Glossary Of Energy-Related Terms
Aviation Gasoline: All special grades of
gasoline for use in aviation reciprocating engines.
Barrel:
A volumetric unit of measure for crude oil and petroleum products equivalent to
42 U.S. gallons.
British Thermal Unit(s) (Btu):
A unit of
heat energy. The amount of energy required to raise the temperature of one
pound of water 1 degree Fahrenheit. An average Btu content of fuel is a
heat value per unit of quantity of fuel as determined from tests of fuel
samples.
City Gate Price: Price of natural gas at the point
it is transferred from a pipeline to a local distribution
company.
Coal: A black or brownish-black solid combustible
substance formed by the partial decomposition of vegetable matter without access
to air.
Commercial Sector:
Non-manufacturing business establishments, including hotels, motels,
restaurants, wholesale businesses, retail stores, laundries and other service
enterprises, health, social and educational institutions and federal, state and
local governments. Street lights, pumps, bridges and public services are
also included.
Conversion Factor:
A number that translates units of one system of measure into
corresponding values of another system of measure.
Crude Oil:
A mixture of hydrocarbons that exists in liquid phase in
underground reservoirs and remains liquid at atmospheric pressure after passing
through surface separating facilities.
Daily
Average Temperature: The average of the maximum and minimum temperatures for
a 24-hour period.
Degree Days, Cooling: The
number of degrees the daily average temperature is above 65 degrees
Fahrenheit.
Degree
Days, Heating:
The number of degrees the daily average temperature
is below 65 degrees Fahrenheit.
Degree Days, Normal: The
simple arithmetic averages of monthly or annual degree days over a long period
of time (usually the thirty-year period 1951-1980).
Development Well:
A well drilled within the proven area of an oil or a gas
reservoir to the depth of a stratigraphic horizon known to be
productive.
Diesel Fuel: See Distillate
Fuel.
Distillate
Fuel: Light fuel oils distilled during the
refining process and used primarily for space heating, on- and off-highway
diesel engine fuel (e.g., railroad engine fuel and fuel for agricultural
machinery) and electric power generation.
Electrical System Energy Losses:
The amount of energy lost during generation, transmission,
and distribution of electricity (including electricity used by the generating
plant).
Electric
Utility Sector: Privately and publicly owned
facilities for the generation, transmission, distribution, or sale of electric
energy.
End Use
Energy: A measure of the energy content of
fuels at the point where they are consumed. End use energy does not include
energy lost during the generation and transmission of
electricity.
Energy:
The capacity of acting, operating or
producing an effect. Regarded as the equivalent of or capacity for doing
work.
Exploratory
Well: A well drilled to find and produce
oil or gas in an unproven area, to find a new reservoir in a field previously
found to be productive or to extend the limit of a known
reservoir.
F.O.B. Price (Free on
Board): The price actually
charged at the point of loading.
Gasohol: A blend of at most
90 percent finished motor gasoline and at least 10 percent ethanol. This
term has largely been replaced by the name "super unleaded with
Ethanol".
Gasoline:
A complex mixture of relatively volatile
hydrocarbons, with or without additives, that have been blended to form a fuel
suitable for use in internal combustion engines.
Heating Oil: A distillate fuel oil for use in atomizing-type burners for domestic heating or
for moderate capacity commercial and industrial burner
units.
Hydroelectric Power:
Electricity generated by an
electric power plant that relies on falling water to turn
turbines.
Industrial Sector:
Manufacturing, construction,
mining, agricultural, fishing and forestry establishments.
Jet
Fuel: Includes both naphtha-type and kerosene-type jet
fuel.
Kerosene: A petroleum middle distillate used primarily
in space heaters, cooking stoves, and water heaters.
Kilowatt
(KW): One thousand watts. (See Watt.)
Kilowatt-hour
(kWh): One thousand watthours. (See
Watthour.)
Megawatt: One million watts or one thousand
kilowatts. (See Watt).
Middle Distillates: A general
classification of fuels that includes heating oil, diesel fuel and
kerosene.
Motor Gasoline: Motor gasoline includes both leaded
and unleaded grades of finished motor gasoline, reformulated motor gasoline,
oxygenated motor gasoline, other finished motor gasoline, blending components
and gasohol.
Natural Gas: A mixture of hydrocarbons and small
quantities of various nonhydrocarbons existing in a gaseous phase or in solution
with crude oil in natural underground reservoirs.
Net Interstate Sales of
Electricity: The difference between the amount of electricity sales
and electricity losses (due to generation and transmission) within Nebraska and
the total amount of energy used in generating electricity within the
state.
Nuclear Power: Electricity generated by an electric
power plant with turbines that are driven by steam produced in a reactor by heat
produced from the fission of nuclear fuel.
Petroleum: A
generic term that refers to oil and oil products in all forms, e.g., crude oil,
unfinished oils, etc.
Power: The rate at which energy is
produced, used or converted from one form to another.
Primary
Energy: A measure of the energy content of resources consumed
including the energy lost during the production and transmission of
electricity.
Primary Energy Resources: Petroleum, natural
gas, coal, hydroelectric power and nuclear power.
Propane: A
normally gaseous hydrocarbon extracted from natural gas or refinery gas
streams. For the purposes of this statistical abstract, propane includes
other liquefied petroleum gases (lpg) such as butane and ethane.
Proved
Reserves: The estimated quantity of crude oil or natural gas which
geological and engineering data demonstrate with a given probability to be
recoverable in the future assuming current costs of operation and market
prices.
Residential Sector: Private households which consume
energy primarily for heating, water heating, air conditioning, lighting,
refrigeration and cooking.
Residual Fuel: The heavier oils
that remain after the distillate fuel oils and lighter hydrocarbons are
distilled away in refinery operations.
Road Oil: Any heavy
petroleum oil, such as residual asphaltic oil, used as a dust palliative and
surface treatment on roads and highways.
Short Ton: A unit of
weight equal to 2,000 pounds.
Special Fuels: Alternative
fuels used in combustion engines, such as biodiesel or liquid
petroleum.
Stripper Well: A well which produces less than ten
barrels of crude oil per day.
Therm: One hundred thousand Btu
(See Btu). This is approximately the energy in one hundred cubic feet
(Ccf) of natural gas.
Transportation Sector: Private and
public vehicles (i.e., cars, trains, buses) used for the transportation of
people and goods.
Vessel Bunkering: Includes sales for the
fueling of commercial or private boats, inclusive to oil company vessels but
excluding military vessels.
Watt: An electrical unit of
power. The rate of energy transfer equivalent to one ampere flowing under
a pressure of one volt at unity power factor.
Watthour
(Wh): An electrical energy unit of measure equal to one watt of
power supplied to, or taken from, an electric circuit steadily for one
hour.
Wellhead Price: Represents the sales price, including charges for
natural gas plant liquids subsequently removed from the gas, gathering and
compression charges and State production, severance and/or similar charges.