A device that captures the heat from the exhaust air from a building and transfers it to the supply/fresh fresh air entering the building to preheat the air and increase overall heating efficiency.

The transfer of heat through matter or space by means of electromagnetic waves.

Features and vegetation on the outside of or surrounding a building for aesthetics and energy conservation.

A type of window glass that contains special tints that cause the window to absorb as much as 45% of incoming solar energy, to reduce heat gain in an interior space. Part of the absorbed heat will continue to be passed through the window by conduction and ...

The wheeling of electric power in amounts and at prices that generally have been negotiated in longterm contracts between the generator and a distributor or very large consumer of power.

The structural elements (walls, roof, floor, foundation) of a building that encloses conditioned space; the building shell.

A motor in which a three phase (or any multiphase) alternating current (i.e. the working current) is supplied to iron-cored coils (or windings) within the stator. As a result, a rotating magnetic field is set up, which induces a magnetizing current in the ...

The rate of flow of the wind undisturbed by obstacles.

A description of how well people in a lighted space can see to do visual tasks and how visually comfortable they feel in that space.

The quantity of heat produced to change a unit weight of a liquid to vapor with no change in temperature.

The amount of solar radiation striking a surface per unit of time and area.

The arithmetic wind speed over a specified time period and height above the ground (the majority of U.S. National Weather Service anemometers are at 20 feet (6.1 meters).

A building design that uses structural elements of a building to heat and cool a building, without the use of mechanical equipment, which requires careful consideration of the local climate and solar energy resource, building orientation, and landscape fe ...

Both a noun and a verb to describe the exterior surface of building elements (walls, floors, ceilings, etc.) and furniture, and the process of applying it.

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 wood-burning appliance for space and/or water heating and/or cooking.

A mathematical representation of the frequency or ratio that specific wind speeds occur within a specified time interval.

A hydropower plant that is operated at maximum allowable capacity for part of the day and is either shut down for the remainder of the time or operated at minimal capacity level.

The total diffuse and direct insolation on a horizontal surface, averaged over a specified period of time.

The thermodynamic cycle that is an ideal standard for comparing performance of heat-engines, steam power plants, steam turbines, and heat pump systems that use a condensable vapor as the working fluid; efficiency is measured as work done divided by sensib ...