Metrication in the United States There are no U.S. customary units for electric current, potential difference, or charge since these concepts were developed after the international adoption of metric in science. The metric units ampere, volt, ohm and coulomb are the only units used. The SI term hertz has replaced the term "cycles per second" as a unit of frequency. Energy is often measured in watt hours, BTUs, therms or calories rather than the SI joule. Residential and commercial electrical energy use is metered and billed in kilowatt hours, kW·h, as in most metric countries. Force measurements regularly use the pound instead of the SI
Copper loss also referred to as "I squared R losses", in reference to Joule's First Law. This states that the energy lost each second, or power, increases as the square of the current through the windings and in proportion to the electrical resistance of the conductors. where I is the current flowing in the conductor and R the resistance of the conductor. With I in amperes and R in ohms, the calculated power loss is given in watts. Joule heating has a coefficient of performance of 1.0, meaning that every 1 watt of electrical power is converted to 1 Joule of heat.