New to the energy world? Been working in energy for decades, but are finding yourself overwhelmed by acronyms and new phrases. Use this up-to-date energy glossary to make sure you don't miss a beat in your next energy-related discussion.
A
AAQS - Ambient Air Quality Standards
AC - Alternating Current
ACA - Annual Charge Adjustment
ACEEE - American Council for Energy-Efficient Economy
AEE - Advanced Energy Economy
AFV - Alternative Fuel Vehicle
AGA - American Gas Association
AGC - Automatic Generation Control
AMI - Advanced Metering
AMRA - American Meter Reading Association
ANGA - America's Natural Gas Alliance
ANSI - American National Standards Institute
APE - Area of Potential Effect
API - American Petroleum Institute
APPA - American Public Power Association
APR - Actual Peak Reduction
AQCR - Air Quality Control Region
ARRA - American Reinvestment and Recovery Act (aka The Stimulus Package)
ASE - Alliance to Save Energy
ASTM - American Society for Testing and Materials
AVR - Automatic Voltage Regulator
B
BA - Balancing Authority
BACT - Best Available Control Technology
BCF - Billion Cubic Feet
BES - Bulk Electric System
BHE - Black Hills Energy
BPS - Bulk Power System
BTU - British Thermal Unit
C
C&I - Commercial and Industrial Customers
CAA - Clean Air Act
CAEM - Center for the Advancement of Energy Markets
CAFE - Corporate Average Fuel Economy Standards
CAZ - Combustion Area Zone (As in CAZ Testing)
CBL - Customer Baseline Load
CC - Combined Cycle Gas Turbine Electricity Generator
CCPP - Combined Cycle Power Plant
CDD - Cooling Degree Day
CEO - Colorado Energy Office (Formerly Governor's Energy Office)
CEQ - Council on Environmental Quality
CER - Certified Emission Reduction
CFS - Cubic Feet per Second
CH4 - Methane
CHP - Combined Heat and Power, aka Co-Generation
CNG - Compressed Natural Gas
CO - Carbon Monoxide
COOP - Cooperative Electric Association, aka REA
CO2 - Carbon Dioxide
CPI - Consumer Price Index
CPP - Critical Peak Pricing
CPS - Control Performance Standard
CREED - Colorado Center for Renewable Energy and Economic Development
CRT - Capacity Reservation Tariff
CT - Combustion Turbine
D
DADRP - Day Ahead Demand Response Plan
DARTP - Day Ahead Real Time Pricing
DC - Direct Current
DCLM - Direct Control Load Management
DF- Distribution Factor
DG - Distributed Generation
DLC - Direct Load Control
DO - Dissolved Oxygen
DOE - United States Department of Energy
DOT - United States Department of Transportation
DR - Demand Response
DRR - Demand Response Resources
DSO - Distribution System Operator
Dth - Dekatherm
E
ECIP - Energy Conservation Investment Program
ECPA - Electric Consumers Protection Act
EDRP - Emergency Demand Response Program
EE - Energy Efficiency
EEBC - Energy Efficiency Business Coalition
EEI - Edison Electric Institute
EER - Energy Efficiency Ratio
EERS - Energy Efficiency Resource Standard
EEPS - Energy Efficiency Performance Standard
EHV - Extra High Voltage
EIA - Energy Information Administration
EIS - Environmental Impact Statement
EPA - United States Environmental Protection Agency
EPRI - Electric Power Research Institute
ERA - DOE Economic Regulatory Administration
ESCO - Energy Services Company
ESI - Environmental Sustainability Index
ESS - Energy Storage System
F
FAC - Fuel Adjustment Clause
FACTS - Flexible Alternation Current Transmission System
FELCC - Firm Energy Load Carrying Capability
FERC - Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
FPA - Federal Power Act
FTC - Federal Trade Commission
FWPA - Federal Water Power Act
G
GAO - Government Accountability Office
GHG - Greenhouse Gas
GIC - Gas Inventory Charge
GRI- Gas Research Institute
GSF - Generator to Load Distribution Factor
GTCC - Gas Turbine Combined Cycle
GW - Gigawatt (one billion watts)
GWE - Gigawatt of Electric Energy
Gwh - Gigawatt Hours
H
HDD - Heating Degree Days
HERS - Home ENergy Rating Standard
hp - Horsepower
HPwES - Home Performance with Energy Star
HVAC - Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning
HVDC - High Voltage Direct Current
I
IAQ - Indoor Air Quality
ICAP - Installed Capacity
ICE - Internal Combustion Engine
IEA - International Energy Agency
IER - Incremental Energy Rate
IGCC - Integrated Coal Gasification Combined Cycle
IHR - Incremental Heat Rate
ILP - Integrated Licensing Process
IOU - Investor Owned Utility
IPP - Independent Power Producer
IRP - Integrated Resource Planning
IRR - Internal Rate of Return
ISO - Independent System Operator
ITC - Investment Tax Credit
J
JRC - Joint Research Centre
K
kV - Kilovolt (One Thousand Volts)
KVA - One Thousand Volt Ampere
