Energy — page 22 of 33

3,295 terms including subtopics (1,532 terms filed directly here)

Subtopics

Energy terms

  1. Noxious weeds Those plants regulated by law or those that are so difficult to control that early detection is important.
  2. NREL The National Renewable Energy Laboratory.
  3. Nuclear Energy Energy that comes from splitting atoms of radioactive materials, such as uranium, and which produces radioactive wastes.
  4. Null hypothesis The assumption that any observed difference between two samples of a statistical population is purely accidental and not due to systematic causes.
  5. Nurse plants Mature plants that create favorable conditions for seeds to germinate and for seedlings to survive and grow.
  6. Nymex ClearPort It is the execution and clearing platform for transactions not listed for open-outcry on Nymex.
  7. O<sub>3</sub> See ozone
  8. OASIS An isolated, fertile tract or green locality in a desert region, made so by the presence of water. See also Palm oasis
  9. Obligate species Restricted to a particular condition of life; for example, dependent on a particular habitat to be able to breed.
  10. Obsidian A black or dark-colored volcanic glass.
  11. Occupancy Sensor An optical, ultrasonic, or infrared sensor that turns room lights on when they detect a person's presence and off after the space is vacated.
  12. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) (OSHA) One of the U.S. agencies responsible for regulation of biotechnology. The major law under which the agency has regulatory powers is the Occupational…
  13. Occupied Space The space within a building or structure that is normally occupied by people, and that may be conditioned (heated, cooled and/or ventilated).
  14. Ocean Energy Systems Energy conversion technologies that harness the energy in tides, waves, and thermal gradients in the oceans.
  15. Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC) (OTEC) The process or technologies for producing energy by harnessing the temperature differences (thermal gradients) between ocean surface waters and that of…
  16. Octane enhancer Any substance that is added to gasoline to increase octane.
  17. octane rating (octane number) A measure of a fuel’s resistance to self ignition, hence a measure as well of the antiknock properties of the fuel.
  18. Off-highway vehicle (OHV) or off-road vehicle (OHV) Any motorized vehicle designed for or capable of cross-country travel on or immediately over land, water, sand, snow, ice, marsh, swampland, or other…
  19. Off-Peak The period of low energy demand, as opposed to maximum, or peak, demand.
  20. Off-road vehicle See also Off-highway vehicle
  21. Off-road vehicle (OHV) designations (OHV) OPEN: Vehicles are allowed without restrictions. LIMITED: Vehicle travel off existing roads and trails would be allowed only for authorized or permitted…
  22. Off-site facility A hazardous waste treatment, storage, or disposal area that is located away from the generating site.
  23. offset You offset an options or futures position by taking a second position in a contract with identical terms, buying if you sold initially or selling if you…
  24. Ohm's Law In a given electrical circuit, the amount of current in amperes (i) is equal to the pressure in volts (V) divided by the resistance, in ohms (R).
  25. Ohms A measure of the electrical resistance of a material equal to the resistance of a circuit in which the potential difference of 1 volt produces a current…
  26. Oil (fuel) A product of crude oil that is used for space heating, diesel engines, and electrical generation.
  27. Oil and gas leasing (on BLM land) The BLM leases oil and gas rights to explore for and produce oil and gas resources from federal lands or mineral rights owned by the federal government.
  28. Old growth Timber stands with the following characteristics: large mature and over-mature trees in the overstory, snags, dead and decaying logs on the ground and a…
  29. On-Peak A block of (usually 16) hours in each week-day when demand is at its peak. On-peak definitions for physical electricity vary by North America Electric…
  30. On-Peak Energy Energy supplied during periods of relatively high system demands as specified by the supplier.
  31. On-Site Generation Generation of energy at the location where all or most of it will be used.
  32. One Sun The maximum value of natural solar insolation.
  33. One-Axis Tracking A system capable of rotating about one axis.
  34. Onroad mobile source (emissions) Any mobile source of air pollution such as cars, trucks, motorcycles, and buses that travels on roads and highways.
  35. Opacity The degree to which smoke or particles emitted into the air reduce the transmission of light and obscure the view of an object in the background.
  36. Open Access The ability to send or wheel electric power to a customer over a transmission and distribution system that is not owned by the power generator (seller).
  37. Open outcry When exchange-based commodities traders shout out their buy and sell orders or use a combination of words and hand signals to negotiate an order, it's…
  38. Open Space Used to describe undeveloped land or land that is used for recreation. Farmland as well as all natural habitats (forests, fields, wetlands etc.
  39. Open Space Residential Design (OSRD) (OSRD) A form of residential subdivision that maximizes resource protection and conservation of natural areas through the use of design strategies that result in…
  40. Open-Circuit Voltage The maximum possible voltage across a photovoltaic cell; the voltage across the cell in sunlight when no current is flowing.
  41. Open-Loop Geothermal Heat Pump System Open-loop (also known as "direct") systems circulate water drawn from a ground or surface water source.
  42. Operating Cycle The processes that a work input/output system undergoes and in which the initial and final states are identical.
  43. Operating reserves That capability above firm system demand required to provide for regulation, load forecasting error, equipment forced and scheduled outages, and local…
  44. Organic Derived from living organisms.
  45. Organic compound An organic compound contains carbon chemically bound to hydrogen. Organic compounds often contain other elements (particularly O, N, halogens, or S).
  46. Organic compounds Chemical compounds based on carbon chains or rings and also containing hydrogen, with or without oxygen, nitrogen, and other elements.
  47. Organic level The amount of organic matter prescribed to be left after logging.
  48. Orientation The alignment of a building along a given axis to face a specific geographical direction.
