Energy terms starting with B

194 terms

B.P. Before present year.
B20 A mixture of 20% biodiesel and 80% petroleum diesel based on volume.
Backdrafting The flow of air down a flue/chimney and into a house caused by low indoor air pressure that can occur when using several fans or fireplaces and/or if the…
Background level The average amount of a substance present in the environment. Originally referring to naturally occurring phenomena. Used in toxic substance monitoring.
Background level noise Noise in the environment (other than noise emanating from the source of interest).
Backup electricity, backup services Power or services needed occasionally; for example, when on-site generation equipment fails.
Backup Energy System A reserve appliance; for example, a stand-by generator for a home or commercial building.
Backup rate A utility charge for providing occasional electricity service to replace on-site generation.
Bacteria (bak-TEER-ee-uh) A large group of single-cell microorganisms. Some cause infections and disease in animals and humans.
Baffle A device, such as a steel plate, used to check, retard, or divert a flow of a material.
Baffle chamber In incinerator design, a chamber designed to settle fly ash and coarse particulate matter by changing the direction and reducing the velocity of the…
Bagasse The fibrous material remaining after the extraction of juice from sugarcane; often burned by sugar mills as a source of energy.
Baghouse An air pollution control device used to filter particulates from waste combustion gases; a chamber containing a bag filter.
Bajada A broad sloping deposit caused by the joining together of alluvial fans. These occur on the lower slopes of mountains and are often characterized by loose…
Balance Point An outdoor temperature, usually 20 to 45 degrees Fahrenheit, at which a heat pump's output equals the heating demand.
Balance-of-System In a renewable energy system, refers to all components other than the mechanism used to harvest the resource (such as photovoltaic panels or a wind…
Balancing The requirement imposed by electricity grids or natural gas pipelines that supply and demand be equal over a certain time period.
Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act This Act was originally enacted in 1940 as the Bald Eagle Protection Act to protect bald eagles and later amended to include golden eagles.
Baling A means of reducing the volume of a material by compaction into a bale.
Ballast A device used to control the voltage in a fluorescent lamp.
Ballast Efficacy Factor The measure of the efficiency of fluorescent lamp ballasts. It is the relative light output divided by the power input.
Ballast Factor The ratio of light output of a fluorescent lamp operated on a ballast to the light output of a lamp operated on a standard or reference ballast.
Band Gap In a semiconductor, the energy difference between the highest valence band and the lowest conduction band.
Band Gap Energy The amount of energy (in electron volts) required to free an outer shell electron from its orbit about the nucleus to a free state, and thus promote it…
Bar screen A screen made of parallel bars set 3/4" to 2" apart used to filter out large objects.
bark The outer protective layer of a tree including the inner bark and the outer bark.
barrel (of oil) A liquid measure equal to 42 U.S. gallons, or typically about 306 lb of oil. One barrel equals 5.6 ft3; for crude oil, one barrel contains about 5.
Barrel (petroleum) 42 U.S. gallons (306 pounds of oil, or 5.78 million Btu).
Barrel of oil equivalent A unit of energy equal to the amount of energy contained in a barrel of crude oil. Approximately 5.78 million Btu or 1,700 kWh.
Basal Metabolism The amount of heat given off by a person at rest in a comfortable environment; approximately 50 Btu per hour (Btu/h).
Basalt Volcanic rock (or lava), characteristically dark in color and containing 45 to 54% silica and generally rich in iron and magnesium (mafic composition).
base One of the components of nucleosides, nucleotides and nucleic acids . Four different bases are found in naturally occurring DNA - the purines A (adenine )…
Base camp A site occupied by several families or more on either a year round or a seasonal basis.
Base Power Power generated by a power generator that operates at a very high capacity factor.
Baseboard Radiator A type of radiant heating system where the radiator is located along an exterior wall where the wall meets the floor.
baseline An initial measurement that is taken at an early time point to represent a beginning condition, and is used for comparison over time to look for changes.
Baseload The minimum level of electric power demand of a utility, region, or utility customer delivered or required over a given period of time at a steady rate…
Baseload Capacity The power output of a power plant that can be continuously produced.
Baseload Demand The minimum demand experienced by a power plant.
Baseload Power Plant A power plant that is normally operated to generate a base load, and that usually operates at a constant load; examples include coal fired and nuclear…
Baseload Unit An electric power plant, or generating unit within a power plant, that is normally operated continuously to meet the base load of a utility.
Basement Any area of the building, including any sunken room or sunken portion of a room, having its floor below ground level (subgrade) on all sides.
Basement complex The suite of mostly crystalline igneous and/or metamorphic rocks that generally underlies the sedimentary rock sequence.
Basement rock The oldest rocks in a given area; a complex of metamorphic and igneous rocks that underlies the sedimentary deposits.
Basin : (1) A depression in the Earth's surface that collects sediment. (2) The area of land that drains to a particular river.
Basin-fill aquifer See Aquifer-basin fill
Basis Basis is the total cost of buying an investment or other asset, including the price, commissions, and other charges.
Basis Swaps Exchange of fixed price for a floating for a defined basis product (e.g. a Houston Ship Channel – HSC Swap at $1.
batch distillation A process in which the liquid feed is placed in a single container and the entire volume is heated.
batch fermentation See: batch culture.
