Glossary of Terms

In the clean technology and energy industries, the lingo can get a little confusing. We've put together this glossary to help familiarize you with key terms you'll see here and on related websites so that you can better understand and share with your friends why renewable energy credits and carbon offsets work.

Glossary:

additionality: Additionality is a term used to describe the fact that a carbon reduction or renewable energy project would not have occurred had it not taken into account its ability to sell carbon offsets or renewable energy credits (RECs), respectively. More succinctly, a project has proven additionality if it is beyond business-as-usual.

cap and trade: Cap and trade is an approach used to control carbon dioxide pollution by providing economic incentives for achieving reductions in emissions. A cap for pollution is established and reduced overtime. Companies that reduce their emissions faster than the cap can trade their extra reductions to companies that have reduced their emissions more slowly.

carbon dioxide (CO2): CO2 is a chemical compound built of two oxygen atoms covalently bonded to a single carbon atom. Carbon dioxide pollution is the leading cause of climate change.

carbon footprint: A measure of your environmental impact from everyday activities such as flying, driving, and using electricity. A "carbon footprint" is most often expressed in pounds or metric tons of carbon dioxide.

carbon mitigation: See “carbon reduction project”

carbon offsets: Carbon offsets allow consumers to reduce the environmental impact of their lifestyles beyond what they are able to conserve. By purchasing carbon offsets in the form of verified emission reductions (VERs) equal to the estimated impact of ones driving or flying, an individual can reduce their impact and do their part to fight climate change.

carbon reduction project: A carbon reduction project is a business initiative that receives funding because of the reduction in emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs) that will result from the projects efforts.

Clean Development Mechanisms (CDM): A system in the Kyoto Protocol allowing countries with a greenhouse gas reduction commitment to purchase carbon offsets from projects that reduce emissions in developing countries as an alternative to more expensive emission reductions in their own countries.

climate change: The change of climate patterns within the earth's atmosphere. Currently, "climate change" is used synonymously with "global warming" and refers to the rapic heating of the earth's atmosphere due primarily to increased carbon dioxide levels from human activity, especially the burning of fossil fuels.

conventional electricity: Electricity generated from non-renewable sources like fossil fuels. Conventional fuel sources include coal, natural gas, oil, nuclear, and large hydro.

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA): EPA is a government agency that leads United States environmental science, research, education and assessment efforts. The mission of the Environmental Protection Agency is to protect human health and the environment. Since 1970, EPA has been working for a cleaner, healthier environment for the American people. Visit their website here. http://www.epa.gov.

Environmental Resources Trust (ERT): ERT is a Washington, DC-based, non-profit organization founded in 1996 to pioneer the use of market forces to protect and improve the global environment. ERT verifies carbon offsets, among their other environmental projects. Visit their website here. http://www.ert.net/.

fossil fuels: Fossil Fuels are hydrocarbons (primarily coal, oil, and natural gas). Most electricity today is generated by burning fossil fuels. The burning of fossil fuels causes emissions of carbon dioxide, the leading cause of climate change.

green power: See “renewable energy”

Green-e Energy: Green-e Energy was established by the non-profit Center for Resource Solutions to provide information and an objective standard for consumers to compare renewable energy options, and to verify that consumers get what they pay for. For more information on Green-e Energy certification requirements, call 1-888-63-GREEN or log on to http://www.green-e.org.

greenhouse gases: Greenhouse gases are gaseous constituents of the atmosphere, both natural and man made that effect the temperature of the earth. The primary GHG include carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide.

kilowatt hour: A kilowatt hour is a unit of energy equal to 1,000 watt-hours. Power companies produce energy which is often purchased by the customer in units of kilowatt hours. Many electric utility companies use the kilowatt hour for billing because the typical consumer can readily conceptualize the notion of "using a kilowatt for one hour." Megawatt-hours are used for metering of larger amounts of electrical energy. For example, a power plant's daily output is likely to be measured in megawatt-hours.

kyoto protocol: The Kyoto Protocal are the rules set forth by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. This was the first international agreement on the coordinated reduction of greenhouse gases (GHGs). The United States does not participate.

megawatt hour: One thousand kilowatt hours. See "kilowatt hours".

metric ton: A metric ton is the unit of measurement used for large amounts of carbon dioxide. This "ton" based on the metric system, rather than the standard system used in the United States. A metric ton is equivalent to 1,000 kilograms.

power grid: Electric power transmission (sometimes referred to as a grid) is a process in the transmitting of electricity to consumers. The term refers to the bulk transfer of electrical power from place to place. Typically, power transmission is between the power plant and a substation near a populated area. It is then distributed from the substation to consumers.

Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI): RGGI is a regional initiative by states in the Northeastern United States to reduce greenhouse gas emissions with a cap and trade system.

renewable energy: Renewable energy (also referred to as clean energy, or green energy) is defined as "energy derived from resources that are regenerative or for all practical purposes can not be depleted." Renewable energy sources contribute approximately 25% of human energy use worldwide. The use of wind, water, and solar power are widespread in developed and developing countries; but the mass production of electricity using renewable energy sources has become more commonplace only recently, reflecting the major threats of climate change due to pollution, exhaustion of fossil fuels, and the environmental, social and political risks of fossil fuels and nuclear power.

renewable energy credit (REC): Renewable Energy Credits (RECs) are also know as Green tags or Tradable Renewable Certificates (TRCs). They are a market mechanism that represents the environmental benefits associated with generating electricity from renewable energy sources. A wind farm is credited with one Renewable Energy Credit for every 1000 kWh of electricity it produces. A certifying agency gives each REC a unique identification number to make sure it doesn't get double-counted. The clean energy is then fed into the electrical grid.

Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS): A Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) is a regulatory policy that requires the increased production of renewable energy sources such as wind, solar, biomass, and geothermal energies.

U.S. Department of Energy (DOE): The Department of Energy's overarching mission is to advance the national, economic, and energy security of the United States. Visit their website here. http://www.energy.gov/index.htm.

Verified Emission Reductions (VERs): See “carbon offsets”

Voluntary Carbon Standard (VCS): Voluntary Carbon Standard (VCS) is a program that sets forth strenuous quality standards for and verification of carbon offsets. Visit their website here. www.v-c-s.org/index.html

wind farm: A wind farm is a collection of wind turbines in the same location and is used for the generation of wind power electricity. A wind turbine is a machine for converting the kinetic energy in wind into mechanical energy. If the mechanical energy is used directly by machinery, such as a pump or grinding stones, the machine is usually called a windmill. If the mechanical energy is then converted to electricity, the machine is called a wind generator.

wind power: Wind power is the conversion of wind energy into electricity using wind turbines. Globally, wind power generation more than quadrupled between 1999 and 2005. Most modern wind power is generated in the form of electricity by converting the rotation of turbine blades into electrical currents by means of an electrical generator. Wind power is used in large scale wind farms for national electrical grids as well as in small individual turbines for providing electricity to rural residences or grid-isolated locations. Wind energy is ample, renewable, widely distributed, clean, and reduces the greenhouse effect when used to replace fossil-fuel-derived electricity.

wind power2: Power derived from the wind and facilitated by wind turbines. Also used to refer to renewable energy credits (RECs) from wind farms.

wind turbine: A rotary engine driven by the wind in which the kinetic energy of a moving fluid is converted into mechanical energy by causing a bladed rotor to rotate.