Limiting the Magnitude of Future Climate Change (2010)
Chapter: Appendix D: Acronyms, Energy Units, and Chemical Formulas
APPENDIX D
Acronyms, Energy Units, and Chemical Formulas
ACRONYMS
AEF America’s Energy Future
ARRA American Recovery and Reinvestment Act
BEA Bureau of Economic Analysis
BEST Bronx Environmental Stewardship Training
BTAs Border Tax Adjustments
CAA Clean Air Act
CAFE Corporate Average Fuel Economy
CBO Congressional Budget Office
CCCSTI Committee on Climate Change Science and Technology Integration
CCS Carbon capture and storage
CDM Clean Development Mechanism
CER Certified emission reduction
DOD U.S. Department of Defense
DOE U.S. Department of Energy
DOI U.S. Department of Interior
DOS U.S. Department of State
EIA Energy Information Administration
EISA Energy Independence and Security Act
EMF Energy Modeling Forum
EPA Environmental Protection Agency
EPRI Electric Power Research Institute
EU ETS European Union Emissions Trading Scheme
GAO Government Accountability Office
GDP Gross domestic product
GHG Greenhouse gas
GWP Global warming potential
IEA International Energy Agency
IPCC Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
LCFS Low Carbon Fuel Standards
LED Light-emitting diode
LUCF Land-use change and forestry
NAAQS National Ambient Air Quality Standards
NRC National Research Council
NREL National Renewable Energy Laboratory
NSF National Science Foundation
OECD Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
R&D Research and development
REDD Reducing emissions from deforestation in developing nations
RFS Renewable Fuels Standard
RGGI Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative
RPS Renewable Portfolio Standard
S&E Science and engineering
TRB Transportation Research Board
UNEP United Nations Environmental Program
UNFCCC United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change
USDA U.S. Department of Agriculture
VMT Vehicle miles traveled
WCI Western Climate Initiative
WTO World Trade Organization
CHEMICAL COMPOUNDS
CFCs Chlorofluorocarbons
CH4 Methane
CO2 Carbon dioxide
HFC Hydrofluorocarbons
NMHCs Nonmethane hydrocarbons
NOx Nitrogen oxides
O3 Tropospheric ozone
PFCs Perfluorocarbons
PM Particulate matter
N2O Nitrous oxide
SF6 Sulfur hexafluoride
SO2 Sulfur dioxide
VOC Volatile organic compounds
UNITS USED (FOR ENERGY, POWER, MATTER)
J: joule. The energy of one watt of power flowing for one second
GJ: gigajoule, 109 joules
EJ : exajoule, 1018 joules
BTU: British thermal unit. The energy to raise the temperature of one pound of water one degree Fahrenheit.
quad: a quadrillion (a million-billion, or 1015 ) BTUs, equal to 1.055 × 1018 joules (1.055 EJ). A unit commonly used in discussing global and national energy budgets
W: watt, a unit of electric power (= 1 J of energy per second)
kW: kilowatt, a thousand (103 ) Watts
GW: gigawatt, a billion (109 )Watts
TW: terawatt, a trillion (1012) Watts
kWh: kilowatt-hour, or the amount of energy when one kW is used for one hour. Equivalent to about 3,400 BTU or 3,600,000 Joules
Metric ton (i.e., of CO2) is one thousand kilograms, or about 2,200 pounds
MMT: million metric tons of CO2
Mt: megaton, a million (106) metric tons
Gt: gigaton, a billion (109) metric tons
Tg: teragram, a billion (109)kilograms, or one million metric tons
ppm: parts per million, a measure of atmospheric concentration of some greenhouse gases
Barrel (oil): ~42 gallons. The United States uses about 20 million barrels of oil each day.
