Vocab 6 part 1

Nonrenewable Fuels

Nonrenewable energy resources include coal, natural gas, oil, and nuclear energy. Once these resources are used up, they cannot be replaced.

Fossil Fuels

A generic term for non-renewable energy sources such as coal, coal products, natural gas, derived gas, crude oil, petroleum products and non-renewable wastes. These fuels originate from plants and animals that existed in the geological past.

Commercial Energy Sources

The energy sources that are used to generate electricity and that are available in the marketplace with a specific price. The most commercialized forms of commercial energy sources are electricity, coal, and advanced petroleum products.

Subsistence energy sources

are energy sources gathered by individuals for their own immediate needs. Some examples include straw, or sticks.

Energy Efficiency

The amount of energy a fuel provides compared to the amount of energy needed to obtain the fuel

EROEI

Energy return on investment is a ratio that measures the amount of usable energy delivered from an energy source versus the amount of energy used to get that energy resource.

Electricity

The flow of a charged particle, almost always electrons.

Turbine

A machine or engine which uses a stream of air, gas, water, or steam to turn a wheel and produce power.

Electrical Grid

Is the large-scale infrastructure that links the consumer to electrical producers. Utilizes power plants, distribution centers, and transmission lines. The US (with the exception of Texas) has several interstate, interlinked electrical grids which allow for the rediversion of electricity to areas of need.

Combined Cycle Gas Plant

uses both a gas and a steam turbine together to produce up to 50% more electricity from the same fuel than a traditional simple-cycle plant. The waste heat from the gas turbine is routed to the nearby steam turbine, which generates extra power.

Power plant capacity

The maximum level of electric power (electricity) that a power plant can supply at a specific point in time under certain conditions.

Capacity Factor

The ratio of the actual time-averaged power generation to the maximum possible power generation of a particular power plan

Co-generation

is the process in which a single fuel source is used to produce both electrical and thermal energy.

Coal

A solid fuel formed primarily from the remains of trees, ferns, and other plant materials that were preserved 280-360 million years ago

Peat

the surface organic layer of a soil that consists of partially decomposed organic matter, derived mostly from plant material, which has accumulated under conditions of waterlogging, oxygen deficiency, high acidity and nutrient deficiency

Lignite

Lignite is a dark brown to black combustible mineral formed over millions of years by the partial decomposition of plant material subject to increased pressure and temperature in an airless atmosphere. In simple words: Lignite is coal

Anthracite

a very hard form of coal with an extremely high carbon content. It also burns the cleanest of any coal, but unfortunately it is the least abundant and hardest to reach form of coal.

Bituminous Coal

contains a tar like substance know as bitumen. Bitumen is more commonly known as asphalt. It has a carbon content of 60-80% and is hard but fiable.

Petroleum

is a naturally occurring liquid(a fossil fuel) found beneath earth's surface that can be refined into fuel. Petroleum is created by decomposed organic matter. It is used to power things like vehicles and machines, and is also a component of plastic production.

OPEC

a permanent intergovernmental organization of 12 oil-exporting developing nations

Crude Oil

extracted from the earth and later refined into products such as gasoline, jet fuel, waxes, asphalt, lubricating oil, various plastics, and a wide variety of other consumer goods

Refined Oil

Crude oil that has been converted into petroleum products

Exxon Valdez

oil spill was a major environmental disaster that made worldwide headlines in the spring of 1989 and occurred in Alaska's Prince William Sound on March 24, 1989

Natural Gas

Natural gas is a fossil fuel. Like other fossil fuels such as coal and oil, natural gas forms from the plants, animals, and microorganisms that lived millions of years ago.

Liquefied petroleum gas

a type of hydrocarbon gas that is obtained by refining crude oil or processing natural gas. This gas is composed of either propane and butane by themselves or as a mixture of the two.

Oil Sands

are naturally occurring deposits of sand or clay mixed with water and bitumen (which is a thick form of petroleum). This mixture is very thick but can be processed and refined to be usable as fuel.

Bitumen

a black viscous mixture of hydrocarbons obtained naturally or as a residue from petroleum distillation. It is used for road surfacing and roofing.

Coal-Liquified-Fuel

A process of converting coal into liquid hydrocarbons: liquid fuels and petrochemicals

Energy Intensity

is the energy use per unit of of gross domestic product.

Hubbert Curve

Graph projecting the point at which world oil production will reach a maximum and the point when we will run out of oil.

Peak Oil

The point of maximum production of petroleum in the world (or for a given), after which oil production declines. This is also expected to be roughly the midway point of extraction of the world's oil supplies.

Nuclear Fission

a reaction where the nucleus of an atom splits into two or more smaller nuclei, while releasing energy. For instance, when hit by a neutron, the nucleus of an atom of uranium-235 splits into two smaller nuclei, for example a barium nucleus and a krypton nucleus and two or three neutrons.

Uranium-235

An isotope that is special because under certain conditions it can be split and yield a lot of energy in a process called fission. It is used in nuclear power plants and in nuclear reactors that run naval ships and submarines. It is considered a clean energy source, but is also considered non-renewable.

Fuel Rods

A long, slender, zirconium metal tube containing pellets of fissionable material, which provide fuel for nuclear reactors.

Containment Structure

A gas-tight shell or other enclosure around a nuclear reactor to confine fission products that otherwise might be released to the atmosphere in the event of an accident.

Core

The portion of the nuclear reactor where nuclear fuel is stored and the nuclear reactions take place. The fuel is usually low enriched Uranium, which is contained in thousands of individual fuel pins that undergo nuclear fission, thus generating electricity.

Generator

A device that converts mechanical energy into electrical energy

Nuclear Fusion

is a reaction in which two or more atomic nuclei, combine to form one or more different atomic nuclei and subatomic particles.