- Industry: Broadcasting & receiving
- Number of terms: 5074
- Number of blossaries: 1
- Company Profile:
The largest broadcasting organisation in the world.
Biomass is renewable organic matter that can be used as fuel. It is living or recently dead material - wood and other plant matter, or even animal waste. Fuel derived from biomass is known as biofuel. It does not include fossil fuels, which have formed - and stored their carbon - over millions of years. Because the CO2 released when biomass is burned is balanced by the CO2 absorbed during its production - and because new plant matter is re-growing and absorbing more CO2 all the time - it's regarded as carbon neutral.
Industry:Natural environment
A semiconductor is a solid material that is able to conduct electricity, but with conductivity less than that of a good conductor and greater than an insulator. Semiconductors include silicon, and are used in the manufacture of photovoltaic cells, as well as computer chips and other electronic devices.
Industry:Natural environment
A biomass boiler is a central heating system or a stove powered by biomass (usually wood) rather than fossil fuels form of pellets or wood.
Industry:Natural environment
Silicon is a chemical element known as a 'metalloid' (because it has intermediate properties between a metal and a non-metal). It is used as a semiconductor, for example in microchips in computers, and to make photovoltaic cells for solar panels.
Industry:Natural environment
The soot that results from the incomplete combustion of fossil fuels, biofuels, and biomass (wood, animal dung, etc.). It is the most potent climate-warming aerosol. Unlike greenhouse gases, which trap infrared radiation that is already in the Earth's atmosphere, these particles absorb all wavelengths of sunlight and then re-emit this energy as infrared radiation.
Industry:Natural environment
A smart meter is a more sophisticated version of your normal gas or electricity meter (in fact, a single smart meter may monitor both) that is linked to your energy provider and can also be linked to a computer in your home. Not yet available, it will eliminate the need for estimated bills, and allow you to monitor your own usage: which devices are using the most energy and when. Smart meters will generally also store up to a month of usage data.
Industry:Natural environment
A scenario used for projections of future emissions assuming no action, or no new action, is taken to mitigate the problem. Some countries are pledging not to reduce their emissions but to make reductions compared to a business as usual scenario. Their emissions, therefore, would increase but less than they would have done.
Industry:Natural environment
A smoke-free zone (or smokeless zone, or smoke control area) is not, in this context, anything to do with cigarettes. It refers to an area, designated by a local authority, where only authorised fuels - for example smokeless fuel, coke, and gas - may be burned. Other fuels may sometimes be permitted when used on specified authorised appliances. Ordinary coal, and wood (other than small amounts of kindling) are prohibited. The zones originated in London after legislation in 1946 in response to terrible smogs but are now very common in towns and cities nationwide.
Industry:Natural environment
An emission trading scheme whereby businesses or countries can buy or sell allowances to emit greenhouse gases via an exchange. The volume of allowances issued adds up to the limit, or cap, imposed by the authorities.
Industry:Natural environment
