Energy TermsRSS

Energy Terms

A system capable of rotating about one axis.

The ability to send or wheel electric power to a customer over a transmission and distribution system that is not owned by the generator (seller) of the power.

The maximum possible voltage across a photovoltaic cell; the voltage across the cell in sunlight when no current is flowing.

A heating system, such as a solar water heater or geothermal heatpump, in which the working fluid is heated and used directly; in an open-loop solar system, the domestic water is circulated in the collector loop.

The processes that a work input/output system undergoes and in which the initial and final states are identical.

The alignment of a building along a given axis to face a specific geographical direction. The alignment of a solar collector, in number of degrees east or west of true south.

A discontinuance of electric power supply.

The process by which materials expel or release gasses.

Air that is taken from the outdoors.

The heat-transfer (exchanger) component of a heatpump, located outdoors, from which heat is collected in the heating mode, or expelled in the cooling mode.

A building element that shades windows, walls, and doors from direct solar radiation and protects these elements from precipitation.

To exceed the design capacity of a device.

A device that converts heat or sunlight directly to electricity, invented by Standford Ovshinsky, that has a unique glass composition that changes from an electrically non-conducting state to a semiconducting state.

Gasoline fuel additives such as ethanol, ETBE, or MTBE that add extra oxygen to gasoline to reduce carbon monoxide pollution produced by vehicles.

A semiconductor (phtovoltaic) device structure that layers an intrinsic semiconductor between a p-type semiconductor and an n-type semiconductor; this structure is most often used with amorphous silicon PV devices.

A semiconductor in which holes carry the current; produced by doping an intrinsic semiconductor with an electron acceptor impurity (e.g., boron in silicon).

P/N

A semiconductor (photovoltaic) device structure in which the junction is formed between a p-type layer and an n-type layer.

The ratio of solar collector array area to actual land area.

The area of glass that fits in the window frame.

A term generally applied to individual solar collectors, and typically to solar photovoltaic collectors or modules.