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 ...

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

The amount of heat that a material can absorb and store.

Any device (or plant) that follows the sun's apparent movement across the sky.

The process by which materials expel or release gasses.

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.

In alternating current, the current goes from zero potential or voltage to a maximum in one direction, back to zero, and then to a maximum potential or voltage in the other direction. The number of complete cycles per second determines the current frequen ...

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 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.

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

A coil of tungsten wire suspended in a vacuum or inert gas-filled bulb. When heated by electricity the tungsten "filament" glows.

A type of heating appliance similar to a fireplace, but much more efficient and clean burning. They are made of masonry and have long channels through which combustion gases give up their heat to the heavy mass of the stove, which releases the heat slowly ...

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

Individual rooms or zones in a building where temperature is controlled separately from other rooms or zones.

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.

One thousand kilowatt-hours or 1 million watt-hours.

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.

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 ratio of fuel energy input as heat per unit of net work output; a measure of a power plant thermal efficiency, generally expressed as Btu per net kilowatt-hour.

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