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Energy.gov - Energy industry terms Category: Earth and Environment > Energy industry terms Date & country: 26/02/2017, USA Words: 1299

Creosote
A liquid byproduct of wood combustion (or distillation) that condenses on the internal surfaces of vents and chimneys, which if not removed regularly, can corrode the surfaces and fuel a chimney fire.

Covenants
Restrictions on the use of a property.

Coulomb
A unit for the quantity of electricity transported in 1 second by a current of 1 ampere.

Counterflow Heat Exchanger
A heat exchanger in which two fluids flow in opposite directions for transfer heat energy from one to the other.

Cord
(of Wood) A stack of wood 4 feet by 4 feet by 8 feet.

Cooling Capacity
The quantity of heat that a cooling appliance is capable of removing from a room in one hour.

Cooling Load
That amount of cooling energy to be supplied (or heat and humidity removed) based on the sensible and latent loads.

Cooling Pond
A body of water used to cool the water that is circulated in an electric power plant.

Cooling Tower
A structure used to cool power plant water; water is pumped to the top of the tubular tower and sprayed out into the center, and is cooled by evaporation as it falls, and then is either recycled within the plant or is discharged.

Coproducts
The potentially useful byproducts of ethanol fermentation process.

Conversion Efficiency
The amount of energy produced as a percentage of the amount of energy consumed.

Converter
A device for transforming the quality and quantity of electrical energy; also an inverter.

Conventional Heat Pump
This type of heat pump is known as an air-to air system.

Continuous Fermentation
A steady-state fermentation process.

Contrast
The difference between the brightness of an object compared to that of its immediate background.

Convection
The transfer of heat by means of air currents.

Conventional Fuel
The fossil fuels: coal, oil, and natural gas.

Contact Resistance
The resistance between metallic contacts and the semiconductor.

Constant Dollars
The value or purchasing power of a dollar in a specified year carried forward or backward.

Constant-Speed Wind Turbines
Wind turbines that operate at a constant rotor revolutions per minute (RPM) and are optimized for energy capture at a given rotor diameter at a particular speed in the wind power curve.

Consumption Charge
The part of a power provider's charge based on actual energy consumed by the customer; the product of the kilowatt-hour rate and the total kilowatt-hours consumed.

Connection Charge
An amount paid by a customer for being connected to an electricity supplier's transmission and distribution system.

Conservation
To reduce or avoid the consumption of a resource or commodity.

Conservation Cost Adjustment
A means of billing electric power consumers to pay for the costs of demand side management/energy conservation measures and programs. (See also Benefits Charge.)

Connected Load
The sum of the ratings of the electricity consuming apparatus connected to a generating system.

Conduit
A tubular material used to encase and protect one or more electrical conductors.

Conductor
The material through which electricity is transmitted, such as an electrical wire, or transmission or distribution line.

Conduction
The transfer of heat through a material by the transfer of kinetic energy from particle to particle; the flow of heat between two materials of different temperatures that are in direct physical contact.

Conduction Band
An energy band in a semiconductor in which electrons can move freely in a solid, producing a net transport of charge.

Conductivity
(Thermal) This is a positive constant, k, that is a property of a substance and is used in the calculation of heat transfer rates for materials. It is the amount of heat that flows through a specified area and thickness of a material over a specified period of time when there is a temperature difference of one degree between the surfaces of the material.

Condensing Unit
The component of a central air conditioner that is designed to remove heat absorbed by the refrigerant and transfer it outside the conditioned space.

Conditioned Space
The interior space of a building that is heated or cooled.

Condenser
The device in an air conditioner or heat pump in which the refrigerant condenses from a gas to a liquid when it is depressurized or cooled.

Condenser Coil
The device in an air conditioner or heat pump through which the refrigerant is circulated and releases heat to the surroundings when a fan blows outside air over the coils. This will return the hot vapor that entered the coil into a hot liquid upon exiting the coil.

Condensing Furnace
A type of heating appliance that extracts so much of the available heat content from a combusted fuel that the moisture in the combustion gases condenses before it leaves the furnace. Also this furnace circulates a liquid to cool the furnace's heat exchanger. The heated liquid may either circulate through a liquid-to-air heat exchanger to warm room air, or it may circulate through a coil inside a separate indirect-fired water heater.

