Energy — page 6 of 33

Energy terms

501. Center pivot irrigation A form of sprinkler irrigation consisting of several segments of pipe (usually galvanized steel or aluminum) that are joined together and supported by…
502. Central Arizona Project (CAP) Aqueduct (CAP) A 336-mi (541-km) long diversion canal operated by the Central Arizona Water Conservation District that diverts water from the Colorado River into central…
503. Central Business District (CBD) (CBD) The downtown retail trade and commercial area of a city or town, or an area of very high land valuation, traffic flow, and concentration of retail…
504. Central Heating System A system where heat is supplied to areas of a building from a single appliance through a network of ducts or pipes.
505. Central Power Plant A large power plant that generates power for distribution to multiple customers.
506. Central Receiver Solar Power Plants Also known as "power towers," these use fields of two-axis tracking mirrors known as heliostats.
507. Centralized Exchange A market where market participants execute all transactions with the central entity operating under a set of rules (product specifications, execution…
508. Centralized sewage treatment The collection and treatment of sewage from many sources to remove pollutants and pathogens.
509. CEQ See Council on Environmental Quality
510. CERCLA See Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980
511. Cetane Ignition performance rating of diesel fuel.
512. Cetane Number A measure of a fuel's (liquid) ease of self-ignition.
513. cfm Cubic feet per minute.
514. Change-out The routine replacement of chemicals contained in process equipment, in accordance with schedules established by the manufacturer, or as a result of…
515. Channel incision The process of downcutting into a stream channel leading to a decrease in the channel bed elevation.
516. Chaparral A plant community of shrubs and low trees adapted to annual drought and often extreme summer heat and also highly adapted to fires recurring every 5 to 20…
517. Char A byproduct of low-temperature carbonization of a solid fuel.
518. Charcoal The black porous residue of partly burnt wood, bones, etc; a form of carbon. See: activated charcoal
519. Charge Carrier A free and mobile conduction electron or hole in a semiconductor.
520. Charge Controller An electronic device that regulates the electrical charge stored in batteries so that unsafe, overcharge conditions for the batteries are avoided.
521. Charrette A Charrette is a planning session in which participants brainstorm and visualize solutions to a design issue.
522. Chemical Energy The energy liberated in a chemical reaction, as in the combustion of fuels.
523. Chemical oxygen demand (COD) (COD) The amount of dissolved oxygen required to combine with chemicals in wastewater.
524. Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD) (CVD) A method of depositing thin semiconductor films used to make certain types of solar photovoltaic devices.
525. Chert A hard, dense, fine-grained type of sedimentary rock; a microcrystalline aggregate of silica (quartz).
526. Chiller A device for removing heat from a gas or liquid stream for air conditioning/cooling.
527. Chimney A masonry or metal stack that creates a draft to bring air to a fire and to carry the gaseous byproducts of combustion safely away.
528. Chimney Effect The tendency of heated air or gas to rise in a duct or other vertical passage, such as in a chimney, small enclosure, or building, due to its lower…
529. Chip vans Special construction bottom dump trucks (grain trucks) or conventional tractor- trailer vans used for hauling pulp chips, mill residues, hog fuel, and…
530. Chipper A machine that produces wood chips by knife action.
531. CHIPS Woody material cut into short, thin wafers. Chips are used as a raw material for pulping and fiberboard or as biomass fuel.
532. Chlorofluorocarbon A family of chemicals composed primarily of carbon, hydrogen, chlorine, and fluorine. Used principally as refrigerants and industrial cleansers.
533. Chlorofluorocarbon (CFC) (CFC) A family of chemicals composed primarily of carbon, hydrogen, chlorine, and fluorine whose principal applications are as refrigerants and industrial…
534. Choker A cable loop that is attached to a log during the yarding process.
535. Chronic effects Effects resulting from exposure to low levels of a stressing factor (e.g., contaminant, disease, electromagnetic field, noise, and radionuclides) over…
536. Cienega A perennially wet area supported by a spring or other water source; also called wetland, marsh, or swamp.
537. Cinder cone A conical hill formed around a volcanic vent by the accumulation of loose cinders and other pyroclastics ejected during a volcanic eruption, normally…
538. Circuit A device, or system of devices, that allows electrical current to flow through it and allows voltage to occur across positive and negative terminals.
