Energy — page 12 of 33

Energy terms

1101. Ephemeral stream A stream that flows only after a storm or during snowmelt and whose channel is, at all times, above the water table; groundwater is not a source of water…
1102. Epitaxial Growth In reference to solar photovoltaic devices, the growth of one crystal on the surface of another crystal.
1103. Equinox The two times of the year when the sun crosses the equator and night and day are of equal length; usually occurs on March 21st (spring equinox) and…
1104. Equity financing Provision of capital through the sale of common or preferred stock to investors.
1105. ERG A unit of work done by the force of one dyne acting through a distance of one centimeter.
1106. Erosion The wearing away of land surface by wind or water, intensified by land-clearing practices related to farming, residential or industrial development, road…
1107. Eruption The process by which solid, liquid, and gaseous materials are ejected into the Earth's atmosphere and onto the Earth's surface by volcanic activity.
1108. ESA See Endangered Species Act of 1973
1109. Escarpment A cliff or the steep slopes of a plateau edge.
1110. ester (ES-ter) A type of chemical substance that is a combination of acid and alcohol. Esters are found in essential oils (scented liquid taken from plants).
1111. Estuary A water body where salt and fresh water meet resulting in brackish water. These areas usually have associated marshlands and are critical nursery and…
1112. ethanol Commonly used to disinfect plant tissues, glassware utensils and working surfaces in tissue culture manipulations; to precipitate aqueous solutions of…
1113. Ethanol — Ethyl alcohol (C₂H₅OH) A colorless liquid that is the product of fermentation used in alcoholic beverages, industrial processes, and as a fuel additive.
1114. Ethnobotany (ethnobotanical) The plant lore and agricultural customs of a people; the study of such lore and customs.
1115. Ethyl Tertiary Butyl Ether (ETBE) (ETBE) A chemical compound produced in a reaction between ethanol and isobutylene (a petroleum-derived by-product of the refining process).
1116. Eutectic A mixture of substances that has a melting point lower than that of any mixture of the same substances in other proportions.
1117. Eutectic Salts Salt mixtures with potential applications as solar thermal energy storage materials.
1118. Eutrophication The natural aging process of water bodies, by siltation and organic decomposition, which reduces both water volume and oxygen levels.
1119. Evacuated-Tube Collector A collector is the mechanism in which fluid (water or diluted antifreeze, for example) is heated by the sun in a solar hot water system.
1120. Evaporation The conversion of a liquid to a vapor (gas), usually by means of heat.
1121. Evaporation ponds Shallow man-made ponds designed to contain liquid effluents and concentrate the residual waste through evaporation.
1122. Evaporation Rate In hydrologic terms, the quantity of water, expressed in terms of depth of liquid water, which is evaporated from a given surface per unit of time.
1123. Evaporative Cooling The physical process by which a liquid or solid is transformed into the gaseous state.
1124. Evaporator Coil The inner coil in a heat pump that, during the cooling mode, absorbs heat from the inside air and boils the liquid refrigerant to a vapor, which cools the…
1125. Evapotranspiration The net water loss (in vapour form) per unit area of land, both directly from the land surface, and indirectly through transpiring leaves.
1126. Exceedance A measured level of an air pollutant that is higher than the national or state ambient air quality standards. See also NAAQS and CAAQS
1127. Excess annual growth The amount by which new forest growth exceeds removal in a year. The annual quantity of wood produced in a forest in excess of market demand.
1128. Excessive grades Ground surface inclines relative to the horizon beyond which the ground may become unstable.
1129. Excessive slopes See Excessive grades
1130. Exchange An exchange generally occurs when one company acquires another. The shareholders of the acquired company are often given the option to sell their shares…
1131. Excitation The power required to energize the magnetic field of a generator.
1132. Executive Order A president's or governor's declaration which has the force of law, usually based on existing statutory powers, and requiring no action by the Congress or…
1133. Exempt Wholesale Generator An unregulated subsidiary of a power provider that is allowed to generate and sell wholesale power as an independent energy producer, and is exempt from…
1134. Exothermic A reaction or process that produces heat; a combustion reaction.
1135. Expanded Polystyrene A type of insulation that is molded or expanded to produce coarse, closed cells containing air.
1136. Expansion Tank A tank used in a closed-loop solar heating system that provides space for the expansion of the heat transfer fluid in the pressurized collector loop.
1137. Expansion Valve The device that reduces the pressure of liquid refrigerant thereby cooling it before it enters the evaporator coil in a heat pump.
1138. exposure Contact of an organism with a chemical, radiological, or physical agent.
1139. Extensional (structural features or faults) Refers to tectonic forces that extend or stretch the Earth's crust.
1140. External Combustion Engine An engine in which fuel is burned (or heat is applied) to the outside of a cylinder; a Stirling engine.
1141. Externality The environmental, social, and economic impacts of producing a good or service that are not directly reflected in the market price of the good or service.
1142. Extirpation The elimination of a species or subspecies from a particular area, but not from its entire range.
1143. extractives Any number of different compounds in biomass that are not an integral part of the cellular structure.
1144. Extremely Low Frequency (ELF) (ELF) Refers to a band of frequencies from 30 to 300 Hz.
1145. Extruded Polystyrene A type of insulation material with fine, closed cells, containing a mixture of air and refrigerant gas.
1146. Facultative ponds Ponds having an aerobic zone on the top and an anaerobic zone on the bottom.
1147. Facultative wetland vegetation species A species that can occur both in wetlands and uplands.
1148. Fair Market Value Fair market value is the price you would have to pay to buy a particular asset or service on the open market.
1149. Fall Line Direction that water flows down a hill.
1150. Fan An electrically or mechanically driven device that is used to pull air through the radiator or oil cooler.
1151. Fan apron A sloping alluvial fan surface made of sediment deposited by streams at the mouth of a canyon between a mountain and the adjacent alluvial valley floor.