Condensate
The liquid resulting when water vapor contacts a cool surface; also the liquid resulting when a vaporized working fluid (such as a refrigerant) is cooled or depressurized.

Condensation
The process by which water in air changes from a vapor to a liquid due to a change in temperature or pressure; occurs when water vapor reaches its dew point (condensation point); also used to express the existence of liquid water on a surface.

Compressed Air Storage
The storage of compressed air in a container for use to operate a prime mover for electricity generation.

Compressed Natural Gas
(CNG) Natural gas (methane) that has been compressed to a higher pressure gaseous state by a compressor; used in CNG vehicles.

Compression Chiller
A cooling device that uses mechanical energy to produce chilled water.

Compressor
A device used to compress air for mechanical or electrical power production, and in air conditioners, heat pumps, and refrigerators to pressurize the refrigerant and enabling it to flow through the system.

Compound Paraboloid Collector
A form of solar concentrating collector that does not track the sun.

Composting Toilet
A self-contained toilet that use the process of aerobic decomposition (composting) to break down feces into humus and odorless gases.

Compact Fluorescent
A smaller version of standard fluorescent lamps which can directly replace standard incandescent lights. These lights consist of a gas filled tube, and a magnetic or electronic ballast.

Complete Mix Digester
A type of anaerobic digester that has a mechanical mixing system and where temperature and volume are controlled to maximize the anaerobic digestion process for biological waste treatment, methane production, and odor control.

Composting
The process of degrading organic material (biomass) by microorganisms in aerobic conditions.

Commercial Sector
Consists of businesses that are not engaged in transportation or manufacturing or other types of industrial activities. Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) codes for commercial establishments are 50 through 87, 89, and 91 through 97.

Commissioning
The process by which a power plant, apparatus, or building is approved for operation based on observed or measured operation that meets design specifications.

Commercial Building
A building with more than 50 percent of its floor space used for commercial activities, which include stores, offices, schools, churches, libraries, museums, health care facilities, warehouses, and government buildings except those on military bases.

Combustion Turbine
A turbine that generates power from the combustion of a fuel.

Combustion Power Plant
A power plant that generates power by combusting a fuel.

Combustion
The process of burning; the oxidation of a material by applying heat, which unites oxygen with a material or fuel.

Combustion Air
Air that provides the necessary oxygen for complete, clean combustion and maximum heating value.

Combustion Chamber
Any wholly or partially enclosed space in which combustion takes place.

Combustion Gases
The gaseous byproducts of the combustion of a fuel.

Combined-Cycle Power Plant
A power plant that uses two thermodynamic cycles to achieve higher overall system efficiency; e.g.: the heat from a gas-fired combustion turbine is used to generate steam for heating or to operate a steam turbine to generate additional electricity.

Color Rendition
(Rendering) A measure of light quality. The maximum CRI value of 100 is given to natural daylight and incandescent lighting. The closer a lamp's CRI rating is to 100, the better its ability to show true colors to the human eye.

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 overcast sky) are considered cool. Color temperature is measured in Kelvin (K) temperature. Confusingly, higher Kelvin temperatures (3600–5500 K) are what we consider cool and lower color temperatures (2700–3000 K) are considered warm. Cool light is preferred for visual tasks because it produces higher contrast than warm light. Warm light is preferred for living spaces because it is more flattering to skin tones and clothing. A color temperature of 2700–3600 K is generally recommended for most indoor general and task lighting applications.

Collector Tilt
The angle that a solar collector is positioned from horizontal.

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 temperature. Most objects are not a single color, but a combination of many colors. Light sources that are deficient in certain colors may change the apparent color of an object. The Color Rendition Index (CRI) is a 1–100 scale that measures a light source's ability to render colors the same way sunlight does. The top value of the CRI scale (100) is based on illumination by a 100-watt incandescent light bulb. A light source with a CRI of 80 or higher is considered acceptable for most indoor residential applications.

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 to a heat transfer fluid (air or liquid).

Collector Efficiency
The ratio of solar radiation captured and transferred to the collector (heat transfer) fluid.

