Definitions

Question 1

What is the 1 kg CO2 equivalent?

Answer 1

One kg of CO2 equivalents is equivalent to the effect of one kg of CO2 emission.

Question 2

What does Mtoe stands for?

Answer 2

Mtoe is an acronym that stands for million or mega tonnes of oil equivalent. The unit quantifies the amount of energy released when burning one mega tonne of crude oil.

Question 3

What is unconventional gas?

Answer 3

Unconventional gas refers to natural gas that requires advanced production methods. Main types include gas within tight pore spaces – shale gas and coal bed methane – and gas that is trapped in ice on the sea floor – gas hydrates.

Question 4

What does MCL stands for?

Answer 4

The minimum complaint load (MCL) is the minimum load at which the plant can reliably operate before being disconnected out of the grid.

Question 5

What is a subcritical coal power plant?

Answer 5

Subcritical is the least efficient and most polluting form of coal- fired generation - it requires more fuel and water to generate the same amount of power, and creates more pollution as a result.

Question 6

What is a supercritical coal power plant?

Answer 6

Supercritical coal plants are a type of coal-fired power plant used in more modern designs. They differ from traditional coal power plants because the water running through it works as a supercritical fluid, meaning it is neither a liquid or a gas. (More efficient, higher temperature) Above critical point in p-T diagram.

Question 7

What is a conventional power plant?

Answer 7

Conventional power plant is the general term applied to the production of electrical energy from coal, oil, or natural gas using the intermediary of steam.

Question 8

What is the advantage of the use of the Merit Order model?

Answer 8

It promotes the use of cost-effective, low-carbon power generation sources, and it can be used to help integrate renewable energy sources into the power generation mix. Additionally, it is also used by grid operators to manage the balancing of supply and demand in real time.
However, it has also some limitations, for example it doesn’t take into account externalities like environmental impacts, long-term costs or grid integration and stability.

Question 9

What does NEDC stands for?

Answer 9

New european driving cycle: designed to assess the emission levels of car engines and fuel economy in passenger cars.

Question 10

What are elementary flows in LCA?

Answer 10

Elementary flows are a foundational component of the life cycle assessment data model, used to represent resources and emissions that are used or released in human and industrial activities.

Question 11

What does DALY stands for?

Answer 11

Human health [DALY: disability-adjusted life years] is a measure of overall disease burden, expressed as the cumulative number of years lost due to ill-health, disability or death

Question 12

What does PDF stands form?

Answer 12

Ecosystem quality [PDFm2years: potentially disappeared fraction of species in a certain are during a certain period]

Question 13

What does kgCO2 equivalent stands for?

Answer 13

Global warming [kg CO2 eq] quantity that describes, for a given mixture and amount of greenhouse gas, the amount of CO2 that would have the same global warming potential (GWP), when measured over a specified timescale (generally, 100 years)

Question 14

What doe MJ primary stands for?

Answer 14

Resources [MJ primary] Impact category that indicates the potential for depletion of non-renewable resources, in particular fossil fuels. Measured in primary energy megajoules (MJ). In summary, “MJ primary” refers to the amount of energy consumed or produced by a power generation source measured in Mega Joules, and primary energy refers to the original sources of energy that are used to generate electricity.

Question 15

What is the eutrophication of water?

Answer 15

Eutrophication is the process by which an entire body of water, or parts of it, becomes progressively enriched with minerals and nutrients, particularly nitrogen and phosphorus. (Increases with increasing of biomass use)

Question 16

How is hydrogen produced using electricity?

Answer 16

Using electrolysis: Hydrogen is formed at the negative cathode and oxygen is formed at the positive anode. (2x as much H2 as O2)

Question 17

What does STEPS stands for?

Answer 17

Stated policies scenario, more conservative benchmark than SDS

Question 18

What does PERC stands for?

Answer 18

PERC, which stands for Passivated Emitter and Rear Cell or Passivated Emitter and Rear Contact, is a new technology aimed to achieve higher energy conversion efficiency by adding a dielectric passivation layer on the rear of the cell.

Question 19

What is the difference between N-type and P-type semiconductors?

Answer 19

In a N-type semiconductor, the majority of charge carriers are free electrons whereas the holes are in minority. In a P-type semiconductor, the majority of charge carriers are holes whereas the free electrons are in minority.

Question 20

What is the bifacial factor?

Answer 20

The bifaciality factor (%) is defined as the ratio of rear efficiency in relation to the front efficiency subject to the same irradiance.

Question 21

What are HJT solar panels?

Answer 21

Heterojunction solar cells combine two different technologies into one cell – a crystalline silicon cell sandwiched between two layers of amorphous “thin-film” silicon. It is believed that the arrangement increases the efficiency of the panels with more energy being harvested when compared to conventional silicon solar panels.

Question 21

What is anaerobic digestion?

Answer 21

Anaerobic digestion is a process through which bacteria break down organic matter—such as animal manure, wastewater biosolids, and food wastes—in the absence of oxygen. Through this process biogas is produced.

Question 22

What are marginal abatement costs?

Answer 22

Costs needed to reduce a certain volume of emissions after implementing a new source of energy.

