MANAGING ENERGY EFFICIENCY AND RENEWABLE ENERGY PROJECTS

MASTER GLOSSARY | RESOURCE

MASTER GLOSSARY
MODULES 1 - 4
Active solar technology: Using the sun’s energy with active mechanical systems.

Alternative energy: Renewable modes of generating energy that replace non-

renewable modes.

Anemometer: An instrument for measuring wind speed or any gas current.

Biofuel: A fuel created from living matter.

Biogas digester: A large tank or container where organic matter decomposes or is

broken down through a process called anaerobic digestion.

Borehole: A deep and narrow hole made in the ground to provide acces to the heat
produced by earth.

Building envelope: Includes all the components (foundation, exterior walls and doors,
windows, and roof) that separate a building’s interior from the outdoors.

Carbon neutral: No net release of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.

Community Energy Plan (CEP): Uses a community’s energy and sustainability goals to
create a customized energy action plan.

Distribution: The act of carrying of electricity from the transmission system to end
users.

Ecological Footprint: A resource accounting tool that measures how much productive
land and water is required to produce the goods consumed and assimilate the waste
generated by human activity. (Source: World Wildlife Federation).

Emissions: The production and discharge of something (ex: gas or radiation).

Energy: The power resulting from the utilization of physical or chemical resources.

Energy audit: An inspection and analysis of how a building uses, creates, and wastes
energy.

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 MANAGING ENERGY EFFICIENCY AND RENEWABLE ENERGY PROJECTS
MASTER GLOSSARY | RESOURCE

Energy Conservation Measures (ECMS): Any type of project or technology

implemented to reduce energy consumption in a building.

Energy efficiency: Using less energy to perform the same task, ultimately eliminating
energy waste.

ENERGY STAR: A U.S. government program that promotes energy efficiency. The
ENERGY STAR label indicates a product offers higher-than-average levels of energy
efficiency based on Natural Resources Canada (NRCan) standards.

Ethanol: A fuel produced by the natural fermentation of sugars.

Food-Energy-Water Nexus: An approach to consider the interactions between water,

food, and energy and that the three sectors are inextricably linked. Action in one
sector often affects the other two.

Generation: The process of producing electrical power from other forms of energy.

Generators: Devices that capture the heat released when bio-resources, such as
wood and other fuels, burn and convert the heat into electricity.

Geoexchange energy: An electrically powered heating and cooling system that

utilizes the ground just below the earth’s surface for both a heat source and heat
storage.

Geothermal energy: The extraction of heat in the form of hot water or steam found
kilometres below the earth’s surface.

Gigajoule (GJ): A metric energy measure that is typically used to measure natural gas
use.

Global hectares: A global hectare (gha) is a common unit that encompasses the
average productivity of all the biologically productive land and sea area in the world
in a given year. (Source: Global Footprint Network).

Greenhouse Gas (GHG): A gas that contributes to the greenhouse effect by

absorbing infrared radiation.

Interconnection: The connection of an energy system that generates electricity to

the grid.

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 MANAGING ENERGY EFFICIENCY AND RENEWABLE ENERGY PROJECTS
MASTER GLOSSARY | RESOURCE

Kilowatt and Kilowatt-hours: One kilowatt (kW) equals 1,000 watts. One kilowatt-hour
(kWh) is one hour of electricity consumption at a rate of 1,000 watts.

Passive solar technology: Using the sun’s energy without active mechanical systems.

Photovoltaics: The technology used in solar panels, convert energy from the sun into
electricity.

Plug load: The energy used by electronic devices that are plugged into a wall socket.

Project charter: A document that provides a shared understanding of a project’s

preliminary scope, objectives, and participants such as the project sponsor and key
stakeholders.

Project plan: A plan used by a project team to guide and control the execution of a
project.

R-value: The ability for the walls, roof, doors, windows, and floor of a building to resist
heat moving through them is called thermal resistance, commonly presented as a
resistance value or R-value.

Renewable energy: Using energy derived from resources that do not deplete or can
be replenished.

Retrofit: Improvements, such as modifications or upgrades, to a building’s energy

system.

Standby losses: Energy losses related to keeping hot water standing by in a storage
tank, so it is ready to use at a moment’s notice.

Sustainability: An interconnected and nested framework that balances economic,

social and environmental systems. In this nested framework, sustainability balances
the intergenerational economic needs of people and their communities within the
context of the environment. This balance is achieved by meeting the needs of the
present without comprising the needs of future generations.

Sustainable energy: Forms of energy that meet present energy needs without
compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs
tCO2e: The tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent that a sustainable energy project
would offset.

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 MANAGING ENERGY EFFICIENCY AND RENEWABLE ENERGY PROJECTS
MASTER GLOSSARY | RESOURCE

tCO2e: The tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent that a sustainable energy project
would offset.

Thermal bridging: An area or component of an object that has higher thermal

conductivity than the surrounding materials, creating a path of least resistance for
heat transfer.

Thermal energy: A type of kinetic energy that is transferred to an object or system in

the form of heat.

Transesterification: A chemical process in which alcohol, a chemical catalyst, and oils,

fats, or grease react and convert to biodiesel fuel.

Transmission: The bulk movement of electrical energy from a generation site to an

electrical substation.

Turbines: Devices that allow wind or water to turn propeller-like blades around a
rotor, which spins a generator to create electricity.

U-value: A measurement that indicates the capacity of the window material to resist
heat flow. A lower U-value is better.

Watt: A watt (W) measures the rate at which electricity is used at a specific moment.

Watt-hour: A watt-hour is a combined measurement of how fast the electricity is used

(watts) and the length of time it is used (hours).

Western worldview: In general terms, a view that typically does not value
traditional knowledge and tends to be concerned with science. It concentrates on
compartmentalized knowledge and then focuses to understand the larger picture.

Work breakdown structure (WBS): A project management tool that visually breaks
down and organizes a project into manageable tasks for the project team.

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