Energy terms starting with B

194 terms

101. Biological soil crusts Commonly found in semiarid and arid environments, biological soil crusts are formed by living organisms and their by-products, creating a crust of soil…
102. Biomass The aggregate amount of living matter or a specific species within a specific habitat, or the total number of a specific species in a specific habitat.
103. Biomass energy Energy produced by the conversion of biomass directly to heat or to a liquid or gas that can be converted to energy.
104. Biomass Fuel Biomass converted directly to energy or converted to liquid or gaseous fuels such as ethanol, methanol, methane, and hydrogen.
105. Biomass Gasification The conversion of biomass into a gas, by biogasification (see above) or thermal gasification, in which hydrogen is produced from high-temperature…
106. biomass processing residues Byproducts from processing all forms of biomass that have significant energy potential.
107. Biome A major ecological community or complex of communities, extending over a large geographical area and characterized by a dominant type of vegetation.
108. Biophotolysis The action of light on a biological system that results in the dissociation of a substrate, usually water, to produce hydrogen.
109. Bioremediation The use of microorganisms to remedy environmental problems. See Bioaugmentation, Bioenrichment.
110. Bioretention System The bioretention system (also referred to as a "rain garden" or a "biofilter") is a stormwater management practice to manage and treat stormwater runoff…
111. Biosphere The part of the earth and its atmosphere that is inhabited by living organisms.
112. Biota The animal and plant life of a region or period.
113. Biotechnology The scientific manipulation of living organ- isms, especially at the molecular genetic level, to produce useful products.
114. Biotic Pertaining to life or living organisms.
115. Biotic community A naturally occurring, interdependent community of plants and animals that live in the same environment.
116. Blackbody An ideal substance that absorbs all radiation falling on it, and reflecting nothing.
117. Blender Pump A fuel dispenser that draws fuel from two separate storage tanks and can dispense preprogrammed blends of those two fuels.
118. Blight Physical and economic conditions within an area that cause a reduction of or lack of proper utilization of that area.
119. BLM The Bureau of Land Management.
120. BLM land Land administered by the Bureau of Land Management.
121. block A repetition/replication of the Early, Mid and Late Seral Treatment plots and a Control plot. See Repetition/replication.
122. Block Group (BG) A cluster of census blocks having the same first digit of their four-digit identifying numbers within a census tract.
123. Block-faulted (mountains) Landforms formed by the movement (uplift and tilting) of large crustal blocks during an extensional episode.
124. Blowdown Periodic removal of water from an evaporative cooling system (also known as a wet closed-cycle cooling system) to control the buildup of impurities and…
125. Blowdown waste See Blowdown
126. Blowdown water See Blowdown
127. Blower The device in an air conditioner that distributes the filtered air from the return duct over the cooling coil/heat exchanger.
128. Blower Door A device used by energy auditors to pressurize a building to locate places of air leakage and energy loss.
129. Blown In Insulation (see also Loose Fill) An insulation product composed of loose fibers or fiber pellets that are blown into building cavities or attics using special pneumatic equipment.
130. Blowout A wind-eroded section of a sand dune caused by a disturbance or removal of the vegetation.
131. BMP A Windows file format for storing bit map images.
132. Board feet (BF) Unit of measure for logs and lumber. One board foot is equivalent to a piece of wood 1 inch thick, 12 inches wide, and 12 inches long.
133. BOD5 The amount of dissolved oxygen consumed in five days by biological processes breaking down organic matter. See biochemical oxygen demand.
134. Boiler A vessel or tank where heat produced from the combustion of fuels such as natural gas, fuel oil, or coal is used to generate hot water or steam for…
135. Boiler Feedwater The water that is forced into a boiler to take the place of that which is evaporated in the generation of steam.
136. Boiler Horsepower A unit of rate of water evaporation equal to the evaporation per hour of 34.5 pounds of water at a temperature of 212 degrees Fahrenheit into steam at 212…
137. Boiler Pressure The pressure of the steam or water in a boiler as measured; usually expressed in pounds per square inch gauge (psig).
138. Boiler Rating The heating capacity of a steam boiler; expressed in Btu per hour (Btu/h), or horsepower, or pounds of steam per hour.
139. Bolson (floor) A term applied to an internally drained (closed) intermontane basin in arid regions where drainages from adjacent mountains converge toward a central…
140. Bone (Oven) Dry In reference to solid biomass fuels, such as wood, having zero moisture content.
141. Bone dry Having zero percent moisture content. Wood heated in an oven at a constant temperature of 212 degrees F or above until its weight stabilizes is considered…
142. Bone dry ton (or "oven dry ton"). An amount of wood that weighs 2,000 pounds at zero percent moisture content.
143. Bone Dry Unit A quantity of (solid) biomass fuel equal to 2,400 pounds bone dry.
144. Bone dry unit (BDU) A quantity of wood residue which weighs 2,400 pounds at zero percent moisture content.
145. Booster Pump A pump for circulating the heat transfer fluid in a hydronic heating system.
146. Boot To start up or reset a computer.
147. Boreal Living in and adapted for living in the extreme northern areas of the world. This area is located just below tundra conditions.