  49. OSHA See Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
  50. Ostracods Group of small crustaceans with a bivalved carapace which can be closed to completely cover the body; important planktonic fish food.
  51. Outage A discontinuance of electric power supply.
  52. Outflow The volume of growing cells that is removed from a bioreactor during a continuous fermentation process.
  53. Outgassing The process by which materials expel or release gasses.
  54. Outside Air Air that is taken from the outdoors.
  55. Outside Coil The heat-transfer (exchanger) component of a heat pump, located outdoors, from which heat is collected in the heating mode, or expelled in the cooling…
  56. Oven dry See bone dry.
  57. oven dry ton An amount of wood that weighs 2000 lb at 0% moisture content.
  58. Oven dry ton (ODT) (ODT) An amount of wood that weighs 2,000 pounds at zero percent moisture content.
  59. Overbank deposits Fine-grained sediment (silt and clay) deposited from suspension on a floodplain by floodwaters from a stream channel.
  60. Overdraft When the amount of money withdrawn from a bank account is greater than the amount actually available in the account, the excess is known as an overdraft…
  61. Overhang See: extension.
  62. Overlay Districts Zoning districts in which additional regulatory standards are superimposed on existing zoning.
  63. Overload To exceed the design capacity of a device.
  64. Overnight capital cost The capital cost of a project if it could be constructed overnight. This cost does not include the interest cost of funds used during construction.
  65. Overstory The portion of the trees forming the upper or uppermost canopy in a forest stand.
  66. Ovonic A device that converts heat or sunlight directly to electricity, invented by Standford Ovshinsky, that has a unique glass composition that changes from an…
  67. Oxygenate A cleaner-burning additive in a fuel—usually containing hydrogen, carbon, and oxygen. Examples are ethers and alchohols, such as ethanol and methanol.
  68. Oxygenated Fuels Fuels blended with an additive—usually ether or ethanol—to increase oxygen content, allowing more-thorough combustion for reduced carbon monoxide…
  69. Oxygenated gasoline Gasoline containing an oxygenate.
  70. Oxygenates Gasoline fuel additives such as ethanol, ETBE, or MTBE that add extra oxygen to gasoline to reduce carbon monoxide pollution produced by vehicles.
  71. Ozone Tropospheric ozone (ground-level ozone), or smog, is formed when volatile organic compounds, oxygen and nitrogen oxides react in the presence of sunlight.
  72. Ozone (O3) A strong-smelling, reactive, toxic, chemical gas consisting of three oxygen atoms chemically attached to each other.
  73. P N A semiconductor (photovoltaic) device structure in which the junction is formed between a p-type layer and an n-type layer.
  74. P-I-N A semiconductor (photovoltaic) device structure that layers an intrinsic semiconductor between a p-type semiconductor and an n-type semiconductor; this…
  75. P-Type Semiconductor A semiconductor in which holes carry the current; produced by doping an intrinsic semiconductor with an electron acceptor impurity (e.g.
  76. Packing Factor The ratio of solar collector array area to actual land area.
  77. Paleontological resources Fossilized remains, imprints, and traces of plants and animals preserved in rocks and sediments since some past geologic time.
  78. Paleozoic An era of geologic time, from the end of the Precambrian to the beginning of the Mesozoic, spanning the time between 542 and 251 million years ago.
  79. Palm oasis (1) A desert habitat with permanent water or a water table near the surface that supports a canopy of palm trees.
  80. Palustrine wetlands Shallow freshwater wetlands that often support plant communities of trees, shrubs, emergent plants, mosses, or lichens.
  81. Pan evaporation A measurement that combines or integrates the effects of several climate elements: temperature, humidity, solar radiation, and wind.
  82. Pane (Window) The area of glass that fits in the window frame.
  83. Panel (Solar) A term generally applied to individual solar collectors, and typically to solar photovoltaic collectors or modules.
  84. Panel Radiator A mainly flat surface for transmitting radiant energy.
  85. Panemone A drag-type wind machine that can react to wind from any direction.
  86. Parabolic Aluminized Reflector Lamp A type of lamp having a lens of heavy durable glass that focuses the light. They have longer lifetimes with less lumen depreciation than standard…
  87. Parabolic Dish A solar energy conversion device that has a bowl shaped dish covered with a highly reflective surface that tracks the sun and concentrates sunlight on a…
  88. Parabolic solar collector trough See Parabolic trough
  89. Parabolic Trough A solar energy conversion device that uses a trough covered with a highly reflective surface to focus sunlight onto a linear absorber containing a working…
  90. Parabolic trough system See Parabolic trough
  91. Parallel Transmission of all the bits (e.g. in a character) at the same time. If the character has eight bits, there are eight wires.
  92. Parallel Connection A way of joining photovoltaic cells or modules by connecting positive leads together and negative leads together; such a configuration increases the…
  93. Partial cut A harvest method in which portions of a stand of timber are cut during a number of entries over time. Compare precommercial thinning.
  94. Particulate A small, discrete mass of solid or liquid matter that remains individually dispersed in gas or liquid emissions.
  95. Particulate emissions Fine liquid or solid particles discharged with exhaust gases. Usually measured as grains per cubic foot or pounds per million Btu input.
  96. Particulate matter Fine solid or liquid particles such as dust, smoke, mist, fumes, or smog, found in air or emissions.
  97. Particulates The fine liquid or solid particles contained in combustion gases. The quantity and size of particulates emitted by cars, power and industrial plants, wood…
  98. Passenger-Miles per Gallon Pmpg is the vehicle miles per gallon multiplied by the number of passengers traveling in the vehicle.
  99. Passerine Birds of the order Passeriformes, which includes perching birds and songbirds such as the jays, blackbirds, finches, warblers, and sparrows.
  100. Passivation A chemical reaction that eliminates the detrimental effect of electrically reactive atoms on a photovoltaic cell's surface.

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