Steve Mills

A system in which fuel is used to simultaneously produce electrical (or mechanical) power plus recovered useful thermal energy for use in cooling & heating.

Coal is ground to fine powder and then burned in huge boilers to heat water. The steam produced passes through a turbine, making it rotate and generating electricity which is then fed into the national grid. Coal powered plants have been the mainstay of the industry for decades and account…

A range of products, services and processes which reduce the use of natural resources and cut or eliminate emissions and waste. It was considered a niche area of investment two decades ago but has become a focus for most major companies.

In relation to carbon emissions, carbon dioxide (CO2) is measured in tonnes. A typical household has around 10.9 tonnes of CO2 emissions per year.

There are six main greenhouse gases which cause climate change and are limited by the Kyoto protocol. Each gas has a different global warming potential. For simplicity of reporting, the mass of each gas emitted is commonly translated into a carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) amount so that the total impact…

The ratio of the actual output of a unit of electricity or heat generation over a period of time (typically one year) to the theoretical output that would be produced if the unit were operating without interruption at its rated capacity during the same period of time.

The rated power of a heat or electricity generating plant, which refers to the potential instantaneous heat or electricity output, or the aggregate potential output of a collection of such units (such as a wind farm or set of solar panels). Installed capacity describes equipment that has been constructed, although…

The British thermal unit (BTU or Btu) is a unit of heat; it is defined as the amount of heat required to raise the temperature of one pound of water by one degree Fahrenheit. One Btu is approximately: 054 to 1.060 kJ (kilojoules) 2931 W⋅h (watt hours) 252 to 253…

Base load is the level below which electricity demand never drops, e.g. a site with a high maximum demand of 750 kVA whose demand never drops below 250 kVA would have a base load of 250 kVA.

The mechanism used by the National Grid Company (UK) to balance the supply and demand of electricity.