Renewable Resources: Renewable energy resources are naturally replenishable, but flow-limited. They are virtually inexhaustible in duration but limited in the amount of energy that is available per unit of time. Some (such as geothermal and biomass) may be stock-limited in that stocks are depleted by use, but on a time scale of decades, or perhaps centuries, they can probably be replenished. Renewable energy resources include: biomass, hydro, geothermal, solar and wind. In the future, they could also include the use of ocean thermal, wave, and tidal action technologies.

Electricity

Cogeneration: Production of electricity from steam, heat, or other forms of energy produced as a by-product of another process.

Electric Energy: The generation or use of electric power by a device over a period of time, expressed in kilowatt-hours (kWh), megawatt-hour (MWh), or gigawatt-hours (GWh).

Electric Utility: A corporation, person, agency, authority, or other legal entity that owns or operates facilities for the generation, transmission, distribution, or sale of electric energy or natural gas primarily for use by the public and is defined as a utility under the statutes and rules by which it is regulated.

Grid: A system of interconnected power lines and generators that is managed so that the generators are dispatched as needed to meet the requirements of the customers connected to the grid at various points.

Cooperative Electric Association or Utility: Utility owned and operated by its members.

Investor Owned Utility (IOU): Common term for a privately owned (shareholder owned) gas or electric utility regulated by the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission (referred to in statutes as a "public utility").

Municipal Utility: A provider of utility services owned and operated by a municipal government.

Transmitting Utility (Transco): This is a regulated entity which owns, and may construct and maintain, wires used to transmit wholesale power. It may or may not handle the power dispatch and coordination functions.

Wholesale Power Market: The purchase and sale of electricity from generators to resellers (who sell to retail customers) along with the ancillary services needed to maintain reliability and power quality at the transmission level.

Net Metering: Is a process by which small generation sources can interconnect with a transmission system and received the retail rate for its net energy generation (amount by which electricity generated by owner for the grid exceeds that purchased from the grid by the owner)

Units of Electric Measurement

Kilovolt (KV): This is a measure of voltage and represents 1,000 volts.

Kilowatt-hour (kWh): This is a measure of consumption. It is the amount of electricity that is used over some period of time, typically a one-month period for billing purposes. Customers are charged a rate per kWh of electricity used.

Gigawatt-hour (GWh): the unit of energy equal to that expended in one hour at a rate of one billion watts. One GWh equals 1,000 megawatt-hours.

Megawatt (MW): A megawatt equals 1,000 kv.

Megawatt Hour (MWh): The unit of energy equal to that expended in one hour at a rate of one million watts.

Biofuels

Ethanol: Also referred to an ethyl alcohol, grain alcohol, or ETOH, and is a clear liquid with an agreeable odor.

E85: Is a mixture of 85 percent ethanol and 15 percent gasoline.

E10: Is a mixture of 10 percent ethanol and 90 percent gasoline.

Biodiesel: Is the name of a clean burning alternative fuel, produced from domestic, renewable resources. It contains no petroleum, but it can be blended at any level with petroleum diesel to create biodiesel blend.

Biomass/Biogas

Biogas: A combustible gas derived from decomposing biological waste and normally consists of 50 to 60 percent methane.

Anaerobic manure digestion: A biochemical process by which organic matter is decomposed by bacteria in the absence of oxygen, producing methane and other byproducts. The complete mixture of this gas is called biogas.

Methane: Is an odorless, colorless, flammable gas with the formula CH4 that is the primary constituent of natural gas.

Source: Clean Energy Resource Teams

Regulatory Agencies

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA): A federal agency charged with protecting the environment.

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC): The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission regulates the price, terms and conditions of power sold in interstate commerce and regulates the price, terms and conditions of all transmission services. FERC is the federal counterpart to state utility regulatory commissions.

Minnesota Public Utilities Commission (PUC): The state agency with regulatory jurisdiction over certain Minnesota utilities.

Source: Minnesota's Energy Future