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--- luminous:glossary [2008-02-23 12:28] – created takufoam
+++ luminous:glossary [2008-02-23 12:39] – takufoam
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-PV-Vocabulary
+===== PhoEf glossary =====
-D-Solar Cell: capture photons from sunlight using an array of miniature “tower” structures that resemble high-rise buildings in a city street grid. Animation on: www.gatech.edu/news-room/flash/CNTpv.html
+**3D-Solar Cell:** capture photons from sunlight using an array of miniature “tower” structures that resemble high-rise
+buildings in a city street grid. Animation on: www.gatech.edu/news-room/flash/CNTpv.html
-Amp: short for ampere, the unit used to measure the instantaneous flow of electrons, theoretically, 6.02x1023 electrons.
+**Amp:** short for ampere, the unit used to measure the instantaneous flow of electrons, theoretically, 6.02x1023 electrons.
-Amp-hour: measure of a batteries ability to sustain a flow of energy over time; 60 amp-hours indicated a battery can deliver one amp for sixty hours.
-Balance of System (components): the complete system minus the modules.
-Base-load electricity: the smallest amount of electricity consumed by a utility's customers. Baseload is provided by slow-to-start, relatively inexpensive-to-operate generators, while peak-load is provided by quickly dispatchable sources.
-Biodegradation: is the decomposition of organic material by microorganisms. The term is often used in relation to sewage treatment, environmental remediation (bioremediation) and to plastic materials.
-Charge controller: the device in a stand-alone energy system that feeds electricity from the source, typically a PV array, to the battery bank. The charge controller protects the batteries from overcharging.
-Clean energies: Clean describes any energy source the exploitation of which does not generate significant amounts of pollution, and therefore negatively impact the health of human populations and the biosphere as a whole.
-Current: flow. In a river, the current is usually strongest near the center where the river is deepest. In electrical terms, current means the electrons flowing through a conductor, and is measured in amperes, one amp meaning 6.02x1023 electrons.
-Distributed energies: Distributed describes any energy source that can be deployed – often rapidly - on small, medium or large scales close to the point of consumption.
-Distributed generation (DG): contrasts with centralized generation, a term that characterizes conventional large-scale fossil fuel or nuclear power plant generation.
-Doping: Semiconductors into which tiny quantities of impurities (boron, phosphorus) have been deliberately diffused. This process dramatically alters the behaviour of the semiconductor in a very usefull manner.
-Efficiencies of a PV cell/module/system: the ratio of the maximum electric power and the power of the incident light. The amount of solar energy that strikes the Earth's surface is the equivalent of about 1 kW per square meter. This works out to 1 kiloWatt per hour (kWh) worth of sunlight per hour. A PV-system with an overall conversion efficiency of 10% would produce 0.1 kWh of electricity per hour.
-Usually efficiencies are determined under standard test conditions of 1,000 W/m2 illumination and 25°C. The spectral distribution of the light is expressed in terms of an optical air mass (AM) number. AM0 corresponds to the spectrum in space, AM1 to the spectrum at the earth's surface when the sun is overhead, AM2 when the sun is 60° off overhead, etc. (idealized cases). Cells and modules for terrestial use are generally measured under AM1 or AM1.5 conditions.
-Electrolysis: a chemical process in which the hydrogen and oxygen atoms in water are separated by the application of electricity. (4)
+**Amp-hour:** measure of a batteries ability to sustain a flow of energy over time; 60 amp-hours indicated a battery can deliver one amp for sixty hours.
-Electrolyte: "battery juice"; in lead-acid batteries, more-or-less dilute sulfuric acid. Consumer batteries use a solid electrolyte made up of filler impregnated with chemicals. The electrolyte allows ions to migrate to the battery's anode and cathode and react, producing a flow of electricity.
-Energy Payback Time: the time required to produce an amount of energy that is equal to the amount of energy consumed during the fabrication (of the device).
-Energy Return on Investment: is the ratio of electricity generated, divided by the energy required to build and maintain the equipment.
