The amount of solar energy that passes through a glazing material, expressed as a percentage.

A type of solar thermal system where sunlight is concentrated by a curved reflector onto a pipe containing a working fluid that can be used for process heat or to produce electricity. The world's largest solar thermal electric power plants use solar troug ...

Solar Two is a retrofit of the Solar One project (see above). It is demonstrating the technical feasibility and power potential of a solar power tower using advanced molten-salt technology to store energy. Solar Two retains several of the main components ...

A glazed structure, such as greenhouse or "sunspace."

An electromechanical device composed of a coil of wire wound around a cylinder containing a bar or plunger, that when a current is applied to the coil, the electromotive force causes the plunger to move; a series of coils or wires used to produce a magnet ...

An automatic valve that is opened or closed by an electromagnet.

Any fuel that is in solid form, such as wood, peat, lignite, coal, and manufactured fuels such as pulverized coal, coke, charcoal, briquettes, pellets, etc.

In reference to a wind energy conversion device, the ratio of rotor blade surface area to the frontal, swept area that the rotor passes through.

The two times of the year when the sun is apparently farthest north and south of the earth's equator; usually occurring on or around June 21 (summer solstice in northern hemisphere, winter solstice for southern hemisphere) and December 21 (winter solstice ...

A moveable or fixed heater used to heat individual rooms.

Strips of material used to separate multiple panes of glass within the windows.

The amount of heat required to raise a unit mass of a substance through one degree, expressed as a ratio of the amount of heat required to raise an equal mass of water through the same range.

The quantity of heat required to change the temperature of one unit weight of a material by one degree.

The weight of water vapor, per unit weight of dry air.

The volume of a unit weight of a substance at a specific temperature and pressure.

A curve illustrating the variation or spectral irradiance with wavelength.

The monochromatic irradiance of a surface per unit bandwidth at a particular wavelength, usually expressed in Watts per square meter-nanometer bandwidth.

The ratio of energy reflected from a surface in a given waveband to the energy incident in that waveband.

A type of window glazing films used to block the infrared (heat) portion of the solar spectrum but admit a higher portion of visible light.

see Solar Spectrum above.