Afforestation: Planting of new forests on lands that have not been recently forested.

Anaerobic lagoon: A liquid-based manure management system, characterized by waste residing in water to a depth of at least 6 feet for a period ranging between 30 and 200 days.

Associated natural gas: See associated-dissolved natural gas.

Associated-dissolved natural gas: Natural gas that occurs in crude oil reservoirs either as free gas (associated) or as gas in solution with crude oil (dissolved gas).

Baseline period: The years 1987 through 1990 for which entity-level emissions may be reported.

Biofuels: Liquid fuels and blending components produced from biomass (plant) feedstocks, used primarily for transportation.

Biogas: A mixture of carbon dioxide and methane produced through bacterial action.

Biomass: Organic nonfossil material of biological origin constituting a renewable energy source.

British thermal unit: The quantity of heat required to raise the temperature of 1 pound of liquid water by 1 degree Fahrenheit at the temperature at which water has its greatest density (approximately 39 degrees Fahrenheit).

Carbon sink: A reservoir that absorbs or takes up released carbon from another part of the carbon cycle. The four sinks, which are regions of the Earth within which carbon behaves in a systematic manner, are the atmosphere, terrestrial biosphere (usually including freshwater systems), oceans, and sediments (including fossil fuels).

Carbon Sequestration: The fixation of atmospheric carbon dioxide in a carbon sink through biological or physical processes.

Chlorofluorocarbon (CFC): Any of various compounds consisting of carbon, hydrogen, chlorine, and flourine used as refrigerants. CFCs are now thought to be harmful to the earth's atmosphere.

Cogeneration: The production of electrical energy and another form of useful energy (such as heat or steam) through the sequential use of energy.

Commercial scale: Application of a demonstrated technology at a cost-effective scale.

Commitment: An expressed intention to undertake an action or actions that will reduce greenhouse gas emissions, increase carbon sequestration, or achieve a stated emissions goal.

Compact Public Use Database: Includes only the most recent non-confidential reports received by each participant in the Program to date. It is made available as a stand-alone application that may be downloaded from the web site or from the Program's CD-ROM, and is run on the local computer to browse the submitted reports in their entirety.
(Download the Compact Public Use Database). Also see Full Public Use Database.

Conversion factor: A number that translates units of one measurement system into corresponding values of another measurement system. Note: For specific conversion factors, see EIA data products.

Database: See also: Full Public Use Database; Compact Public Use Database; and Database Query Tool.

Deforestation: The net removal of trees from forested land.

Emissions coefficient: A unique value for scaling emissions to activity data in terms of a standard rate of emissions per unit of activity (e.g., pounds of carbon dioxide emissions per unit of fossil fuel consumed).

Emissions: Anthropogenic releases of gases to the atmosphere. In the context of global climate change, they consist of radiatively important greenhouse gases (e.g., the release of carbon dioxide during fuel combustion).

Emissions, direct: Emissions from sources owned (wholly or in part) or leased by an entity.

Emissions, fugitive: Unintended leaks of gas from the processing, transmission, and/or transportation of fossil fuels.

Emissions, indirect: Emissions from sources not owned or leased by an entity that occur, wholly or in part, as a result of its activities.

Emission reduction: A decrease in annual greenhouse gas emissions.

Energy conservation: Activities that reduce end-use demand for energy by reducing the service demanded.

Entity: For the purposes of the Voluntary Reporting Program, an individual or organization that is a legal U.S. person (e.g., a U.S. citizen, resident alien, company, organization, or group incorporated under or recognized by U.S. law; or a Federal, State, or local government agency).

Entity boundary: Conceptually, a line drawn to encompass the emissions sources and sinks to be evaluated in an entity-level report. An entity boundary should include all the emissions sources and sinks owned (wholly or in part) or leased by the entity and, to the extent possible, other emissions sources and sinks affected by the entity’s activities.

Entity-level reporting: The reporting of greenhouse gas emissions, emission reductions, and carbon sequestration for an entire entity.

Estimation method: The techniques, including key assumptions and data sources, used by the reporter to derive the reported emissions, emission reductions, or sequestration.

Foreign activities: All actions outside the United States, its territories, and trusts.

Fossil fuel: An energy source formed in the Earth’s crust from decayed organic material. The common fossil fuels are petroleum, coal, and natural gas.

Fuel cycle: The entire set of sequential processes or stages involved in the utilization of fuel, including extraction, transformation, transportation, and combustion. Emissions generally occur at each stage of the fuel cycle.

Fuel switching: The substitution of one type of fuel for another. The fuel substitution may be either temporary (as in the case of a power plant that temporarily switches from coal to natural gas) or permanent (as in the case of a fleet operator who replaces gasoline-powered automobiles with electric cars).

Fugitive emissions: See Emissions, fugitive.

Full Public Use Database: Includes all non-confidential reports received by the Program to date. It is made available as a stand-alone application that may be downloaded from the web site or from the Program's CD-ROM, and is run from the local computer to browse the submitted reports in their entirety. (Download the Full Public Use Database). Also see Compact Public Use Database.

Global warming potential (GWP): An index used to compare the relative radiative forcing of different gases without directly calculating changes in their atmospheric concentrations. GWPs are calculated as the ratio of the radiative forcing that would result from the emission of one kilogram of a greenhouse gas to that from the emission of one kilogram of carbon dioxide over a fixed period of time, such as 100 years.

Gob: A zone of rubble created when the roof of a coal mine collapses behind the mining operations.

