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Renewable Energy FAQ 

subtitled: Frequently Confused Concepts

I will attempt to provide a glossary of terms used in the energy, renewable energy, and electronics industries, as well as conversion formula's, and related FAQ's . Please e-mail me with link suggestions and/or corrections. At some point in the future I'll try to enable a database with search capability. Steve Spence < sspence@webconx.com >

Power is the rate of energy release at a given instant in time. Energy is power integrated over time. Power is measured in watts, kilowatts and horsepower. Energy is measured in joules (watt-seconds) or kilowatt-hours. A power level of one watt that continues for one second equals one joule; the integrated energy from a 100-watt light that runs for 60 seconds equals 6000 joules. 4.18 joules equal 1 calorie, which is enough energy to raise the temperature of one gram of water by one degree Celsius. A Calorie (as in food) is 1000 calories, about 4 Btu, or enough to raise 1 kg of water 1 C.

In U.S. industry, thermal energy is sometimes measured in Btu (British Thermal Units). A Btu is the energy it takes to raise one pound of water one degree Fahrenheit. One BTU equals 1,055 joules. One horsepower equals 746 watts, or 42 Btu/min.

Exactly what is horsepower? Horsepower is defined as the amount of energy or work required to raise a weight of 33,000 pounds a height of one foot in one minute of time or to overcome or create a force which is equivalent to doing that amount of work. Therefore in simplified terms, a horsepower is 33,000 foot pounds of work done in one minute. However, horse power may be required at various power points of the engine and the calculation must be accordingly. For instance, the horse power generated by an engine, as indicated by the power in the cylinders, may not be the actual power which can be utilized for work as there is the friction of the engine to be considered. Then there is "brake" horsepower which is the actual horsepower delivered to the engine shaft and which can be used for work, and the "effective" horsepower, etc. The following definitions should add some clarity:

Indicated Horsepower

This represents the power developed in the engine cylinder as obtained from the pressure in the cylinders. This is pressure obtained from an indicator which shows cylinder pressures. Indicated horsepower does not represent the actual useful power delivered by the engine.

Brake Horsepower

This is the actual horse power delivered by the engine to the shaft. It is equal to the "indicated horsepower" less the friction of the engine. It is useful horsepower and is also called the "shaft horsepower".

Effective Horsepower

This is the final horse power delivered to equipment. An engine may be operating compressors, pumps and auxiliary equipment as part of its own power production needs, and the remaining power is therefore the effective power for drive. The difference between indicated horsepower and effective horsepower may be as much as 25%.

From "Tractor & Equipment Service" by J. E. Badley

Ampere | Ampere Hour | Volt | Current | Resistance | Ohm's Law for DC circuits | Watts | Power | Power Factor | Quad

watts = volts * amps * power factor

The power factor is the ratio between the real power and the
product of the current and voltage.  It is the cosine of the phase angle
between the AC voltage and the AC current. http://phact.org/e/z/freewire.htm

Quad = Quadrillion BTU's

Glossaries:

 

Terms of the Environment
Revised Edition
Introduction

Copies of the "Terms of Environment" may be ordered from the National Service Center for Environmental Publications. Include the title and document order number, EPA175B97001, when placing order. http://www.epa.gov/OCEPAterms/index.htm

http://www.solardome.com/SolarDome40.html

http://www.eren.doe.gov/consumerinfo/glossary.html

http://www.pvpower.com/glossary.html

http://fusedweb.pppl.gov/Glossary/glossary.html

http://www.nuke-energy.com/html/glossary.html

http://www.energy.ca.gov/glossary/

http://www.infinitepower.com/resglossary.html

http://www.eeexchange.org/solar/glossary.html

http://www.ytmag.com/articles/artint142.htm

http://www.enterasys.com/support/power/glossary-pwr-btu.html

http://www.ohiosemi.com/definitions.html

http://www.redivoltmfg.com/glossary.html

Formula Conversions:

Welcome to The Constants and Equations Pages, an award winning project aiming to provide one of the most comprehensive resources of science, math and astronomy related information anywhere on the internet. There are currently nearly 2500 pages of freely-available information for you to use. http://tcaep.co.uk/

Welcome to Today's Measure to Measure Conversion Calculator. Here you will be able to convert from one measure to another. What is possible is listed below. Today's Internet Converter is under continuing development, over time you will note more and more measures that it can convert.
It is important to note that Today's Internet Measure to Measure Converter is intended for 'everyday' use by ordinary people, it is not trying to be an extremely accurate, engineering or scientific converter. You can expect the conversions are fairly close, but there is no ambtion to make it a precision calculator. http://202.139.249.50/convert.htm

MARTINDALE'S THE REFERENCE DESK - CALCULATORS ON-LINE CENTER

Currently the Calculators On-Line Center

Part I: A-E | Part I: F-H | Part I: I-N | Part I: O-Z

Part II: Mathematics | Part IIA: Statistics

Part III: Science: A-Z
Part III: Science: Chemistry
Part III: Science: Physics & Astrophysics

Part IV: Engineering: A-Z
Part IV: Engineering: Electrical & Computer

contains over "11,120" Calculators created

by over "2,125" very "CREATIVE"

Individuals, Businesses & Tax Supported Entities World Wide - http://www-sci.lib.uci.edu/HSG/RefCalculators.html

http://www.microlease.com/helpdesk/equations_f.html

http://clinweb2.kumc.edu/formulas/convert.htm

http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0001726.html

FAQ's

Welcome to the Sci.Electronics.Repair Frequently Asked Question(s) (or S.E.R FAQ for short) Home Page. This site features Samuel M. Goldwasser's latest and greatest "Notes on the Troubleshooting and Repair of..." series of comprehensive repair guides for consumer electronics equipment and other household devices. There is also a great deal of other information of interest to the electronics hobbyist, experimenter, technician, engineer, and possibly even the dentist and poet. Included are the now quite comprehensive and massive "Sam's Laser FAQ", many new schematics, and links to over 1,000 technology related sites. In addition, there are a variety of documents from other sources on electronics troubleshooting, repair, and other related topics. http://www.repairfaq.org/

Leaking electricity is essentially electricity which is wasted when a consumer electronic product is turned off. When switched off, home electronics and other small household appliances require a small amount of power to operate features such as channel memory, remote control, and lighting displays, but much of that power serves no useful, purpose and is wasted. http://www.epa.gov/appdstar/home_electronics/faq.html

Information about standards

http://www.us-epanorama.net/standards.html

Index

  • Information about standards and de-facto standards
  • Standard FAQs
  • Standardization organizations
  • Standards information web pages
Basic Electronics FAQ - URL: www.basicelectronics.com/faq.htm

I have decided to post this despite my dislike of FAQs. There are only a few items right now but as time goes on, I will add more. Please feel free to send me sections to post on the page as well. Full credit will be given.

Thanks, John Adams 

Free Energy FAQ

Madison Gas & Electric, Madison Wisconsin - Wind FAQ

Free energy with wires and magnets - can you come out ahead?

The basics of magnets and wires for free energy buffs.

Cap Diamont BBS Renewable Energy FAQ - http://www.geocities.com/capdiamont/renewableFAQ.html

  • Provide answers to commonly answered questions in the renewable energy newsgroups.
  • Provide the basics to do a survey of renewable energy resources on your site.
  • Provide the basic steps to prepare yourself and home for renewable energy.
  • Provide a basic listing of scams/energy ideas that won't work, that usually pop-up from time to time in the newsgroups.



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