Glossary

Energy glossary

747 definitions · page 9 of 13.

NON-DEPLETABLE ENERGY SOURCES: Energy which is not obtained from depletable energy sources. [See California Code of Regulations, Title 24, Section 2-5302]
NON-FIRM ENERGY: Electricity that is not required to be delivered or to be taken under the terms of an electric purchase contract.
NONRESIDENTIAL BUILDING: any building which is heated or cooled in its interior, and is of an occupancy type other than Type H, I, or J, as defined in the Uniform Building Code, 1973 edition, as adopted by the International Conference of Building Officials.
NOPR: A Notice of Proposed Rulemaking. A designation used by the FERC for some of its dockets.
NOx: Oxides of nitrogen that are a chief component of air pollution that can be produced by the burning of fossil fuels. Also called nitrogen oxides.
NRTA: Northwest Regional Transmission Association. A subregional transmission group within the Western Regional Transmission Association.
NUCLEAR ENERGY: Power obtained by splitting heavy atoms (fission) or joining light atoms (fusion). A nuclear energy plant uses a controlled atomic chain reaction to produce heat. The heat is used to make steam run conventional turbine generators.
NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION (NRC): An independent federal agency that ensures that strict standards of public health and safety, environmental quality and national security are adhered to by individuals and organizations possessing and using radioactive materials. The NRC is the agency that…
NUG: A non-utility generator. A generation facility owned and operated by an entity who is not defined as a utility in that jurisdictional area.
OAPEC: Acronym for Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries founded in 1968 for cooperation in economic and petroleum affairs. See OPEC.
OBLIGATION TO SERVE: The obligation of a utility to provide electric service to any customer who seeks that service, and is willing to pay the rates set for that service. Traditionally, utilities have assumed the obligation to serve in return for an exclusive monopoly franchise.
OCCUPANCY SENSOR: A control device that senses the presence of a person in a given space, commonly used to control lighting systems in buildings.
OCEAN THERMAL GRADIENT (OTG): Temperature differences between deep and surface water. Deep water is likely to be 25 to 45 degrees Fahrenheit colder. The term also refers to experimental technology that could use the temperature differences as a means to produce energy.
OCTANE: A rating scale used to grade gasoline as to its antiknock properties. Also any of several isometric liquid paraffin hydrocarbons, C8H18. Normal octane is a colorless liquid found in petroleum boiling at 124.6 degrees Celsius.
OCTANE RATING: A measure of a gasolineàs resistance to exploding too early in the engine cycle, which causes knocking. The higher the rating, the lower the chance of premature ignition.
OFFROAD: Any nonstationary device, powered by an internal combustion engine or motor, used primarily off the highways to propel, move, or draw persons or property, and used in any of the following applications: marine vessels, construction/farm equipment…
OHM: A unit of measure of electrical resistance. One volt can produce a current of one ampere through a resistance of one ohm.
OIL SHALE: A type of rock containing organic matter that produces large amounts of oil when heated to high temperatures.
OLIGOPOLY: A few sellers who exert market control overprices.
OPEC: Acronym for Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries founded in 1960 for unify and coordinate petroleum polices of the members. Headquarters is in Vienna, Austria.
OPTIONS: An option is a contractual agreement that gives the holder the right to buy (call option) or sell (put option) a fixed quantity of a security or commodity (for example, a commodity or commodity futures contract), at a fixed price, within a specified period…
ORIENTATION: the position of a building relative to the points of a compass.
ORIGINAL EQUIPMENT MANUFACTURER (OEM): refers to the manufacturers of complete vehicles or heavyduty engines, as contrasted with remanufacturers, converters, retrofitters, up-fitters, and repowering or rebuilding contractors who are overhauling engines, adapting or converting vehicles or engines…
OUTAGE (Electric utility): An interruption of electric service that is temporary (minutes or hours) and affects a relatively small area (buildings or city blocks). See BLACKOUT.
OUTER CONTINENTAL SHELF (OCS): The submerged lands extending from the out limit of the historic territorial sea (typically three miles) to some undefined outer limit, usually a depth of 600 feet. In the United States, this is the portion of the shelf under federal jurisdiction. See…
OUTSIDE AIR: Air taken from outdoors and not previously circulated through the HVAC system.
OVER GENERATION: A condition that occurs when total PX participant demand is less that or equal to the sum of regulatory must-take generation, regulatory must-run generation, and reliability must-run generation.
OVERHANG: Any horizontal projection that serves as a shading element for a window.
