[USMA:36009] Kilowatts of heat?

[Remek Kocz]

Recently in my workplace the heat output of computer equipment racks was measured by a representative from APC.  I was surprised that the guy used kilowatts to calculate the final figure.  Usually BTU's would have been used, especially if he had to talk to the HVAC people.  He did mention that he'd convert to and from BTU's if needed, especially that rack modelling software typically gives the heat in these units.

I know that joules are used to indicate heat output, but is it also acceptable metric (I'm not even asking about SI) usage to measure heat in kilowatts?

Remek