Climate Change & Natural Resources
Glossary: Natural Resources
Aerobic: Requiring, or not destroyed by, the presence of free elemental oxygen.
Afforestation: Planting of trees on lands not previously forested. For example, conversion of marginal agricultural lands to forest and urban planting efforts.
Anaerobic: Requiring, or not destroyed by, the absence of air or free oxygen.
Anaerobic digestion: The degradation of organic matter (e.g., manure) through the action of microorganisms in the absence of elemental oxygen.
Aquifer: A geological formation that contains sufficient saturated material to yield significant quantities of water to wells and springs.
Base year: A targeted year for reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. In the Kyoto Protocol, 1990 is the base year for most countries and is the base year used by Montana.
Best Practice Management (BPM): A practice, or set of practices, found to be most effective from an economic and/or institutional perspective.
Biomass: Plant and/or or animal matter that is capable of, or in a state of, decay.
Biome: A division of the world’s vegetation that corresponds to a particular climate and is characterized by certain types of plants and animals. In Montana, for example, we have several major biomes, including various coniferous forests two types of grassland plains.
Black Carbon Aerosols: Particles of carbon in the atmosphere typically produced by inefficient combustion of fossil fuels or biomass. Black carbon aerosols absorb light from the sun, shade and cool the Earth’s surface, and are believed to generally contribute to atmospheric warming of the atmosphere.
British Thermal Unit (BTU): The amount of heat required to raise the temperature of one pound of water one degree Farenheit. One cubic foot of natural gas contains about 1,000 BTUs.
Carbon dioxide (CO2): A colorless, odorless, non-poisonous gas that is a normal part of ambient and atmospheric air. The main one of six gases generally agreed to be greenhouse gases. Human activities such as fossil fuel combustion and land use changes have increased atmospheric concentrations of CO2. Carbon dioxide is the standard used to measure other greenhouse gases, and is expressed as CO2-equivalent.
Carbon sink: Natural processes that remove more carbon dioxide from the atmosphere than they release over a given period of time. Terrestrial carbon sinks include forest biomasses, rangeland, and certain agricultural acreages. The oceans are also carbon sinks.
Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs): CFCs are synthetic industrial gases composed of chlorine, fluorine, and carbon. They have been used as refrigerants, aerosol propellants, cleaning solvents and in the manufacture of plastic foam. There are no natural sources of CFCs. CFCs may last decades to centuries in the atmosphere and have been assigned a high global warming potential, much higher than that of CO2. For modeling and forecasting purposes, CFCs are converted into their CO2-equivalents.
Climate Change: This general term refers to changes in long-term trends in the average climate, such as changes in average temperatures. For this website, climate change refers to any change in climate over time, whether due to natural variability or as a result of human activity.
Cogeneration: A common energy source is used to produce both electricity and steam for other uses, resulting in increased fuel efficiency.
Consumptive use (water): The portion of withdrawn water used or consumed by crops, humans, or livestock, or industry.
Combined heat and power (CHP) plant: A plant designed to produce both heat and electricity from a single heat source. This term replaces “cogenerator.” to better describe facilities that do not produce heat and power in a sequential fashion.
Commercial sector: Within this website, an energy-consuming sector that consists of service-providing facilities and equipment of: businesses and other private organizations. Government and institutional structures are classified elsewhere.
Construction: A subsector of the industrial sector that consists of all facilities and equipment used to perform land preparation and construct, renovate, alter, install, maintain, or repair major infrastructure or individual systems therein.
Cubic foot (cf), natural gas: The amount of natural gas contained at standard temperature and pressure (60 degrees Fahrenheit and 14.73 pounds standard per square inch) in a cube whose edges are one foot long.
Decatherm (dkt): The equivalent of one million BTUs. Natural gas is measured in thousand cubic feet (Mcf). One Mcf equals 1.03 dkt.
Ecosystem: The interaction of a complex of plants, animals, and microorganisms and the non-living environment. An ecosystem may have ill-defined natural borders, but increasingly boundaries are defined by human activities such as roadways, utility corridors, and agricultural lands.
Electric utility: Any entity that generates, transmits, or distributes electricity and recovers the cost of its generation, transmission or distribution assets and operations, either directly or indirectly, through cost-based rates set by a separate regulatory authority (e.g., Montana Public Service Commission). Examples may be investor-owned entities, public utility districts, rural electric cooperatives, or federal agencies.
Emissions: The release of substances (e.g., greenhouse gases) into the atmosphere.
Emissions trading: A market where countries, companies or facilities can buy emissions from or sell emissions to other emitters. Emissions trading may lower the cost of meeting emission targets. Some entities may achieve reductions at a comparatively low cost, for example. Reductions below a given level could then be sold on a world market to those for whom achieving reductions is more costly.