OXYGENATE: a term used in the petroleum industry to denote octane components containing hydrogen, carbon and oxygen in their molecular structure. Includes ethers such as MTBE and ETBE and alcohols such as ethanol or methanol. The oxygenate is a prime ingredient in…
OZONE: A kind of oxygen that has three atoms per molecule instead of the usual two. Ozone is a poisonous gas, but the ozone layer in the upper atmosphere shields life on earth from deadly ultraviolet radiation from space. The molecule contains three oxygen atoms…
PADD (PETROLEUM ADMINISTRATION FOR DEFENSE DISTRICTS): The United States is divided by the U.S. Department of Energy into five PADD regions for planning purposes. The states within PADD V are Alaska, Arizona, California, Hawaii, Nevada, Oregon and Washington, which are linked closely by their oil supply network…
PARALLEL PATH FLOW: As defined by NERC, this refers to the flow of electric power on an electric system's transmission facilities resulting from scheduled electric power transfers between two other electric systems. (Electric power flows on all interconnected parallel paths in…
PARTIAL LOAD: An electrical demand that uses only part of the electrical power available. [See California Code of Regulations, Title 24, Section 2-5342(e) 2]
PARTICULATE MATTER (PM): Unburned fuel particles that form smoke or soot and stick to lung tissue when inhaled. A chief component of exhaust emissions from heavy-duty diesel engines.
PASSIVE SOLAR ENERGY: Use of the sun to help meet a building¹s energy needs by means of architectural design (such as arrangement of windows) and materials (such as floors that store heat, or other thermal mass).
PASSIVE SOLAR SYSTEM: A solar heating or cooling system that uses no external mechanical power to move the collected solar heat.
PBR - PERFORMANCE-BASED REGULATION: rate-setting mechanism which attempts to link rewards (generally profits) to desired results or targets. PBR sets rates, or components of rates,for a period of time based on external indices rather than a utility's cost-of-service. Other definitions include…
PCBs (POLYCHLORONATED BIPHENYLS): A group of organic compounds used in the manufacture of plastics and formerly used as a coolant in electric transformers. In the environment, PCBs are highly toxic to aquatic life. They persist in the environment for long periods of time and are biologically…
PEAK LOAD: The highest electrical demand within a particular period of time. Daily electric peaks on weekdays occur in late afternoon and early evening. Annual peaks occur on hot summer days.
PEAK LOAD OR PEAK DEMAND: The electric load that corresponds to a maximum level of electric demand in a specified time period.
PEAK LOAD POWER PLANT: A power generating station that is normally used to produce extra electricity during peak load times.
PEAKER: A nickname for a power generating station that is normally used to produce extra electricity during peak load times.
Peaking Capacity: The capacity of generating equipment intended for operation during the hours of highest daily, weekly or seasonal loads.
PEAKING UNIT: A power generator used by a utility to produce extra electricity during peak load times.
PEAT: A heterogeneous mixture of partly decomposed organic matter that has accumulated in a water saturated environment over a very long period of time. Peat geologically is considered a very young form of coal and has a heating value of 6,600 Btu/pound in situ…
PERM: The measurement of water vapor through different materials measured in perm-inch (mass of water vapor moving through a unit area in unit time).
PETRODOLLARS: Money paid to other countries for oil imported to the United States.
PETROLEUM: Oil as found it its natural state under the ground.
PG&E: The acronym for Pacific Gas and Electric Company an electric and natural gas utility serving the central and northern California region.
PHOTOCELL: A device that produces an electric reaction to visible radiant energy (light).
PHOTOSYNTHESIS: A process by which green plants change carbon dioxide into oxygen and organic materials. The energy for this process comes from sunlight.
PHOTOVOLTAIC CELL: A semiconductor that converts light directly into electricity.
PIPELINE: A line of pipe with pumping machinery and apparatus (including valves, compressor units, metering stations, regulator stations, etc.) for conveying a liquid or gas.
POOLCO: Poolco refers to a specialized, centrally dispatched spot market power pool that functions as a short-term market. It establishes the short-term market clearing price and provides a system of long-term transmission compensation contracts. It is regulated to…
PORTFOLIO MANAGEMENT: The functions of resource planning and procurement under a traditional utility structure. Portfolio management can also be defined as the aggregation and management of a diverse portfolio of supply (and demand-reduction) resources which will act as a hedge…
POWER: Electricity for use as energy.
POWER AUTHORITIES: Quasi-governmental agencies that perform all or some of the functions of a public utility.
POWER PLANT: (Note: Two separate words not one word.)A central station generating facility that produces energy.
POWER PLANT (Note: Two separate words not one word.): A central station generating facility that produces energy.
POWER PLANT (Note: Two separate words, not one word.): A central station generating facility that produces energy.