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.

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