Renewable Energy Sources

Glossary Amorphous silicon (a-Si): A glassy alloy of silicon and hydrogen (about 10 percent) used in thin-film photovoltaic solar cells to convert sunlight to electricity. Anaerobic Digestion: Combustible gas called biogas produced from biomass through low temperature biological processes. Anthropogenic: Man made. Bagasse: The fiber residue that remains after juice extraction from sugarcane. Baseload: That part of total energy demand that does not vary over a given period of time. Biodiversity: In the most general sense, all aspects of variety in the living world: the richness of living forms ranging from genes and molecules to entire ecosystems, forms and structures. Bioenergy: The conversion of biomass into useful forms of energy such as heat, electricity and liquid fuels. Benefit-cost ratio (BCR): A ratio of estimates of the long-term benefits and costs from an economic decision, typically discounted to net present values. Biogas: The common name for a gas produced by the biological process of anaerobic (without air) digestion of organic material. Biomass: Organic, non-fossil material of biological origin constituting an exploitable energy source. Capital costs: Costs associated with the capital or investment expenditures on land, plant, equipment and inventories. Unlike labor and operating costs these are independent of the level of output. Carbon Dioxide (CO 2): The gas formed in the ordinary combustion of carbon, given out in the breathing of animals, burning of fossil fuels, etc. Human sources are very small in relation to the natural cycle. Carbon tax: A tax based on the carbon content of a fuel so as to internalize environmental externalities associated with climate change. Clean Energy Technologies (CET): Electricity and/or heat producing systems that produce negligible or minimal amounts of environmental pollution compared with conventional technologies. Climate change: A change in climate, which is attributed directly, or indirectly to human activity that alters the composition of the global atmosphere and is in addition to natural climate variability observed over comparable time periods. Combined heat and power (CHP), or cogeneration systems: The waste heat from a steam turbine producing electricity is recovered and used for meeting industrial process heat needs. Commercial Energy: Energy supplied on commercial terms. Distinguished from non-commercial energy comprising fuelwood, agricultural wastes and animal dung collected usually by the user. Dematerialization: Energy conservation, less new energy needed for future economic growth. Discount rate: The annual rate at which the value of future costs is reduced so as to be comparable to the value …