- Industry: Broadcasting & receiving
- Number of terms: 5074
- Number of blossaries: 1
- Company Profile:
The largest broadcasting organisation in the world.
A hybrid car is one that has both a petrol engine and an electric motor and switches between them according to the driving conditions. It is different from a dual-fuel vehicle, which uses two types of liquid fuel.
Industry:Natural environment
Hydropower (or hydroelectric power) is the generation of electricity using the power of falling water.
Industry:Natural environment
Methane is a hydrocarbon, the main component of natural gas and among the six greenhouse gases to be curbed under the Kyoto protocol. As a greenhouse gas it is estimated to have a warming effect about 25 times as great as CO2. (Compared to CO2 its effects are greater but last for a shorter period). As a fuel, it is used in electricity generation and in the form of compressed natural gas it can be used as vehicle fuel. Methane is produced during the decomposition of many materials in landfill, while about 16% of methane emissions are caused by livestock's digestive processes.
Industry:Natural environment
Monoculture is the practice of planting a single crop, or genetically similar crops, over a wide area. Its advantages to growers are that the crop may thrive in conditions tailored to its success and without competition from other species. However, the practice will also reduce the region's biodiversity by limiting the number of other species for which it is a suitable habitat. Scientists warn that extensive forest clearance to make way for widespread growth of crops such as sugarcane to create biofuels is creating a monoculture harmful to biodiversity. The opposite of a monoculture is a polyculture.
Industry:Natural environment
Nitrogen oxides are compounds of nitrogen and oxygen, two elements that do not normally react with each other but will do so during high temperature combustion – such as in a car engine. Examples include nitric oxide (NO) and nitrogen dioxide (NO2), which contribute to air pollution, and nitrous oxide (N2O), which is a major greenhouse gas. Although its warming effect is far less than CO2, it persists in the atmosphere for far longer, so measured over 100 years its impact is 298 times greater.
Industry:Natural environment
A pesticide is a substance used to kill a pest, and in a farming context a pest is anything that attacks or competes with crops. Hence, there are many different types of pesticides: for example, insecticides kill insects, and herbicides kill weeds. The chemicals used in pesticides can sometimes be toxic to humans, however, so organic farming endeavours to use natural rather than synthetic substances as pesticides.
Industry:Natural environment
Ordinary diesel, like regular petrol, is refined from oil but it is a thicker, heavier liquid with a higher 'energy density' - meaning it offers better fuel economy. On the down side, unless you buy an air filter, diesel exhaust is a significant source of particulates and other sources of air pollution. A type of diesel not derived from petroleum is increasingly widely available, commonly referred to as biodiesel.
Industry:Natural environment
Dioxins are chlorine-containing chemical compounds formed and emitted into the atmosphere usually as byproducts of human activity - waste incineration and fuel combustion being common examples. They are also formed by natural processes such as forest fires and volcanoes. Some dioxins have harmful properties and could, in sufficient concentration, be harmful to the environment and human health.
Industry:Natural environment
An ecosystem is the term applied to the interaction of a community of different living (organic) species - plants, animals and micro-organisms - with non-living (or inorganic) factors, such as atmospheric gases, temperature and light. When the balance of an ecosystem is changed - by the introduction of new elements or dramatic rises in one or more of them - the normal functioning of the ecosystem can be disrupted.
Industry:Natural environment
Emissions are the CO2 (and other greenhouse gases) produced by energy use, usually calculated and stated as an annual tally: also referred to as your carbon footprint. Your personal emissions can be direct - such as the gas you personally use to heat your home or the petrol you burn to power your car - or indirect - meaning the energy use that has gone into the products or services you buy. The latter, such as the emissions caused by the manufacture of your new TV, or the packaging your food comes in, are also referred to as embodied emissions.
Industry:Natural environment