539. Circuit breaker After the stock market crash of 1987, stock and commodities exchanges established a system of trigger-point rules known as circuit breakers.
540. Circuit Lag As time increases from zero at the terminals of an inductor, the voltage comes to a particular value on the sine function curve ahead of the current.
541. Circulating Fluidized Bed A type of furnace or reactor in which the emission of sulfur compounds is lowered by the addition of crushed limestone in the fluidized bed thus obviating…
542. City Gate Generally refers to the location at which gas changes ownership or transportation responsibility from a pipeline to a local distribution company or gas…
543. Clarifier A tank used to remove solids by gravity, to remove colloidal solids by coagulation, and to remove floating oil and scum through skimming.
544. Class I Area Any area designated for the most stringent protection from air quality degradation.
545. Class II Area Any area where air is cleaner than required by federal air quality standards and designated for a moderate degree of protection from air quality…
546. Class IV All other intermittent streams not meeting higher class criteria.
547. Clay A very fine-grained rock or mineral fragment of any composition that has a diameter of less than 0.002 mm.
548. Clean Air Act (CAA) (CAA) The Superfund law incorporates those substances listed as hazardous air pollutants under section 112 of the Clean Air Act (CAA) as CERCLA hazardous…
549. Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990 Amendments to the Clean Air Act of 1970 creating two gasoline standards to reduce vehicle emissions in highly polluted cities by requiring gasoline to…
550. Clean Power Generator A company or other organizational unit that produces electricity from sources that are thought to be environmentally cleaner than traditional sources.
551. Clean Water Act (CWA) (CWA) The Superfund law incorporates those substances listed as hazardous water pollutants under section 311 (b)(4) of the Clean Water Act (CWA) as CERCLA…
552. Clearcut The removal, in a single cutting, of the entire stand of trees within a designated area.
553. Clearing The registration and settlement of a trade that includes provisions for margin requirement and performance guarantee.
554. Clearing and grubbing Cleaning a site to prepare it for construction. Involves removing debris, structures, shrubbery, trees, obstructions, and objectionable and unsuitable…
555. Cleavage of Lateral Epitaxial Films for Transfer (CLEFT) (CLEFT) A process for making inexpensive Gallium Arsenide (GaAs) photovoltaic cells in which a thin film of GaAs is grown atop a thick, single-crystal GaAs (or…
556. Clerestory A window located high in a wall near the eaves that allows daylight into a building interior, and may be used for ventilation and solar heat gain.
557. CLFR See Compact Linear Fresnel Reflector
558. Climate The prevailing or average weather conditions of a geographic region.
559. Climate Action Plan A description of the policies and measures that a local government will take to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and achieve its emissions reduction…
560. Climate Change A term used to describe short and long-term affects on the Earth's climate as a result of human activities such as fossil fuel combustion and vegetation…
561. Clone An exact genetic replica of a specific gene or an entire organism. See Cloning.
562. Close Coupled An energy system in which the fuel production equipment is in close proximity, or connected to, the fuel using equipment.
563. Closed Basin A basin draining to some depression or a pond within its area, from which water is lost only by evaporation or percolation.
564. Closed Cycle A system in which a working fluid is used over and over without introduction of new fluid, as in a hydronic heating system or mechanical refrigeration…
565. Closed-Loop Biomass As defined by the Comprehensive National Energy Act of 1992 (or the Energy Policy Act; EPAct): any organic matter from a plant which is planted for the…
566. Closed-loop cooling system Also known as a wet closed-cycle cooling system, a system that circulates water between a steam condenser and a cooling tower to cool steam condensate at…
567. Closed-Loop Geothermal Heat Pump Systems Closed-loop (also known as "indirect") systems circulate a solution of water and antifreeze through a series of sealed loops of piping.
