Glossary

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Biomass

See biomass section

Carbon capture and storage

Physical capture and storage of carbon to prevent emissions of CO₂ and other forms of greenhouse gas into the atmosphere. www.parliament.uk/documents/upload/POSTpn238.pdf

Combined heat and power (CHP)

See combined heat and power section.

Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL)

Empowers local authorities to levy a charge on new development to fund community infrastructure.

CO₂

carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas.

Decentralised energy

Community or smaller scale generation of heat and power close to the point of use. www.greenpeace.org.uk/files/pdfs/migrated/MultimediaFiles/Live/FullReport/7154.pdf

Decommissioning

Removal of equipment and physical infrastructure at the end of its use.

Development Plan Document (DPD)

See Local Development Framework section.

Energy from waste

See energy from waste section.

Energy Services Company (ESCO)

See www.fey.org.uk/site/EnergyServices/ESCos/LADeliveryFramework/tabid/319/language/en-GB/Default.aspx

www.london.gov.uk/mayor/environment/energy/partnership-steering-group/docs/making-escos-work.pdf

Feasibility

see feasibility section.

Feed-in tariff

A guaranteed long-term premium paid for electricity generated from renewable sources and fed into the grid www.foe.co.uk/resource/briefing_notes/feedin_tariff.pdf

Fossil fuel

"Coal, natural gas and fuels derived from crude oil (for example petrol and diesel) are called fossil fuels because they have been formed over long periods of time from ancient organic matter." http://stats.berr.gov.uk/energystats/dukes08_ab.pdf

Fuel cell

See fuel cell section.

Fuel poverty

A household is said to be in fuel poverty if it needs to spend more than 10% of its income on fuel to maintain a satisfactory heating regime (usually 21 degrees for the main living area, and 18 degrees for other occupied rooms). www.berr.gov.uk/energy/fuel-poverty/

Heat pump

see heat pump section

Hydro

see hydro section.

Local Development Framework (LDF)

see Local Development Framework section.

Local Development Order (LDO)

see Local Development Framework section.

Low carbon energy

Generation of heat and power with lower emissions than conventional means, by using more efficient technologies, fuels with lower carbon content or capturing and storing emissions.

Microgeneration

production of energy on a small scale from a low carbon sourcewww.berr.gov.uk/energy/sources/sustainable/microgeneration/what/page43815.html

Photovoltaics (PV)

see photovoltaics section.

Renewable energy

Energy that occurs naturally and continuously in the environment, such as energy from the sun, wind, waves or tides. www.berr.gov.uk/energy/sources/renewables/explained/intro/page14237.html

Renewable Heat Incentive

A financial incentive to generate heat from renewable sources.http://renewableconsultation.berr.gov.uk/consultation/chapter-4/executive-summary

Renewables Obligation

Arequirement on licensed electricity suppliers to source a specific and annually increasing percentage of the electricity they supply from renewable sources.www.berr.gov.uk/energy/sources/renewables/policy/renewables-obligation/what-is-renewables-obligation/page15633.html 

Renewables Oblication Certificates (ROCs)

Tradable certificates awarded for a unit of electricity generated from renewable sources.Regional Spatial Strategy (RSS) – see regional policy section .Standard Assessment Procedure (SAP) – the Building Regulations approved method for estimating energy use and emissions from new dwellings http://projects.bre.co.uk/sap2005/index.html

Simplified Building Energy Model (SBEM)

The Building Regulations approved method for estimating energy use and emissions from new non-residential buildingswww.ncm.bre.co.uk

Smart meters

Meters that provide more detailed information on energy use and allow this to be communicated directly between energy suppliers and their customers, removing the need for meter readings and ensuring entirely accurate bills with no estimates. www.berr.gov.uk/energy/environment/smart-metering

Solar thermal

See solar thermal section.

Supplementary Planning Document (SPD)

see Local Development Framework section.

Simplified Planning Zone (SPZ)

see Local Development Framework section.

Tidal

see wave and tidal section.

Viability

see viability section.

Wave

See wave and tidal section.

Wind

See wind section.

Zero emission

Generally, a site with no net CO₂ emissions over the course of a year, which  can be defined in different ways.www.communities.gov.uk/publications/planningandbuilding/zerocarbondefinition