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 ...

The amount of heat introduced to a space from all heat producing sources, such as building occupants, lights, appliances, and from the environment, mainly solar energy.

Alternating current is carried by conductors and a ground to residential, commercial, or industrial consumers. The waveform of the phase power appears as a single continuous sine wave at the system frequency whose amplitude is the rated voltage of the pow ...

A type of motor designed to operate precisely at the synchronous speed with no slip in the full-load speeds (rpm).

A measure of the number of cycles or wavelengths of electrical energy per second; U.S. electricity supply has a standard frequency of 60 hertz.

The price paid for goods or services at the time of a transaction; a price that has not been adjusted to account for inflation.

A graph representing the relationship between the power available from the wind and the wind speed. The power from the wind increases proportionally with the cube of the wind speed.

Site planning that accounts for natural solar heating and cooling processes and their relationship to building shape, orientation, and siting.

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 ...

To exceed the design capacity of a device.

A unit of pressure for a fluid, commonly used in water pumping and hydropower to express height a pump must lift water, or the distance water falls. Total head accounts for friction head losses, etc.

A measure of the efficiency of an appliance's energy efficiency.

The change in heat content that occurs with a change in phase and without change in temperature.

Alternating current in which three separate pulses are present, identical in frequency and voltage, but separated 120 degrees in phase.

Any coefficient used to calculate heat transmission by conduction, convection, or radiation through materials or structures.

All the components of the appliance used to condition interior air of a building.

An idealized process in which a working fluid (water, air, ammonia, etc) successively changes its state (from a liquid to a gas and back to a liquid) for the purpose of producing useful work or energy, or transferring energy.

The flow of heat from one area to another by conduction, convection, and/or radiation. Heat flows naturally from a warmer to a cooler material or space.

The regular periodic arrangement of atoms or molecules in a crystal of semiconductor material.

Any gaseous, liquid, or solid fuel used for indoor space heating.