Energy — page 4 of 33

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

Subtopics

Energy terms

  1. Bedrock General term referring to the solid rock or ledge underlying other unconsolidated material, i.e., soil, loose gravel, etc.
  2. beer A fermented broth that consists of water, ethanol, and small amounts of ether and assorted alcohols.
  3. Bench The seat occupied by the judge. More broadly, the court itself.
  4. 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.
  5. 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…
  6. Benthic Occurring at or near the bottom of a body of water.
  7. benzene A chemical that is used widely by the chemical industry, and is also found in tobacco smoke, vehicle emissions, and gasoline fumes.
  8. 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…
  9. Best available control technology (BACT) (BACT) That combination of production processes, methods, systems, and techniques that will result in the lowest achievable level of emissions of air pollutants…
  10. Best Management Practice (BMP) (BMP) A practice or combination of practices that are determined to provide the most effective, environmentally sound, and economically feasible means of…
  11. Best management practices (BMP) (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…
  12. 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…
  13. Biface A stone tool that has been flaked on both sides.
  14. Big game Those species of large mammals normally managed as a sport-hunting resource.
  15. Bilateral transaction A direct contract between a seller and buyer outside of a centralized market or exchange (e.g. Nymex or an RTO/ISO).
  16. 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…
  17. 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…
  18. Bin Method A method of predicting heating and/or cooling loads using instantaneous load calculation at different outdoor dry-bulb temperatures, and multiplying the…
  19. Binary Cycle Combination of two power plant turbine cycles utilizing two different working fluids for power production.
  20. Binary Cycle Geothermal Plants Binary cycle systems can be used with liquids at temperatures less than 350 F (177 C).
  21. Bioaccumulants Substances in contaminated air, water, or food that increase in concentration in living organisms exposed to them because the substances are very slowly…
  22. Bioaccumulation See bioconcentration.
  23. Bioassay A study of a living organism to measure the effect of a substance, factor, or condition.
  24. Biochemical Chemical reactions in living organisms.
  25. Biochemical Conversion Using enzymes and catalysts to change biological substances chemically to produce energy products.
  26. Biochemical conversion process The use of living organisms or their products to convert organic material to fuels, chemicals or other products.
  27. 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…
  28. Biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) (BOD) A standard means of estimating the degree of water pollution, especially of water bodies that receive contamination from sewage and industrial waste.
  29. Bioconcentration (Bioaccumulation) The accumulation of a chemical in tissues of an organism to levels greater than in the environment in which the organism lives.
  30. 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.
  31. Biodegradable Capable of being biodegraded.
  32. Biodiesel Biodiesel is diesel fuel combined with a certain percentage of vegetable oil. B5 refers to a blend of diesel with 5% vegetable oil.
  33. Biodiversity The wide diversity and interrelatedness of earth organisms based on genetic and environmental factors.
  34. Bioenergy The conversion of the complex carbohydrates in organic material into energy.
  35. Biofuels Fuels made from biomass. Biofuels include ethanol, biodiesel and methanol.
  36. Biogas A mixture of methane and carbon dioxide resulting from the anaerobic decomposition of waste such as domestic, industrial and agricultural sewage.
  37. Biogasification or biomethanization The process of decomposing biomass with anaerobic bacteria to produce biogas.
  38. Biogenic source (emissions) Biological sources such as plants and animals that emit air pollutants such as volatile organic compounds.
  39. Biological assessment A specific process required as part of an environmental assessment. An evaluation of potential effects of a proposed project on proposed, endangered…
  40. Biological magnification The process by which substances such as pesticides or heavy metals become concentrated as they move up the food chain.
  41. Biological oxidation Decomposition of organic materials by microorganisms.
  42. 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…
  43. 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.
  44. Biomass energy Energy produced by the conversion of biomass directly to heat or to a liquid or gas that can be converted to energy.
  45. Biomass Fuel Biomass converted directly to energy or converted to liquid or gaseous fuels such as ethanol, methanol, methane, and hydrogen.
  46. Biomass Gasification The conversion of biomass into a gas, by biogasification (see above) or thermal gasification, in which hydrogen is produced from high-temperature…
  47. biomass processing residues Byproducts from processing all forms of biomass that have significant energy potential.