1152. Fan Coil A heat exchanger coil in which a fluid such as water is circulated and a fan blows air over the coil to distribute heat or cool air to the different rooms.
1153. Fan piedmont A sloping alluvial fan surface made of sediment deposited by streams at the mouth of a canyon between a mountain and the adjacent alluvial valley floor.
1154. Fan remnant An erosional remnant (or fossil) of a once active and more extensive alluvial fan.
1155. Fan terrace See Alluvial fan terrace
1156. Fan Velocity Pressure The pressure corresponding to the outlet velocity of a fan; the kinetic energy per unit volume of flowing air.
1157. Farad A unit of electrical capacitance; the capacitance of a capacitor between the plates of which there appears a difference of 1 Volt when it is charged by…
1158. Fast pyrolysis Thermal conversion of biomass by rapid heating to between 450ø to 600øC in the absence of oxygen.
1159. Fast-track Projects on public land for which the environmental review and public participation process is underway and the application could be approved by December…
1160. fatty acid A major component of fats that is used by the body for energy and tissue development.
1161. Fault "Fault" means adultery, alcohol abuse, drug abuse, physical abuse, domestic violence, abandonment or reckless spending.
1162. Fault block A rock mass that is bounded by normal faults. Fault blocks on either side of the fault are elevated or depressed, relative to each other.
1163. Fault plane The plane that best approximates the fracture surface of a fault.
1164. Fault trace The expression of a fault on the ground surface.
1165. Fault, left-lateral A strike-slip fault on which displacement of the block opposite the observer is to the left. See also Strike-slip fault
1166. Fault, normal A fault occurring usually as a result of extensional forces, such as when a hanging wall drops down relative to the footwall forming a graben or half…
1167. Fault, potentially active Generally denotes that a fault has shown evidence of surface displacement during Quaternary time.
1168. Fault, right-lateral A strike-slip fault on which displacement of the block opposite the observer is to the right. See also Strike-slip fault
1169. Fault, transform A strike-slip fault forming the boundary between tectonic plates (e.g., the San Andreas Fault system is a transform fault zone that marks the boundary…
1170. Fault, zoned Under the Alquist-Priolo Act, zoned faults include those that are "sufficiently active," showing evidence of surface displacement within the past 11,000…
1171. Fauna The community of animals in a specific region or habitat.
1172. Feather In a wind energy conversion system, to pitch the turbine blades so as to reduce their lift capacity as a method of shutting down the turbine during high…
1173. Feature A large, complex artifact, or part of a site, such as a hearth, cairn, housepit, rock alignment, or activity area.
1174. Federal Energy Management Program (FEMP) Office An office in the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) that implements energy legislation and presidential directives.
1175. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) (FERC) This is an independent regulatory agency within the U.S. DOE that has jurisdiction over interstate electricity sales, wholesale electric rates, natural…
1176. Federal land Land owned by the United States, without reference to how the land was acquired or which Federal agency administers the land, including mineral and coal…
1177. Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 (FLPMA) (FLPMA) Act requiring the Secretary of the Interior to issue regulations to manage public lands and the property located on those lands for the long term.
1178. Federal Power Marketing Administrations (PMA) (PMA) These are separate and distinct organizational agencies within the U.S. DOE that market power at federal multipurpose water projects at lowest possible…
1179. Federal Register A daily publication which contains federal administrative rules and regulations.
1180. Federal Tax Incentives The federal government offers financial and tax incentives to individuals and business that install renewable energy systems at their homes or offices.
1181. Federal Water Pollution Control Act (CWA) (CWA) A federal regulatory law administered by the states. The act created the National Pollution Discharge Elimination System.
1182. Feeder A power line for supplying electricity within a specified area.
1183. Feedstock A raw material that can be converted to one or more products.
1184. Feedstocks Any material converted to another form of fuel or energy product. An example is using cornstarch to produce ethanol.
1185. Fell To cut down a tree. Cutting down trees and sawing them to manageable lengths is referred to as "felling and bucking" or "falling and bucking."
1186. Feller-buncher A self-propelled machine that cuts trees with giant shears near ground level and then stacks the trees into piles to await skidding.
1187. Fenestration The arrangement, proportioning and design of windows in a building.
1188. Fermentation The anaerobic breakdown of complex organic substances, especially carbohydrates, by micro-organisms, yielding energy.
1189. Fiberglass Insulation A type of insulation, composed of small diameter pink, yellow, or white glass fibers, formed into blankets or batts, or used in loose-fill and blown-in…
1190. Filament A prominence viewed against the solar disk. Also solar irradiance, solar filament.
1191. Fill Man-made deposits of soil and rock and/or waste material.
1192. Fill Factor The ratio of a photovoltaic cell's actual power to its power if both current and voltage were at their maxima.
1193. Filter (air) A device that removes contaminants, by mechanical filtration, from the fresh air stream before the air enters the living space.
1194. Fin A thin sheet of material (metal) of a heat exchanger that conducts heat to a fluid.
1195. Financial liquidity An entity’s ability to obtain funds to meet its cash flow obligations, with consideration for the speed with which such funds can be obtained.
1196. Financial markets Markets where financially settled products (instruments) are traded (bought and sold).
1197. Financial transaction A transaction that involves only the exchange of money, with no physical delivery.
1198. Financial transmission right A contract that entitles the holder to receive or pay compensation for transmission charges that arise when grid congestions cases price differences due…
1199. Financially settled Consummated exclusively by an exchange of funds, without the potential of exchange – or actual exchange – of commodities or other things of value.
1200. Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI) (FONSI) A document describing the reasons why the impacts of a proposed federal action are not significant.