Here you may find convenient explanations of various terms used.
Baseload Power Plant:
A power plant that runs around the clock and/or never shuts down. Typically large and cheaper nuclear, hydro, coal and gas plants.
Carbon Dioxide:
Carbon dioxide is a chemically inert gas made up of one molecule of carbon and two of oxygen. It is colorless, odorless, and non-toxic, but it is a long-term greenhouse gas that contributes to global climate change, and is in fact the benchmark against which other greenhouse gasses are measured. It is produced in large amounts by the combustion of fossil fuels, and by cellular respiration (i.e., breathing), and is consumed in large amounts by plant growth. As an acid gas, it is mildly acidic when dissolved in water.
CCF:
Centum cubic foot, equal to 100 cubic feet. Common unit of measurement for natural gas. Measured at standard temperature and pressure, 25 degrees Celsius and 1 atmosphere. Typically contains close to 102.3 kBTU of energy.
Combustion:
Chemically, the reaction of a material with oxygen to produce heat. Typically, this is how energy is generated from any sort of fossil fuel, and is the mechanism for over 75% of the world's energy. If you want to be unscientific, you could call combustion "burning" or "setting on fire".
Cord (of wood):
A unit of wood equal to a 'stack' 4 feet by 4 feet by 8 feet, including airspace. Typically contains close to 12,000 kBTU of energy.
Energy:
Energy is classically defined as the ability to do work, and in this case often represents any stage of useful material commonly used to affect physical change in the world today. Energy can represent chemical energy, as in a fuel, or electrical energy, as in what happens when you plug in your computer. Common units of energy include the joule (J), the British Thermal Unit (BTU), and the kilowatt-hour (kWh). For more information, see the post.
Fuel Switching:
The practice of abandoning or converting coal plants in favor of natural gas, which is a cleaner and cheaper. Since 2008, this has been a common practice to avoid the high costs of coal's environmental controls and to take advantage of the low cost of natural gas brought on by shale gas drilling.
Load-Following Power Plant:
Power plants that typically operate every day, but only during high demand. These plants typically cycle on to meet daily demand and turn off at night. Often medium sized gas and coal plants.
Peak Oil:
The idea coined by geologist Marion King Hubbert in 1956 that oil production would follow a bell curve, peaking in 1971, as reserves ran out. Very nearly correct for the United States until 2010, when oil production began to increase again.
Peaker Power Plant:
A power plant that only runs a few times a year during peak demand. Typically smaller gas or oil power plants, these generators are usually expensive and inefficient.
Power:
Power is the amount of energy that is being transferred, generated, or used at once- essentially, energy divided by time. Many appliances list their power draw, which is how much energy the appliance needs to consume to function- i.e., a 60 watt light draws 60 watts at all times it is in operation. Total energy use can be determined by multiplying power by operation time. Common units of power include the watt (W), kilowatt (kW) or British Thermal Unit per second (BTU/s). For more information, see the post.
Quad:
A unit of large-scale energy use, equal to 1 quadrillion (1015) British thermal units. In 2010, the world consumed 510 quads of energy [EIA, 2013].
Terrawatt-Hour (TWh):
A unit of energy equal to 1 trillion (1012) watt-hours.
Therm:
A unit of natural gas indicating 100 kBTU of energy, regardless of the actual amount of gas. In the US, this is often the unit used in customer billing for natural gas.
Ton (Long):
Unit of weight. Equal to 2240 pounds.
Ton (Metric):
Unit of mass. Equal to 1000 kilograms.
Ton (Short):
Unit of weight. Equal to 2,000 pounds.
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