Question 23

What is gasification?

Answer 23

Gasification is a process that converts biomass- or fossil fuel-based carbonaceous materials into gases.

Question 24

What is pyrolysis?

Answer 24

One of the most common application of pyrolysis is the conversion of biomass, such as wood or agricultural waste, into biofuels. In this process, the biomass is heated to high temperatures in the absence of oxygen, causing it to break down into volatile gases and liquids, such as methanol and acetic acid. These can then be further processed to create biofuels like bio-oil, biochar, and syngas.

Question 25

What is a fuel cell?

Answer 25

Like a electrolyzer working in the opposite way. It is an electromechanical reactor that directly converts the chemical energy of a fuel into electricity and heat without any combustion and moving parts.

Question 26

What is an energy vector?

Answer 26

Examples of this are electricity and hydrogen. We call these two man-made forms of energy “energy vectors”, because both of them enable energy to be carried and can then be converted back into any other form of energy (high exergy).

Question 27

What does SOEC/SOFC stands for?

Answer 27

Solid Oxide Electrolyte Cell
Solid Oxide Fuel Cell

Question 28

What does LHV/HHV stands for?

Answer 28

There are two different types of heating value, which are the lower heating value (LHV Lower heat value) and the higher heating value (HHV. Higher heat value). By definition the higher heating value is equal to the lower heating value with the addition of the heat of vaporization of the water content in the fuel.

Question 29

What does LNG stands for?

Answer 29

Liquid Natural Gas

Question 30

What does LOHC stands for?

Answer 30

Liquid organic hydrogen carriers (LOHC) are organic compounds that can absorb and release hydrogen through chemical reactions.

Question 31

What does IGCC stands for?

Answer 31

Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle (pre-combustion capture of CO using gasification process)

Question 32

What is exergy?

Answer 32

The main important difference between energy and exergy: energy is conserved, while exergy, a measure of energy quality or work potential, can be consumed.

Question 33

What are FT fuels?

Answer 33

Synthetic fuels

Question 34

How does BECCS works?

Answer 34

Bio energy with carbon capture and storage. Biomass absorbs CO2. Biomass is used for producing electricity, heat or fuel. CO2 is captured and stored. Extra DAC powered by low carbon energy (solar, wind) can reduce CO2 emissions further.

Question 35

What are volatile solids?

Answer 35

Volatile solids are a substance that can easily transform from its solid phase to its vapor phase without going through a liquid phase. Volatile solids normally represent the amount of organic solids in water, and have great importance in water and wastewater treatment.

Question 36

What is pyro-gasification?

Answer 36

Pyro-gasification consists in heating waste to a high temperature in a low-oxygen environment to produce biogas.

The first stage of pyrolysis breaks the material down into 3 phases (solid, liquid and gas), then the second stage – gasification – transforms the solid and liquid phases into synthetic gases.

Question 37

Why is the unity mg/Nm3 for NOx emissions not representative?

Answer 37

It gives a wrong image of the amount of particles per m3. Some particles can be very light. Better to express in particles per m3 but this is very hard to measure.

Question 38

When and why does a sea or land breeze occurs?

Answer 38

Sea breeze occurs during the day: High pressure above the sea because it’s cooler, air moves from higher to lower pressure area on land (onshore breeze).
Land breeze occurs during the night: Land cools more quickly than the ocean and the air above it, creating a cool, offshore breeze.

Question 39

What does H&S stands for?

Answer 39

Healthy and safety basics.

Question 40

What does DNI stands for?

Answer 40

Direct Normal Irradiance is the amount of solar radiation received per unit area by a surface that is always held perpendicular (or normal) to the rays that come in a straight line from the direction of the sun at its current position in the sky. Typically, you can maximize the amount of irradiance annually received by a surface by keeping it normal to incoming radiation. This quantity is of particular interest to concentrating solar thermal installations and installations that track the position of the sun.

Question 41

What is a Fresnel collector?

Answer 41

The Fresnel Collector is a linear concentrating solar thermal collector

Question 42

What does T&D stands for?

Answer 42

Transmission and distribution

Question 43

What does SEI stands for?

Answer 43

The SEI provides a passivation layer on the anode surface, which inhibits further electrolyte decomposition and affords the long calendar life required for many applications.

Question 44

What is pit storage?

Answer 44

Pit thermal energy storage systems are artificial pools in which a large pit is sealed off from the soil, insulated, filled with water, and given a floating cover. The water can be heated by various heat sources, for example solar collectors or waste heat.

Question 45

What is a social discount rate?

Answer 45

The discount rate used in computing the value of funds spent on social projects.’ Discount rates are used to put a present value on costs and benefits that will occur at a later date.

Question 46

What does WACC indicates?

Answer 46

The cost of company to borrow money giving the proportional amounts of debt and equity. Internally used to check if a project will be economical for the company. The higher the WACC, the less likely it is, that the company creates value.

Question 47

What is lignocellulose?

Answer 47

Lignocellulosic biomass is a plant or plant-based material that is not used for food or feed and mainly includes agricultural residues, energy crops, forestry residues, and yard trimmings. It is the most abundant renewable feedstock and is considerably cheaper than crude oil.