Unit 6: 6.7-6.13
Heliostats
An apparatus containing a movable or driven mirror to reflect sunlight; used in a photoarray farm
Conservation
Protecting and preserving natural resources and the environment
Carbon Neutral
an activity that does not change atmospheric CO2 concentrations
NIMBY
"Not in My Back Yard," describing the tendency of people to protest poor environmental practices when those practices will impact them directly
Three Gorges Dam
A barrier built on the Chang Jiang to control floods; A dam being built over the Yangtze river, 607' high by 1.4 miles wide, which will be completed in 2009. It will be the world's biggest dam.
Hydroelectric Dam
A device used to capture the energy of downward flowing water using a turbine
Turbine
A device with blades that can be turned by water, wind, steam, or exhaust gas from combustion that turns a generator in an electricity-producing plant
Silt
A mixture of rich soil and tiny rocks found on river bottoms; makes for rich soil.
Perpetual Resource
An essentially inexhaustible resource on a human time scale. Solar energy is an example.
Hydroelectric Power
Electricity generated by flowing water
Geothermal Energy
Energy from steam or hot water produced from hot or molten underground rocks.
Ethanol
High sugar plants (corn & sugar cane) are allowed to ferment to produce an alcohol
Biomass
Living or once living material that can be burned to generate energy
PIMBY
Put in my backyard; a willingness to accept what others do not want, usually because of the economic benefit.
Photovoltaic Cells
Solar cells; when light strikes silicon and metallic film activates electrons, energy is then transferred and stored in batteries for use.
Green Architecture
Sustainable architecture that seeks to minimize the negative environmental impacts of buildings
Energy Efficiency
The percentage of energy put into a system that does useful work
Tidal Energy
The use of the force caused by gravitational pull of moon and sun on the Earth's oceans; water as tides come in and out to turn turbines
Net Energy Yield
Total amount of useful energy available from an energy resource or energy system over its lifetime, minus the amount of energy used and unnecessarily wasted in finding, processing, concentrating, and transporting it to users.
Hybrid Vehicles
Vehicles that use a gas engine to drive an electric generator and use the generator and/or storage batteries to power electric motors.
ZEV/BEV
Zero Emissions Vehicle: usually a hydrogen fuel cell powered vehicle.
Wind Farm
a group of wind turbines that produce electricity
Reservoir
a large natural or artificial lake used as a source of water supply.
Xeriscaping
a method of landscaping that uses native plants, soil and water,that are well adapted; used on roofing for examples.
Hydrogen Fuel Cells
creates electricity chemically by combining hydrogen fuel with oxygen from the air
Hydrogen Sulfide
gas released from active geothermal active areas.
Hydrogen Combustion
hydrogen gas is channeled past a platinum catalyst which splits each hydrogen into proton and electron; the protons then bond to a nearby oxygen; generating water
Active Solar Energy
solar radiation captured with photovoltaic cells that convert light energy to electrical energy
Fuel Economy
the relationship between the distance traveled and the amount of fuel consumed by the vehicle
Passive Solar Energy
uses the solar energy that naturally falls on a building to heat it directly
Microhydropower
water is diverted through a pipe to turn a small turbine -generates energy without greatly disrupting the flow of river water