/s) is the CGS unit of power - exactly 10⁻⁷ W. Despite SI adoption, erg/s persists in astrophysics: the Sun's total luminosity is 3.828 × 10³³ erg/s; a peak supernova radiates ~10⁴³ erg/s - more power than the Sun emits over its 10-billion-year lifetime. X-ray binaries, active galactic nuclei, and neutron star accretion rates are catalogued in erg/s across decades of archival literature. 1 erg/s = 10⁻⁷ W.
Quick Reference Table
| Gigawatts (GW) | Ergs per Second (erg/s) |
|---|---|
| 1 GW | 1 × 1016 erg/s |
| 2 GW | 2 × 1016 erg/s |
| 5 GW | 5 × 1016 erg/s |
| 10 GW | 1 × 1017 erg/s |
| 25 GW | 2.5 × 1017 erg/s |
| 50 GW | 5 × 1017 erg/s |
| 100 GW | 1 × 1018 erg/s |