  48. Biome A major ecological community or complex of communities, extending over a large geographical area and characterized by a dominant type of vegetation.
  49. Biophotolysis The action of light on a biological system that results in the dissociation of a substrate, usually water, to produce hydrogen.
  50. Bioremediation The use of microorganisms to remedy environmental problems. See Bioaugmentation, Bioenrichment.
  51. 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…
  52. Biosphere The part of the earth and its atmosphere that is inhabited by living organisms.
  53. Biota The animal and plant life of a region or period.
  54. Biotechnology The scientific manipulation of living organ- isms, especially at the molecular genetic level, to produce useful products.
  55. Biotic Pertaining to life or living organisms.
  56. Biotic community A naturally occurring, interdependent community of plants and animals that live in the same environment.
  57. Blackbody An ideal substance that absorbs all radiation falling on it, and reflecting nothing.
  58. Blender Pump A fuel dispenser that draws fuel from two separate storage tanks and can dispense preprogrammed blends of those two fuels.
  59. Blight Physical and economic conditions within an area that cause a reduction of or lack of proper utilization of that area.
  60. BLM The Bureau of Land Management.
  61. BLM land Land administered by the Bureau of Land Management.
  62. block A repetition/replication of the Early, Mid and Late Seral Treatment plots and a Control plot. See Repetition/replication.
  63. Block Group (BG) (BG) A cluster of census blocks having the same first digit of their four-digit identifying numbers within a census tract.
  64. Block-faulted (mountains) Landforms formed by the movement (uplift and tilting) of large crustal blocks during an extensional episode.
  65. 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…
  66. Blowdown waste See Blowdown
  67. Blowdown water See Blowdown
  68. Blower The device in an air conditioner that distributes the filtered air from the return duct over the cooling coil/heat exchanger.
  69. Blower Door A device used by energy auditors to pressurize a building to locate places of air leakage and energy loss.
  70. 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.
  71. Blowout A wind-eroded section of a sand dune caused by a disturbance or removal of the vegetation.
  72. BMP A Windows file format for storing bit map images.
  73. Board feet (BF) (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.
  74. BOD5 The amount of dissolved oxygen consumed in five days by biological processes breaking down organic matter. See biochemical oxygen demand.
  75. 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…
  76. Boiler Feedwater The water that is forced into a boiler to take the place of that which is evaporated in the generation of steam.
  77. 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…
  78. Boiler Pressure The pressure of the steam or water in a boiler as measured; usually expressed in pounds per square inch gauge (psig).
  79. Boiler Rating The heating capacity of a steam boiler; expressed in Btu per hour (Btu/h), or horsepower, or pounds of steam per hour.
  80. Bolson (floor) A term applied to an internally drained (closed) intermontane basin in arid regions where drainages from adjacent mountains converge toward a central…
  81. Bone (Oven) Dry In reference to solid biomass fuels, such as wood, having zero moisture content.
  82. 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…
  83. Bone dry ton (or "oven dry ton"). An amount of wood that weighs 2,000 pounds at zero percent moisture content.
  84. Bone Dry Unit A quantity of (solid) biomass fuel equal to 2,400 pounds bone dry.
  85. Bone dry unit (BDU) (BDU) A quantity of wood residue which weighs 2,400 pounds at zero percent moisture content.
  86. Booster Pump A pump for circulating the heat transfer fluid in a hydronic heating system.
  87. Boot To start up or reset a computer.
  88. Boreal Living in and adapted for living in the extreme northern areas of the world. This area is located just below tundra conditions.
  89. Boron The chemical element commonly used as the dopant in solar photovoltaic device or cell material.
  90. Borrow material Material such as soil or sand that is removed from one location and used as fill material in another location.
  91. Borrow pit A pit or excavation area used for gathering earth materials (borrow) such as sand or gravel.
  92. 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.
  93. Bottom ash Noncombustible ash that is left after solid fuel has been burned.
  94. 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.
  95. Braided streams Braided streams have multiple channels that are interlaced in a braided pattern, with very low stream gradient (<0.
  96. 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…
  97. 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.
  98. Breccia A sedimentary rock formed of coarse-grained material consisting of sharp fragments embedded in clay or sand.
  99. Brine Water saturated or strongly impregnated with salt.
  100. British thermal unit (Btu) (BTU) The amount of heat required to raise the temperature of one pound of water one degree Fahrenheit; equal to 252 calories.

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