148. Boron The chemical element commonly used as the dopant in solar photovoltaic device or cell material.
149. Borrow material Material such as soil or sand that is removed from one location and used as fill material in another location.
150. Borrow pit A pit or excavation area used for gathering earth materials (borrow) such as sand or gravel.
151. Bottled Gas A generic term for liquefied and pressurized gas, ordinarily butane, propane, or a mixture of the two, contained in a cylinder for domestic use.
152. Bottom ash Noncombustible ash that is left after solid fuel has been burned.
153. Bottoming cycle A means to increase the thermal efficiency of a steam electric generating system by converting some waste heat from the condenser into electricity.
154. Braided streams Braided streams have multiple channels that are interlaced in a braided pattern, with very low stream gradient (<0.
155. Brayton Cycle A thermodynamic cycle using constant pressure, heat addition and rejection, representing the idealized behavior of the working fluid in a gas turbine type…
156. Bread Box System 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.
157. Breccia A sedimentary rock formed of coarse-grained material consisting of sharp fragments embedded in clay or sand.
158. Brine Water saturated or strongly impregnated with salt.
159. British thermal unit (Btu) The amount of heat required to raise the temperature of one pound of water one degree Fahrenheit; equal to 252 calories.
160. Broadband noise Noise that has a continuous spectrum, that is, energy is present over a wide range of frequencies.
161. Broadcast burn Controlled fire over the entire surface of a designated area.
162. Broker An agent who handles the public's orders to buy and sell securities, commodities or other property. A commission is generally charged for this service.
163. Brownfields Sites that are underutilized or not in active use, on land that is either contaminated or perceived as contaminated.
164. Browse Twigs, leaves, and young shoots of trees and shrubs that animals eat.
165. Bryophytes Plants of the phylum Bryophyta, including mosses, liverworts and hornworts, characterized by the lack of true roots, stems and leaves.
166. Bryozoan Aquatic colonial animals with branching, mossy or fan-like growth. They resemble corals but have more complex nervous, muscular, and digestive systems.
167. Buck To cut a log into smaller portions.
168. Buffer Zone A strip of land created to separate and protect one type of land use from another; for example, as a screen of planting or fencing to insulate the…
169. Build out The estimated extent of residential, commercial, and industrial development in a given geographic area; usually related to the upper limit of the…
170. Build-out capacity The maximum total percentage of development in a watershed; typically determined assuming current zoning holds indefinitely into the future.
171. Building Energy Ratio The space-conditioning load of a building.
172. Building Envelope The structural elements (walls, roof, floor, foundation) of a building that encloses conditioned space; the building shell.
173. Building Heat-Loss Factor A measure of the heating requirements of a building expressed in Btu per degree-day.
174. Building Orientation The relationship of a building to true south, as specified by the direction of its longest axis.
175. Building Overall Energy Loss Coefficient-Area Product The factor, when multiplied by the monthly degree-days, that yields the monthly space heating load.
176. Building Overall Heat Loss Rate The overall rate of heat loss from a building by means of transmission plus infiltration, expressed in Btu per hour, per degree temperature difference…
177. Built Environment The urban environment consisting of buildings, roads, fixtures, parks, and all other improvements that form the physical character of a city.
178. Bulb The transparent or opaque sphere in an electric light that the electric light transmits through.
179. Bulb Turbine A type of hydro turbine in which the entire generator is mounted inside the water passageway as an integral unit with the turbine.
180. Bulk Density The weight of a material per unit of volume compared to the weight of the same volume of water.
181. Bunchgrass A grass having a bunched growth form and lacking rhizomes.
182. Bureau of Land Management An agency of the U.S. Department of the Interior that is responsible for managing public lands.
183. Burner Capacity The maximum heat output (in Btu per hour) released by a burner with a stable flame and satisfactory combustion.
184. Burning Point The temperature at which a material ignites.
185. Burrow A hole made by an animal, usually for shelter or to move through by digging.
186. Bus A parallel circuit that connects the major components of a computer, allowing the transfer of electric impulses from one connected component to any other.
187. Bus (electrical) An electrical conductor that serves as a common connection for two or more electrical circuits; may be in the form of rigid bars or stranded conductors or…
188. Busbar The power conduit of an electric power plant; the starting point of the electric transmission system.
189. Busbar Cost The cost of producing electricity up to the point of the power plant busbar.
190. Butane A gas derived from natural gas. Used as a component of gasoline. Used in liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) for domestic and industrial applications.
191. Butanol or butyl alcohol An alcohol with the chemical formula CH3(CH2)3OH. It is formed during anaerobic fermentation using bacteria to convert the sugars to butanol and carbon…
192. Butt log The log taken from the base of a tree; often slightly irregular.
193. by-product Material, other than the principal product, generated as a consequence of an industrial process or as a breakdown product in a living system.
194. bypass A surgical procedure in which the doctor creates a new pathway for the flow of body fluids.