- Industry: Broadcasting & receiving
- Number of terms: 5074
- Number of blossaries: 1
- Company Profile:
The largest broadcasting organisation in the world.
A semiconductor is a solid material that is able to conduct electricity, but with conductivity less than that of a good conductor and greater than an insulator. Semiconductors include silicon, and are used in the manufacture of photovoltaic cells, as well as computer chips and other electronic devices.
Industry:Natural environment
Silicon is a chemical element known as a 'metalloid' (because it has intermediate properties between a metal and a non-metal). It is used as a semiconductor, for example in microchips in computers, and to make photovoltaic cells for solar panels.
Industry:Natural environment
A smart metre is a more sophisticated version of your normal gas or electricity metre (in fact, a single smart metre may monitor both) that is linked to your energy provider and can also be linked to a computer in your home. Not yet available, it will eliminate the need for estimated bills, and allow you to monitor your own usage: which devices are using the most energy and when. Smart metres will generally also store up to a month of usage data.
Industry:Natural environment
A smoke-free zone (or smokeless zone, or smoke control area) is not, in this context, anything to do with cigarettes. It refers to an area, designated by a local authority, where only authorised fuels - for example smokeless fuel, coke, and gas - may be burned. Other fuels may sometimes be permitted when used on specified authorised appliances. Ordinary coal, and wood (other than small amounts of kindling) are prohibited. The zones originated in London after legislation in 1946 in response to terrible smogs but are now very common in towns and cities nationwide.
Industry:Natural environment
Solar panels, usually roof-mounted, use the energy of the sun to generate electricity for home use, with the potential to sell surplus back to the grid. Light shining on a panel of photovoltaic cells creates an electric field across layers of semiconductive material, causing electricity to flow.
Industry:Natural environment
A solar water heater uses the energy of the sun directly to heat a fluid that is fed into your hot water tank, meaning your boiler has less work to do (and requires less energy) to get your hot water to the required temperature.
Industry:Natural environment
Standby, or 'sleep mode', is a mode in which electronic appliances are turned off but still drawing current and ready to activate on command. Although legislation has limited the energy new appliances can use in standby mode, they still use more energy than if they are switched off at the wall.
Industry:Natural environment
The second lowest level of the atmosphere, extending from about 10km to about 50km altitude. The ozone layer, the part of the earth's atmosphere with the greatest concentration of ozone, forms part of the stratosphere. Because it sits above the troposphere, where most air turbulence occurs, the lower stratosphere is where most commercial airlines set their cruising altitude.
Industry:Natural environment
Sustainability - whether applied to energy, technology, industry, agriculture or just consumption of resources in general - refers to the concept of using things at a rate that, while meeting our own needs, does not compromise future generations' ability to meet theirs. In environmental terms, a process or industry is unsustainable when it requires natural resources to be used up faster than they can be replenished.
Industry:Natural environment
The process whereby technological advances are shared between different countries. Developed countries could, for example, share up-to-date renewable energy technologies with developing countries, in an effort to lower global greenhouse gas emissions.
Industry:Natural environment