568. Clovis Complex Characteristic of Paleoindian finds located near Clovis, New Mexico, such as specific fluted points.
569. Cluster Development A pattern of development in which industrial and commercial facilities, and homes are grouped together on parcels of land in order to leave parts of the…
570. CO See Carbon monoxide
571. co-firing The use of a mixture of two fuels within the same combustion chamber.
572. co-generation The technology of producing electric energy and another form of useful energy (usually thermal) for industrial, commercial, or domestic heating or cooling…
573. CO₂ See Carbon dioxide
574. Coalbed methane A methane-rich gas, similar to natural gas, produced from in-situ coal through drilled wells that are typically completed open-hole, as opposed to the…
575. Coastal Zone Management Act National law encouraging states to develop coastal management programs. The act establishes a method for the federal government to approve states´ plans…
576. Coastal Zone Management Act (CZMA) (CZMA) National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) provides funding for implementation and sets standards (including prevention of non-point…
577. Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) (CFR) An annual publication which contains the cumulative executive agency regulations.
578. Codes Legal documents that regulate construction to protect the health, safety, and welfare of people.
579. Coefficient of Heat Transmission (U-Value) A value that describes the ability of a material to conduct heat. The number of Btu that flow through 1 square foot of material, in one hour.
580. Coefficient of Performance (COP) (COP) A ratio of the work or useful energy output of a system versus the amount of work or energy inputted into the system as determined by using the same…
581. Coefficient of Utilization (CU) (CU) A term used for lighting appliances; the ratio of lumens received on a flat surface to the light output, in lumens, from a lamp; used to evaluate the…
582. Cofiring The use of two or more different fuels (e.g. wood and coal) simultaneously in the same combustion chamber of a power plant.
583. Cogeneration The generation of electricity or shaft power by an energy conversion system and the concurrent use of rejected thermal energy from the conversion system…
584. Cogenerator A class of energy producer that produces both heat and electricity from a single fuel.
585. COIL As a component of a heating or cooling appliance, rows of tubing or pipe with fins attached through which a heat transfer fluid is circulated and to…
586. Coincidence Factor The ratio of the coincident, maximum demand or two or more loads to the sum of their noncoincident maximum demand for a given period; the reciprocal of…
587. Coincident Demand The demand of a consumer of electricity at the time of a power supplier's peak system demand.
588. Cold Night Sky The low effective temperature of the sky on a clear night.
589. Coliform bacteria Bacteria whose presence in waste water is an indicator of pollution and of potentially dangerous contamination.
590. Collateral Assets that are offered to secure a loan or other credit. For example, if you get a real estate mortgage, the bank's collateral is typically your house.
591. Collection The capture or obtaining of plant or animal specimens. This can include obtaining specimens for scientific study, pets, or illegal trade.
592. Collector The component of a solar energy heating system that collects solar radiation, and that contains components to absorb solar radiation and transfer the heat…
593. Collector Efficiency The ratio of solar radiation captured and transferred to the collector (heat transfer) fluid.
594. Collector Fluid The fluid, liquid (water or water/antifreeze solution) or air, used to absorb solar energy and transfer it for direct use, indirect heating of interior…
595. Collector Tilt The angle that a solar collector is positioned from horizontal.
596. Colluvium A general term to include loose rock and soil material that accumulates at the base of a slope as the result of mass wasting processes.
597. Color The sensible perception of hue, value and saturation characteristics of surfaces of window components.
598. Color Rendition How colors appear when illuminated by a light source. Color rendition is generally considered to be a more important lighting quality than color…
599. Color Rendition (Rendering) Index (CRI) A measure of light quality. The maximum CRI value of 100 is given to natural daylight and incandescent lighting.
600. Color Temperature The color of the light source. By convention, yellow-red colors (like the flames of a fire) are considered warm, and blue-green colors (like light from an…