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 air or domestic water, and/or to a heat storage medium.

Coincident Demand
The demand of a consumer of electricity at the time of a power supplier's peak system demand.

Cold Night Sky
The low effective temperature of the sky on a clear night.

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 the diversity factor, and is always less than or equal to one.

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 deliver heat or cooling energy to a building.

Cofiring
The use of two or more different fuels (e.g. wood and coal) simultaneously in the same combustion chamber of a power plant.

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 as an auxiliary energy source.

Cogenerator
A class of energy producer that produces both heat and electricity from a single fuel.

Coefficient of Utilization
(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 effectiveness of luminaries in delivering light.

Codes
Legal documents that regulate construction to protect the health, safety, and welfare of people. Codes establish minimum standards but do not guarantee efficiency or quality.

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. It is the reciprocal of the R-Value (U-Value = 1/R-Value).

Coefficient of Performance
(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 energy equivalents for energy in and out. Is used as a measure of the steady state performance or energy efficiency of heating, cooling, and refrigeration appliances. The COP is equal to the Energy Efficiency Ratio (EER) divided by 3.412. The higher the COP, the more efficient the device.

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 system.

Cooling Degree Day
A value used to estimate interior air cooling requirements (load) calculated as the number of degrees per day (over a specified period) that the daily average temperature is above 65 degrees Fahrenheit (or some other, specified base temperature). The daily average temperature is the mean of the maximum and minimum temperatures recorded for a specific location for a 24 hour period.

Climate
The prevailing or average weather conditions of a geographic region.

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 clearing and burning.

Close Coupled
An energy system in which the fuel production equipment is in close proximity, or connected to, the fuel using equipment.

Cleavage of Lateral Epitaxial Films for Transfer
(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 other suitable material) substrate and then is cleaved from the substrate and incorporated into a cell, allowing the substrate to be reused to grow more thin-film GaAs.

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.

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 the need for much of the expensive stack gas clean-up equipment. The particles are collected and recirculated, after passing through a conventional bed, and cooled by boiler internals.

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. The voltage reaches its negative peak exactly 90 degrees before the current reaches its negative peak thus the current lags behind by 90 degrees.

Chlorofluorocarbon
(CFC) A family of chemicals composed primarily of carbon, hydrogen, chlorine, and fluorine whose principal applications are as refrigerants and industrial cleansers and whose principal drawback is the tendency to destroy the Earth's protective ozone layer.

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.

Circuit Breaker
A device used to interrupt or break an electrical circuit when an overload condition exists; usually installed in the positive circuit; used to protect electrical equipment.

Chiller
A device for removing heat from a gas or liquid stream for air conditioning/cooling.

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.

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 density compared to the surrounding air or gas.

Chemical Vapor Deposition
(CVD) A method of depositing thin semiconductor films used to make certain types of solar photovoltaic devices. With this method, a substrate is exposed to one or more vaporized compounds, one or more of which contain desirable constituents. A chemical reaction is initiated, at or near the substrate surface, to produce the desired material that will condense on the substrate.

Chemical Energy
The energy liberated in a chemical reaction, as in the combustion of fuels.

Charge Carrier
A free and mobile conduction electron or hole in a semiconductor.

Charge Controller
An electronic device that regulates the electrical charge stored in batteries so that unsafe, overcharge conditions for the batteries are avoided.

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.

Central Power Plant
A large power plant that generates power for distribution to multiple customers.

Cetane Number
A measure of a fuel's (liquid) ease of self-ignition.

Char
A byproduct of low-temperature carbonization of a solid fuel.

Charcoal
A material formed from the incomplete combustion or destructive distillation (carbonization) of organic material in a kiln or retort, and having a high energy density, being nearly pure carbon. (If produced from coal, it is coke.) Used for cooking, the manufacture of gunpowder and steel (notably in Brazil), as an absorbent and decolorizing agent, and in sugar refining and solvent recovery.

Cellulose Insulation
A type of insulation composed of waste newspaper, cardboard, or other forms of waste paper.

Cellulose
The fundamental constituent of all vegetative tissue; the most abundant material in the world.