Green power glossary
Biomass energy
A decomposing landfill of waste or garbage that gives off heat. This energy can be used to heat buildings or create electricity.
Blended product
Power that contains a percentage of renewable energy blended with power generated from traditional sources.
Block product
Green power sold in standard units of energy at a fixed price. The customer chooses how many blocks of energy to purchase each month.
Brown power
Electricity generated from coal.
Energy efficiency
Using less energy to accomplish tasks such as heating your home or washing clothes. Using less energy reduces air pollution and lowers costs. To save energy in your home, you can use weather stripping, a water heater blanket or compact fluorescent light bulbs.
Fuel mix
The proportions of each fuel type (nuclear, coal, solar, oil, wind, hydro, etc.) used to generate electricity. Also referred to as the resource mix.
Green power
Electricity that is generated from renewable energy sources and is purchased voluntarily by residential and non-residential consumers. Also referred to as renewable energy, or clean energy.
Green power product
A product that contains a higher percentage of renewable electricity than provided via standard electrical service. Green power products are supplied, priced and marketed by utilities or competitive suppliers.
Green tags
See renewable energy credits.
Grid
The network of wires and cables that transport electricity from a power plant to your home or business.
Hydro power
Electricity generated by the flow of falling water, usually controlled by dams.
Landfill gas
Gas produced when organic waste materials naturally decompose in a solid-waste landfill. Landfill gas is 50 percent methane, the primary component of natural gas, and 50 percent carbon dioxide. Landfill gas can be collected and used as a fuel for heating or generating electricity.
Photovoltaic cells
Solar panels, usually made of specially-treated silicon, that transfer solar energy from the sun to electrical energy.
Power content label
Much like a nutrition label, the power content label (also known as a resource disclosure label), shows an electricity service provider's generation type in a standardized format. The label may also include prices, terms of contracts with customers, air emissions and labor practices. Some states require standard disclosure labels.
Renewable energy certificates (RECs)
Certificates that represent a bundle of environmental attributes, except the actual electrical energy associated with the generation of renewable electricity. This flexibility enables customers to offset a percentage of their annual electricity use with certificates generated elsewhere. Other commonly used names for RECs include green tags, green energy certificates, or tradable renewable certificates. Emissions avoided through REC purchases are often quantified according to some baseline metric, engineering estimate, or a value deemed by private or government bodies.
Renewable resources
Sources of electricity, such as solar electric, wind, biomass and hydro electric that are non-polluting and naturally replenished.
Retail product
Green power sold in competitive electric markets.
Solar power
Electricity produced from the sun's radiation using photovoltaic cells, also referred to as solar panels.
Traditional power
Power produced from fuels such as coal, oil, and nuclear.
Wind farms
Wind power plants, or wind farms as they are sometimes called, are clusters of wind machines used to produce electricity.
Wind power
Energy generated from large propellers that when spun by the wind, drive turbines that power generators and create electricity.
Wind tower
Towers made from tubular steel to which wind turbines are attached. Because wind speed increases with height, taller towers enable turbines to capture more wind and generate more electricity.
Wind turbine
A machine that captures the energy of the wind and transfers the motion to an electric generator shaft for the creation of electricity.
(05/31/07)
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