A WECS designed to produce electricity.

The process of characterizing the wind resource, and its energy potential, for a specific site or geographical area.

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 ...

An electrical inverter that inverts direct current electricity to alternating current electricity, and that uses another alternating current source, such as an electric power transmission and distribution network (grid), for voltage and frequency referenc ...

The rate at which electricity is delivered to or by a system, part of a system, or piece of equipment expressed in kilowatts, kilovoltamperes, or other suitable unit, at a given instant or averaged over a specified period of time.

The transmission of electricity through power lines.

A gas or liquid used to move heat energy from one place to another; a refrigerant.

A configuration of an electrical circuit in which the voltage is the same across the terminals. The positive reference direction for each resistor current is down through the resistor with the same voltage across each resistor.

An electricity powered device that extracts available heat from one area (the heat source) and transfers it to another (the heat sink) to either heat or cool an interior space or to extract heat energy from a fluid.

The ratio of the minimum amount of work or energy required to perform a task to the amount actually used.

A passive solar heating system in which the sun warms a heat storage element, and the heat is distributed to the interior space by convection, conduction, and radiation.

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

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 pole used to assist in raising a tower.

A wood or gas burning appliance that is primarily used to provide ambiance to a room. Conventional, masonry fireplaces without energy saving features, often take more heat from a space than they put into it.

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.

A heating system that uses only outside air for combustion and vents combustion gases directly to the outdoors. These systems are less likely to backdraft and to negatively affect indoor air quality.

A measure of the efficiency of converting a fuel to energy and useful work; useful work and energy output divided by higher heating value of input fuel times 100 (for percent).

A type of water heater that has no storage tank thus eliminating storage tank standby losses. Cold water travels through a pipe into the unit, and either a gas burner or an electric element heats the water only when needed.

The heat that flows from the building interior, through the building envelope to the outside environment.