BTU ratings on gas grills

Factual Questions
1

Are BTU ratings reasonably accurate for the purposes of comparing grills?

I am in the market for a new gas grill. My previous one was a Blue Ember model with 15,000 BTU burners. I am thinking about getting a more upscale Weberthis time, and as near as I can tell the main burners are 12,000 BTUs. One of the things I didn’t like about the Blue Ember is the direct heat isn’t quite as hot as I would like it, hard to sear meat properly. This could have been the result of having covers over the burners, causing the heat to be less direct than over open flame. But at any rate I wouldn’t want to go even lower.

2

It’s usually fairly easy to calculate the Btu/hr rating of a burner, but there are some factors which complicate things (such as the gas pressure from the tank, which will vary). The critical thing is choosing enough heat for your cooking area - a common rule of thumb is 100 Btu/hr per square inch of grill space. Distance to the burners, the insulation of the grill, and other items will also impact the efficiency. So it’s possible a 12,000 Btu/hr burner in the right grill will perform the same, or even outperform a 15,000 Btu/hr burner.