-External Costs (aka Externality): arises when the social or economic activities of one group of persons have an impact on another group and when that impact is not fully accounted, or compensated for, by the first group. Thus, a power station that generates emissions of SO2, causing damage to building materials or human health, imposes an external cost. This is because the impact on the owners of the buildings or on those who suffer damage to their health is not taken into account by the generator of the electricity when deciding on the activities causing the damage. In this example, the environmental costs are "external" because, although they are real costs to these members of society, the owner of the power station is not taking them into account when making decisions. Note that external costs are unintended and result from there being no property rights or markets for these environmental effects. The potential value of the Externality project therefore lies in valuing external costs in order for those values to be included in the design of policy to correct for the present lack of such property rights and markets.
-Field Assisted Simultaneous Synthesis and Transfer (FASST): A patented nanotechnology printing process (Heliovolt) which allows solar cells to be printed directly on metal, glass and other building materials.
+**Balance of System** (components): the complete system minus the modules.
+**Base load electricity:** the smallest amount of electricity consumed by a utility's customers. Base load is provided **Clean energies:** Clean describes any energy source the exploitation of which does not generate significant amounts of pollution, and therefore negatively impact the health of human populations and the biosphere as a whole.
+**Current:** flow. In a river, the current is usually strongest near the center where the river is deepest. In electrical terms, current means the electrons flowing through a conductor, and is measured in amperes, one amp meaning 6.02x1023 electrons.
+**Distributed energies:** Distributed describes any energy source that can be deployed – often rapidly - on small, medium or large scales close to the point of consumption.
+**Distributed generation (DG):** contrasts with centralized generation, a term that characterizes conventional large-scale fossil fuel or nuclear power plant generation.
+**Doping:** semiconductors into which tiny quantities of impurities (boron, phosphorus) have been deliberately diffused. This process dramatically alters the behavior of the semiconductor in a very useful manner.
+**Efficiencies of a pv-cell/module/system:** the ratio of the maximum electric power and the power of the incident light. The amount of solar energy that strikes the Earth's surface is the equivalent of about 1 kW per square meter. This works out to 1 kiloWatt per hour (kWh) worth of sunlight per hour. A PV-system with an overall conversion efficiency of 10% would produce 0.1 kWh of electricity per hour. Usually efficiencies are determined under standard test conditions of 1,000 W/m2 illumination and 25°C. The spectral distribution of the light is expressed in terms of an optical air mass (AM) number. AM0 corresponds to the spectrum in space, AM1 to the spectrum at the earth's surface when the sun is overhead, AM2 when the sun is 60° off overhead, etc. (idealized cases). Cells and modules for terrestrial use are generally measured under AM1 or AM1.5 conditions.
+**Electrolysis:** a chemical process in which the hydrogen and oxygen atoms in water are separated by the application of electricity.
+**Electrolyte:** "battery juice"; in lead-acid batteries, more-or-less dilute sulfuric acid. Consumer batteries use a solid electrolyte made up of filler impregnated with chemicals. The electrolyte allows ions to migrate to the battery's anode and cathode and react, producing a flow of electricity.
+**Energy Payback Time:** the time required to produce an amount of energy that is equal to the amount of energy consumed during the fabrication (of the device).
+**Energy Return on Investment:** is the ratio of electricity generated, divided by the energy required to build and maintain the equipment.
+**External Costs (aka Externality):** arises when the social or economic activities of one group of persons have an impact on another group and when that impact is not fully accounted, or compensated for, by the first group. Thus, a power station that generates emissions of SO2, causing damage to building materials or human health, imposes an external cost. This is because the impact on the owners of the buildings or on those who suffer damage to their health is not taken into account by the generator of the electricity when deciding on the activities causing the damage. In this example, the environmental costs are "external" because, although they are real costs to these members of society, the owner of the power station is not taking them into account when making decisions. Note that external costs are unintended and result from there being no property rights or markets for these environmental effects. The potential value of the Externality project therefore lies in valuing external costs in order for those values to be included in the design of policy to correct for the present lack of such property rights and markets.
+**Field Assisted Simultaneous Synthesis and Transfer (FASST):** A patented nanotechnology printing process ([[Heliovolt]]) which allows solar cells to be printed directly on metal, glass and other building materials.
 Fuel cell: is an electrochemical device similar to a battery, but differing from the latter in that it is designed for continuous replenishment of the reactants consumed; i.e. it produces electricity from an external fuel supply of hydrogen and oxygen as opposed to the limited internal energy storage capacity of a battery.