Greenhouse effect: The result of water vapor, carbon dioxide, and other atmospheric gases trapping radiant (infrared) energy, thereby keeping the Earth’s surface warmer than it would otherwise be. Greenhouse gases within the lower levels of the atmosphere trap infrared radiation that would otherwise escape into space, and subsequent re-radiation of some of the energy back to the Earth maintains higher surface temperatures than would occur if the gases were absent. See Greenhouse gases.

Greenhouse gases: Those gases, such as water vapor, carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide, methane, hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), perfluorocarbons (PFCs) and sulfur hexafluoride, that are transparent to solar (short-wave) radiation but opaque to long-wave (infrared) radiation, thus preventing long-wave radiant energy from leaving Earth’s atmosphere. The net effect is a trapping of absorbed radiation and a tendency to warm the planet’s surface.

Halogenated substance: A volatile compound containing halogens, such as chlorine, fluorine, or bromine.

Horizon year: The year in which a commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions or increase sequestration (reported on Schedule IV) is expected to be met.

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC): A panel established jointly in 1988 by the World Meteorological Organization and the United Nations Environment Program to assess scientific information related to climate change and to formulate realistic response strategies.

Life cycle: The progression of a product through its service life. For most products, emissions and energy-consuming characteristics will be altered as they age.

Longwall mining: An automated form of underground coal mining characterized by high recovery and extraction rates, feasible only in relatively flat-lying, thick, and uniform coalbeds. A high-powered cutting machine is passed across the exposed face of coal, shearing away broken coal, which is continuously hauled away by a floor-level conveyor system. Longwall mining extracts all machine-minable coal between the floor and ceiling within a contiguous block of coal, known as a panel, leaving no support pillars within the panel area. Panel dimensions vary over time and with mining conditions but currently average about 900 feet wide (coal face width) and more than 8,000 feet long (the minable extent of the panel, measured in direction of mining). Longwall mining is done under movable roof supports that are advanced as the bed is cut. The roof in the mined-out area is allowed to fall as the mining advances.

Manure management: The method used to dispose of the solid waste produced by livestock and poultry.

Municipal solid waste: Residential solid waste and some nonhazardous commercial, institutional, and industrial wastes.

Ozone: A molecule made up of three atoms of oxygen. Occurs naturally in the stratosphere and provides a protective layer shielding the Earth from harmful ultraviolet radiation. In the troposphere, it is a chemical oxidant, a greenhouse gas, and major component of photochemical smog.

Photosynthesis: The manufacture of carbohydrates and oxygen from carbon dioxide and water in the presence of chlorophyll, with sunlight as the energy source. Carbon is sequestered and oxygen and water are released in the process.

Pilot project: A small-scale trial designed to test or demonstrate the efficiency or efficacy of a project.

Project: An action undertaken to reduce greenhouse gas emissions or sequester carbon.

Project boundary: Conceptually, a line drawn to encompass the emissions sources and sinks affected by a project. A project boundary should include all the significant and quantifiable effects of the project.

Project ID code: A unique code assigned by the Energy Information Administration to a reported project for tracking purposes.

Project-level reporting: Reporting on emission reductions or carbon sequestration achieved as a result of a specific action or group of actions.

Query Tool: The Database Query Tool is made available in the form of a MS Access database, and contains all the data files from the most recent Public Use Database. This database, together with the developer's guide help file (the file called defora.hlp available at the same web site), should facilitate access to the data for those wishing additional information beyond what is offered in the Annual Report. This tool is intended for those with a strong working knowledge of database querying tools such as MS Access, and is offered in Access 2000. To access the file, browse to ftp://ftp.eia.doe.gov/pub/oiaf/1605/ 1605/cdrom/MSAccess and download the zip file. Then, unzip the file to expand the .mdb file.

Reconductoring: Replacement of existing conductors with large-diameter conductors to reduce line losses. Conductors (including feeders and transmission lines) are a major source of transmission and distribution system losses. In general, the smaller the diameter of the conductor, the greater its resistance to the flow of electric current, and the greater the consequent line losses.

Reference case: The emissions level to which current actual emissions levels are compared when emission reductions are calculated.

Reference case, basic: A reference case using actual historical emissions or sequestration values.

Reference case, modified: A reference case using projected emissions or sequestration values, representing the emissions level that would have occurred in the absence of reduction or sequestration efforts.

Reforestation: Replanting of forests on lands that have recently been harvested or otherwise cleared of trees.

Reporter: An entity (see definition above) completing either Form EIA-1605 or Form EIA-1605EZ and submitting it to the Energy Information Administration.

Room-and-pillar mining: The most common method of underground mining in which the mine roof is supported mainly by coal pillars left at regular intervals. Rooms are places where the coal is mined; pillars are areas of coal left between the rooms. Room-and-pillar mining is done either by conventional or continuous mining.

Sequestered carbon: Carbon that is removed from the atmosphere and retained in a carbon sink (such as a growing tree) or in soil.

Sink: See Carbon sink.

Third-party reporter: An authorized party that submits a report on behalf of two or more entities that have engaged in emissions-reducing or sequestration-increasing activities. Possible third-party reporters include trade associations reporting on behalf of members that have undertaken reduction projects.

Vhar metering: Phase shifters on watt-hour meters that measure reactive volt ampere hours or varhours.

Watt (W): The unit of electrical power equal to one ampere under a pressure of one volt. A watt is equal to 1/746 horsepower.