Definition of Terms – In Energy, Conservation and Renewables

COP – Coefficient of Performance

In simple terms, it is expressed as a number (some might use percentage) which indicates how much heat you get from a Heat Pump based on the Electricity you put into it.
Example: A heat pump with a COP of 3 would get 3X (or 300%) the heat value out of a given amount of electricity put into it. Most modern heat pumps average 2.5 to 3.0 COP, the lesser numbers being in colder weather.

BTU or B.T.U. – British Thermal Unit

A metric or scale commonly used to measure heating or cooling power – the actual definition being the amount of heat energy required to raise the temperature of one pound of water by one degree Fahrenheit. For informal reference, an Electric Space Heater on high is usually 5,400 BTU while a person puts off about 350 BTU. This is why a room with many people in it seems to get warm quickly!

KWH – KiloWattHour

A common measure of Electric Energy – it defines the “flow” of electric, how much and how quickly. A KHW is 1000 watts of Electricity for one hour. So if you plugged in a Toaster Over that used 1000 watts, it would use 1 KWH of electric in a single hour (between 7 and 35 cents is typical US Residential pricing). In terms of heat energy, 1000 Watts is about 3,400 BTU. So your small electric space heater, which usually maxes out at 1500 Watts, would be about 5,100 BTU.

PV – Photovoltaic Solar

PV is used to refer to Solar Electric panels which convert sunlight to electric. The output of these panels is often expressed in Watts – or in Watt-hours. Since the output will vary, most panel arrays might be estimated to provide a certain amount of KWH on a daily or monthly basis.
PV panels use similar technology to computer “chips” – that is, they use Silicon, an abundant resource. As of this time, PV is one of the lowest cost methods to generate Electricity.

Biomass

Renewable resource consisting of plant material. Firewood is a common biomass materials used by many for home heating. Sawdust and shavings can be pelletized for automatic feeding into residential or commercial/industrial electrical generators.