Kw - Kilowatt (One Thousand Watts)
KWE - Kilowatt Electric
kWh - Kilowatt Hour
L
LEVP - Low Emissions Vehicle Program
LIHEAP - Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program
LLNL - Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
LMP - Locational Marginal Price
LNG - Liquified Natural Gas
LODF - Line Outage Distribution Factor
LOLE - Loss of Load Expectation
LPG - Liquified Petroleum Gas
LRG - Liquified Refinery Gases
LSF - Load Shift Factor
LWR - Light Water Reactor
M
MBD - Million Barrels per Day
MBR - Market Based Rates
MDD - Maximum Daily Delivery Obligations
MDDQ - Maximum Daily Delivery Quantity
MER - Maximum Efficiency Rate
MERC - Mobile Emission Reduction Credit
MMBTU - 1 Million British Thermal Units
MMCF - One Million Cubic Feet
MMCFD - One Million Cubic Feet per Dat
MMGAL - One Million Gallons
MOU - Memorandum of Understanding
MPG - Miles per Gallon
MSW - Municipal Solid Waste
Mtoe - One Million Tons of Oil Equivalent
Muni - Municipality or Municipal Utility Provider
MW - Megawatt (One Million Watts)
MWE - Megawatt Electric
MWh - Megawatt Hour
N
NAAQS - National Ambient Air Quality Standards
NAESB - North American Energy Standards Board
NAICS - North American Industry Classification System
NAP - National Action Plan
NARUC - National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners
NASUCA - National Association of Utility Consumer Advocates
NATC - Non-Recallable Available Transfer Capability
NBS - National Bureau of Standards
NEA - The National Energy Act of 1978
NEPA - National Environmental Policy Act
NGL - Natural Gas Liquids
NGV - Natural Gas Vehicle
NIETC - National Interest Electric Transmission Corridor
NOI - Notice of Intent
NOx - Nitrogen Oxides
NPV - Net Present Value
NRECA - National Association of Rural Electric Cooperatives
NREL - National Renewable Energy Lab
O
O&M - Operation and Maintenance Expenses
O3 - Ozone
OEM - Original Equipment Manufacturers
OFO - Operational Flow Order
OSHA - United States Department of Labor Occupational Safety and Health Administration
OTDF - Outage Transfer Distribution Factor
P
PCM - Project Cycle Management
PCT - Programmable Communicating Thermostat
PGA - Purchased Gas Adjustment
PLC - Power Line Communication
PLMA - Peak Load Management Association
PM - Particulate Matter
PNNL - Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
POD - Point of Delivery
PPA - Power Purchase Agreement
PPI - Producer Price Index
PPP - Purchasing Power Parity
PPR - Potential Peak Reduction
PSCo - Public Service Company of Colorado (aka Xcel Energy)
PTDF - Power Transfer Distribution Factor
PUC - Public Utility Commission
PV - Photovoltaic (Solar)
PVC - Photovoltaic Cell
PX - Power Exchange
Q
QA - Quality Assurance (External Process)
QC - Quality Control (Internal Process)
QF - Qualifying Facility
R
R/P - Reserve on Production
RAP - Regulatory Assistance Project
RATC - Recallable Available Transmission Capability
RDF - Refuse Derived Fuel
REA - Rural Electric Association (aka Coop)
REC - Renewable Energy Credit
RES - Renewable Energy Source
RFI - Request for Information
RFP - Request for Proposals
RFQ - Request for Qualifications
RMU - Removal Units
ROE - Return of Equity
ROI - Return on Investment
RPM - Reliability Pricing Model
RTP - Real Time Pricing
RTU - Remote Terminal Unit
S
SCF - Standard Cubic Foot
SCO - Standard Cost Obligation
SEC - Securities and Exchange Commission
SEER- Seasonal ENergy Efficiency Ratio
SEFI - Sustainable Energy Finance Initiative
SFV - Straight Fixed Variable
SI - International System of Units
SIC - Standard Industrial Classification
SO2 - Sulfur Dioxide
SPP - Small Power Producer
SPR - Strategic Petroleum Reserve
SWEEP - Southwest Energy Efficiency Project
T
TBL - Transmission Business Line
Tcf - Trillion Cubic Feet
TCR - Total Cost Recovery (Mechanism)
TDU - Transmission Dependent Utility
TO - Transmission Owner
tow- Ton of Oil Equivalent
TOP - Transmission Operator
TRM - Transmission Reliability Margin
TTC - Total Transfer Capacity
TW - Terawatt (One Trillion Watts)
TWH - Terawatt Hour
U
U.S.C - United States Code
UHVAC - Ultra High Frequency Alternating Current
UHVDC - Ultra High Frequency Direct Current
URR - Ultimate Recoverable Resources
USCE - United States Army Corps of Engineers
US DOE - United States Department of Energy
V
V- Volt
VA - Volt-Ampere
var - Volt Ampere Reactive
VAWT - Vertical Axis Wind Turbine
VSA - Voltage Storage Analysis
W
W - Watt
WACOG - Weighted Average Cost of Gas
WEA - World Energy Assessment
WH - Watt Hour
WRI - World Resources Institute
WTG - Wind Turbine Generator
WY - Water Year
