The rate of flow of the wind undisturbed by obstacles.

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 ...

States that energy cannot be created or destroyed, but only changed from one form to another. First Law efficiency measures the fraction of energy supplied to a device or process that it delivers in its output. Also called the law of conservation of energ ...

A company or individual that is not directly regulated as a utility. These entities produce power for their own use and/or sell it to regulated utilities.

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.

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

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 heating system where heat is supplied (radiated) into a room by means of heated surfaces, such as electric resistance elements, hot water (hydronic) radiators, etc.

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

A unit of rate of operation. Electrical Hp: a measure of time rate of mechanical energy output; usually applied to electric motors as the maximum output; 1 electrical Hp is equal to 0.746 kilowatts or 2,545 Btu per hour. Shaft Hp: a measure of the actual ...

A wall to prevent the spread of fire; usually made of non-combustible material.

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

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 device where sunlight concentrated onto a absorber heats it to a high temperature, and the thermal radiation emitted by the absorber is used as the energy source for a photovoltaic cell that is designed to maximize conversion efficiency at the wavelengt ...

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 process of cooling by which a heat absorbing media absorbs heat from one source and radiates the heat away.

A registered trademark of an agency of the state of Nebraska, for an automotive fuel containing a blend of 10 percent ethanol and 90 percent gasoline.

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.

A WECS designed to produce electricity.

In reference to a wind energy conversion system, the area of a turbine blade surface that first comes into contact with the wind.