AA Community Resource Developed Through The Cape & Islands Renewable Energy Collaborative
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| Cape & Islands Energy Glossary This page is intended to provide definitions—and some local spin—on terms of relevance to our Energy Present and Energy Future. It represents a work in progress. Got comments? Would you like to suggest a term to be defined? Click here. Glossary of Terms Acid Rain Airfoil represents another name for a turbine blade. Air Emissions include gaseous and particulate releases from power plants, vehicles, heating systems, and other sources. Generally include nitrogen oxides (NOx), sulfur oxides (SOx), air toxics, volatile organic compounds (VOCs), and other pollutants. Combustion-related emissions also include the world's most important greenhouse gas, carbon dioxide (CO2). Air Pollution Air Quality Air Toxics are pollutants associated with fossil fuel combustion that have adverse ecological effects and pose risks to human health. Mercury represents the most prominent threat in local communities: Lakes and ponds on the Cape and Nantucket are off-limits to fishing due to bioaccumulation of this neurotoxin in top-level predators, and pregnant women and other sensitive populations are urged to limit their consumption of tuna for the same reason. Aggregation occurs when consumers join together to increase buying power. Cape & Islands Self-Reliance has been running a heating oil cooperative in southeastern Massachusetts for years, with members gaining access to lower-cost fuel through affiliated dealers. Cape and Vineyard electricity consumers in the Cape Light Compact's service territory represent a municipal aggregation. Aggregators deliver energy services by joining together consumers. The Cape Light Compact is the most prominent local example, providing energy efficiency services and negotiating power supply agreements for municipal consumers, residents, and business consumers on the Cape and Vineyard. Nantucket town meeting recently approved further examination of the potential to create a municipal aggregation. In Marlborough, where municipal electric accounts are already dedicated to a larger aggregation, Colonial Power is forming a municipal aggregation devoted solely to getting a better deai for residential and small business consumers. Alternative Fuels represent energy sources other than those conventionally used. For electricity generation, alternatives to coal, natural gas, oil, nuclear, and large-scale hydro include solar, wind, bioenergy, ocean energy, and geothermal. For transportation applications, alternatives to gasoline and diesel fuel include ethanol, biodiesel, compressed natural gas, and electricity. For heating applications, alternatives to heating oil, natural gas, coal, wood, and electricity include solar thermal, biodiesel, wood and corn pellets, and geothermal. Argo Merchant needs no definition for locals who've been around for a while. This is the name of the massive tanker that foundered off Nantucket in the 1970s, spilling millions of gallons and helping set the region's resolve against exploration of offshore oil resources. It is shown in the third image from left within this website's masthead; click on the photo for more information. Asthma Bioaccumulation results from bioconcentration. Helpful, huh? Bioconcentration occurs when mercury and certain other pollutants associated with fossil fuel combustion enter food chains and accumulate to reach potentially toxic levels in top-level predators. For example, imagine a big fish - a perch - eating a whole lot of medium fish, each of which has eaten a whole lot of small fish, each of which has eaten a whole lot of smaller critters, and so on, to the point where you reach bottom-dwelling organisms that consume sediments and detritus. Their food supply contains mercury deposited from the atmosphere or otherwise present in the environment. When a small predator consumes these organisms, its flesh absorbs the relatively small amount of mercury contained in each individual victim's body, producing a bioconcentration effect. By the time the small predator meets its maker - perhaps a fish, its tissue ends up containing a relatively large amount of mercury. And this mercury ends up in the flesh of larger fish - as does the mercury present in other critters eaten by these fish. By the time all this bioaccumulating mercury reaches the top of the food chain, the predator in which it resides may represent a hazardous waste unfit for human consumption. A number of ponds and lakes on Nantucket and Cape Cod are contaminated by mercury, as evidenced by fish consumption advisories posted by the state. Pregnant women and other sensitive populations are urged to limit their consumption of tuna for the same reason. Bioenergy Biodiesel C D E F G H I K L M N O P R S T U V W
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Visit
CIGoGreen
- the
Cape & Islands Go Green Guide!
Green Pages Sustainable Energy Calendar Energy Action Plans Forums |
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Current Fact
Dirty Roof Conventional
asphalt shingles are |
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Current Vision
Green Roof Thatching
represents an attractive and sustainable roofing solution. This
thatched roof, gracing a barn in Yarmouthport, transforms an invasive
wetland plant (Phragmites sp.) into a useful, biodegradable shelter. |
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| The Clearinghouse provides a central location for the collection, classification, and distribution of data, information, and tools addressing energy supply and use in the Cape & Islands region, both now and in the future. | ||
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This
website is being developed through the Cape & Islands Renewable
Energy Collaborative (CIREC). Its framework was created under
a community planning grant award from the Massachusetts Technology
Collaborative (MTC). |
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Project
management and content development: Chris Powicki, Principal,
Water Energy & Ecology Information Services |
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