Batch Heater This simple passive solar hot water system consists of one or more storage tanks placed in an insulated box that has a glazed side facing the sun.
Batch Process A process for carrying out a reaction in which the reactants are fed in discrete and successive charges.
Batt/Blanket A flexible roll or strip of insulating material in widths suited to standard spacings of building structural members (studs and joists).
Battery A beating or wrongful physical violence. The threat to use force is an "assault;" the actual use of force is a battery, which usually includes an assault.
Battery capacity The maximum total electrical charge, expressed in ampere-hours, which a battery can deliver to a load under a specific set of conditions.
Battery Energy Storage Energy storage using electrochemical batteries. The three main applications for battery energy storage systems include spinning reserve at generating…
Beadwall&##8482; A form of movable insulation that uses tiny polystyrene beads blown into the space between two window panes.
Beam Radiation Solar radiation that is not scattered by dust or water droplets.
Bearing Wall A wall that carries ceiling rafters or roof trusses.
Bedrock General term referring to the solid rock or ledge underlying other unconsolidated material, i.e., soil, loose gravel, etc.
beer A fermented broth that consists of water, ethanol, and small amounts of ether and assorted alcohols.
Bench The seat occupied by the judge. More broadly, the court itself.
Beneficial use of water A use of water resulting in appreciable gain or benefit to the user, consistent with state law, which varies from one state to another.
Benefits Charge The addition of a per unit tax on sales of electricity, with the revenue generated used for or to encourage investments in energy efficiency measures…
Benthic Occurring at or near the bottom of a body of water.
benzene A chemical that is used widely by the chemical industry, and is also found in tobacco smoke, vehicle emissions, and gasoline fumes.
Best available control measures The most effective measures for controlling small or dispersed particulates from sources such as soot and ash from woodstoves and open burning of brush…
Best available control technology (BACT) That combination of production processes, methods, systems, and techniques that will result in the lowest achievable level of emissions of air pollutants…
Best Management Practice (BMP) A practice or combination of practices that are determined to provide the most effective, environmentally sound, and economically feasible means of…
Best management practices (BMP) A practice or combination of practices that a designated agency determines to be the most effective, practical means of reducing the amount of pollution…
Bid-ask differential, or spread The difference in price between what a buyer offers to pay for a commodity and what a seller offers to accept for a commodity, sometimes referred to as…
Biface A stone tool that has been flaked on both sides.
Big game Those species of large mammals normally managed as a sport-hunting resource.
Bilateral transaction A direct contract between a seller and buyer outside of a centralized market or exchange (e.g. Nymex or an RTO/ISO).
Billing credit In the Pacific Northwest, a payment by the Bonneville Power Administration to a wholesale customer for actions taken by that customer to reduce BPA´s…
Bimetal Two metals of different coefficients of expansion welded together so that the piece will bend in one direction when heated, and in the other when cooled…
Bin Method A method of predicting heating and/or cooling loads using instantaneous load calculation at different outdoor dry-bulb temperatures, and multiplying the…
Binary Cycle Combination of two power plant turbine cycles utilizing two different working fluids for power production.
Binary Cycle Geothermal Plants Binary cycle systems can be used with liquids at temperatures less than 350 F (177 C).
Bioaccumulants Substances in contaminated air, water, or food that increase in concentration in living organisms exposed to them because the substances are very slowly…
Bioaccumulation See bioconcentration.
Bioassay A study of a living organism to measure the effect of a substance, factor, or condition.
Biochemical Chemical reactions in living organisms.
Biochemical Conversion Using enzymes and catalysts to change biological substances chemically to produce energy products.
Biochemical conversion process The use of living organisms or their products to convert organic material to fuels, chemicals or other products.
Biochemical Oxygen Demand The weight of oxygen taken up mainly as a result of the oxidation of the constituents of a sample of water by biological action; expressed as the number…
Biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) A standard means of estimating the degree of water pollution, especially of water bodies that receive contamination from sewage and industrial waste.
Bioconcentration (Bioaccumulation) The accumulation of a chemical in tissues of an organism to levels greater than in the environment in which the organism lives.
bioconversion Conversion of one chemical into another by living organisms, as opposed to their conversion by isolated enzymes or fixed cells, or by chemical processes.
Biodegradable Capable of being biodegraded.
Biodiesel Biodiesel is diesel fuel combined with a certain percentage of vegetable oil. B5 refers to a blend of diesel with 5% vegetable oil.
Biodiversity The wide diversity and interrelatedness of earth organisms based on genetic and environmental factors.
Bioenergy The conversion of the complex carbohydrates in organic material into energy.
Biofuels Fuels made from biomass. Biofuels include ethanol, biodiesel and methanol.
Biogas A mixture of methane and carbon dioxide resulting from the anaerobic decomposition of waste such as domestic, industrial and agricultural sewage.
Biogasification or biomethanization The process of decomposing biomass with anaerobic bacteria to produce biogas.
Biogenic source (emissions) Biological sources such as plants and animals that emit air pollutants such as volatile organic compounds.
Biological assessment A specific process required as part of an environmental assessment. An evaluation of potential effects of a proposed project on proposed, endangered…
Biological magnification The process by which substances such as pesticides or heavy metals become concentrated as they move up the food chain.
Biological oxidation Decomposition of organic materials by microorganisms.