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Energy Terms | |
| Glossary of Energy Terms | |
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| There are 6 entries in the glossary. | ||
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| Term | Definition | |
| WATT | A unit of measure of electric power at a point in time, as capacity or demand. One watt of power maintained over time is equal to one joule per second. Some Christmas tree lights use one watt. The Watt is named after Scottish inventor James Watt and is capitalized when shortened to w and used with other abbreviations, as in kWh. | |
| WATT-HOUR | One watt of power expended for one hour. One thousandth of a kilowatt-hour. | |
| WEATHERSTRIPPING | Specially designed strips, seals and gaskets installed around doors and windows to limit air leakage. | |
| WHOLESALE COMPETITION | A system whereby a distributor of power would have the option to buy its power from a variety of power producers, and the power producers would be able to compete to sell their power to a variety of distribution companies. | |
| WIND | Wind power is the conversion of wind energy into more useful forms, usually electricity using wind turbines. At the end of 2006, worldwide capacity of wind-powered generators was 74,223 megawatts; although it currently produces less than 1% of world-wide electricity use, it accounts for approximately 18% of electricity use in Denmark, 9% in Spain, and 7% in Germany. Globally, wind power generation more than quadrupled between 2000 and 2006. Most modern wind power is generated in the form of electricity by converting the rotation of turbine blades into electrical current by means of an electrical generator. In windmills (a much older technology) wind energy is used to turn mechanical machinery to do physical work, like crushing grain or pumping water. 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 toxic atmospheric and greenhouse gas emissions if used to replace fossil-fuel-derived electricity. The intermittency of wind seldom creates problems when using wind power at low to moderate penetration levels.[1] | |
| WIRES CHARGE | A broad term which refers to charges levied on power suppliers or their customers for the use of the transmission or distribution wires. | |
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