Energy supplier: Any energy companies supplying electricity, natural gas, fuel oil, kerosene, or LPG (liquefied petroleum gas) to a household or business.
Evapotranspiration: The process by which water re-enters the atmosphere through evaporation from the ground and transpiration by plants.
Fahrenheit: A temperature scale on which the boiling point of water is at 212 degrees above zero on the scale and the freezing point is at 32 degrees above zero at standard atmospheric pressure.
Flood irrigation: An irrigation practice that spreads water on the land surface from open field ditches or other conveyance systems. Fossil fuel: Any naturally occurring organic fuel formed in the Earth’s crust, such as coal, crude oil, and natural gas. Greenhouse gas (GHG): Any of a variety of gases known to be transparent to incoming solar radiation but capable of absorbing reflected infrared radiation from the Earth’s surface. The principal greenhouse gases are carbon dioxide (CO2), methane, and chlorofluorocarbons, among others. Greenhouse gases other than CO2 or often converted into CO2-equivalents.
Instream: Water used within the stream channel for such purposes as hydroelectric power generation, navigation, water-quality improvement, fish and wildlife propagation, and recreation. Sometimes called nonwithdrawal use or inchannel use. Greenhouse gas (GHG): Any of a variety of gases known to be transparent to incoming solar radiation but capable of absorbing reflected infrared radiation from the Earth’s surface. The principal greenhouse gases are carbon dioxide (CO2), methane, and chlorofluorocarbons, among others. Greenhouse gases other than CO2 or often converted into CO2-equivalents.
Hydroelectric power: The use of flowing water to turn electricity-producing turbines.
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC): The IPCC was established in 1988 by the World Meteorological Organization and the UN. The IPCC provides scientific and technical services to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC). The panel reviews research and publishes periodic assessment reports.
Kilowatt-hour (kWh): The smallest common unit of the measurement of electricity. It represents a unit of energy output of 1,000 watts over one hour.
Megawatt-hour (MWh): A unit of energy representing 1,000 kilowatt-hours. One MWh is produced when a 1 megawatt generator runs for one hour.
Methane (CH4): Methane is among six gases identified for their contribution to the greenhouse effect and global warming. Atmospheric CH4 is produced by natural processes, but substantial emissions come from human activities such as landfills, livestock and livestock wastes, natural gas and petroleum production, coal mines, and wastewater treatment. For modeling and forecasting purposes, methane is usually converted and expressed as CO2-equivalent.
Natural gas: Hydrocarbon gases --- principally methane with varying quantities of ethane, propane, butane, and other gases --- that occur with petroleum deposits. Natural gas is used as a fuel in Montana for residential space and water heating. The gas is purified and delivered as a pressurized product in pipelines.
Nitrous oxide (N2O): Nitrous oxide is among six greenhouse gases identified under the Kyoto Protocol. It is produced by natural processes, but substantial emissions stem from human activities such as agriculture and fossil fuel combustion. For modeling and forecasting purposes, nitrous oxide is usually converted and expressed as CO2-equivalent.
Perfluorocarbons (PFCs): PFCs are among six types of greenhouse gases identified by the Kyoto Protocol. These are synthetic industrial gases generated as a by-product of aluminum smelting and uranium enrichment. They also are used as substitutes for CFCs in the manufacture of semiconductors. There are no natural sources of PFCs. For modeling and forecasting purposes, PFCs are usually converted and expressed as CO2-equivalent.
Public water supply: Water withdrawn by public and private water suppliers and delivered to users. Public suppliers provide water for a variety of uses, such as domestic, commercial, industrial, thermoelectric power, and public-water use.
Reforestation: Planting of trees on lands that in recent past were forested. The practice generally excludes immediate replanting of harvested forest lands. The replanting of trees on lands that will not regenerate without assistance. Renewable energy: Energy obtained from essentially inexhaustible sources. Usual sources include solar power, wind power, hydro-power, and geothermal power. Wood harvested directly from trees, tree bark, and wood waste is usually considered a combustible source.
Sequestration: The removal of CO2, either through biological processes (e.g., plants and trees), or by geological processes through storage of CO2 in underground reservoirs (e.g., salt domes, limestone deposits). Certain biological sequestration strategies assume the CO2 will be stored for at least 100 years, such as in forest fibers and in geological formations. Some biological sequestration approaches capture carbon over relatively short periods of time but cycle the carbon quickly as well. Geological strategies may involve concentration, compression, and transportation of the CO2 (see also, pre-combustion and post-combustion sequestration).
Sink: See Carbon Sink.
Sprinkler Irrigation: A pressurized irrigation system where water is distributed through pipes to the field and applied through a variety of sprinkler heads or drop tubes and emitters. Natural or supplied pressure is used to spread water droplets above the crop canopy. Systems may be portable, traveling gun systems, solid or permanent fixture systems, center pivot systems, and periodic moving systems.
