Energy Acronyms

• A - Ampere
• AAL - all aluminum (electricity conductor)
• AAQS - Ambient Air Quality Standards
• ABAG - Association of Bay Area Governments
• AC - alternating current
• ACE - Army Corps of Engineers
• ACSR - aluminum covered steel reinforced (electricity conductor)
• AEI - Advanced Energy Initiative
• AEO - Annual Energy Outlook, DOE/EIA publication
• AFC - Application for Certification
• AFY - acre-feet per year
• AGW - Anthropogenic global warming
• AHM - Acutely Hazardous Materials
• AL - aluminum
• ANOPR - Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking
• ANSI - American National Standards Institute
• ANSI - American National Standards Institute
• APCD - Air Pollution Control District
• APCO - Air Pollution Control Officer
• API - American Petroleum Institute
• APPA - America Public Power Association
• AQMD - Air Quality Management District
• AQMP - Air Quality Management Plan
• ARB - (California) Air Resources Board
• ARB (not CARB) - California Air Resources Board
• ARCO - Atlantic Richfield Company
• ASAE - American Society of Architectural Engineers
• ASAT - Appliance Saturation
• ASHRAE - American Society of Heating Refrigeration & Air Conditioning Engineers
• ASME - American Society of Mechanical Engineers
• ATC - Authority to Construct

• B - Present value of future coil losses ($/watt)
• BAAQMD - Bay Area Air Quality Management District
• BACT - Best Available Control Technology
• BAF - Basic American Foods
• BANANA - Build Absolutely Nothing Anywhere Near Anybody
• BARCT - Best Available Retrofit Control Technology
• bbl - barrel
• BBLs - barrels of oil
• BBRS - Board for Building Regulations and Standards
• BC - Bill Calculator
• BCDC - Bay Conservation and Development Commission
• BCF - billion cubic feet
• Bcfd - billion cubic feet per day
• BCUC - British Columbia Utilities Commission
• BDT - Bone Dry Tons
• BEA - U.S. Bureau of Economic Affairs
• BG - Biomass gasification
• BIL - basic impulse insulation level
• BIL - basic impulse insulation level
• BLM - Bureau of Land Management
• BLM - Bureau of Land Management
• BOE - Barrels of oil equivalent
• BPA - Bonneville Power Administration
• BPA - U.S. Bonneville Power Administration
• BR - Biennial Report
• BT - Building Technologies
• BTL - Biomass-to-liquid
• Btu - British thermal unit
• Btu - British thermal unit (Note: B is capitalized)
• BUREC - Bureau of Reclamation

• C&I - commercial and industrial
• CA ISO - See California ISO
• CAA - U.S. Clean Air Act
• CAAQS - California Ambient Air Quality Standards
• CAFE - Corporate Average Fuel Economy
• CalEPA - California Environmental Protection Agency
• CalEPA - California Environmental Protection Agency
• California ISO (not CAISO or Cal-ISO) - California Independent System Operator
• CALMAC - California Measurement Advisory Committee
• CALTRANS - California Department of Transportation
• CAPCOA - California Air Pollution Control Officers Association
• CAPM - Capital Asset Pricing Model
• CARB - California Air Resources Board
• CARES - Conservation and Renewable Energy System
• CBC - California Building Code
• CBECS - Commercial Building Energy Consumption Survey
• CCAA - California Clean Air Act
• CCR - California Code of Regulations
• CDF - California Department of Forestry
• CDFG - California Department of Fish and Game
• CEA - Canadian Electricity Association
• CEC - California Energy Commission (Please note that the Energy Commission prefers to not use the acronym "CEC" because of possible confusion with other agencies or companies with the same acronym. Use Energy Commission or just Commission instead.)
• CEERT - Coalition for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Technologies
• CED - California Energy Demand
• CEM - continuous emissions monitoring
• CEQA - California Environmental Quality Act (pronounced SEE-qwah)
• CERA - Cambridge Energy Research Associates (Chairman Daniel Yergin)
• CESA - California Endangered Species Act
• CEUS - Commercial End Use Survey
• CFB - circulating fluidized bed
• CFCs - chloro-fluorocarbons
• CFM - cubic feet per minute
• CFR - Code of Federal Regulations
• cfs - cubic feet per second
• CIWMB - California Integrated Waste Management Board
• CLUP - Comprehensive Land Use Plan
• CNEL - Community Noise Equivalent Level
• CO - carbon monoxide
• CO2 or CO2 (Note: Make sure the 2 it is not too small to read.) - Carbon dioxide
• COB - California/Oregon Border
• COI - California Oregon Intertie
• CPCN - Certificate of Public Convenience & Necessity
• CPM - Compliance Project Manager
• CPUC - California Public Utilities Commission
• CRA - Columbia River Alliance for Fish, Commerce and Communities
• CRITFC - Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission
• CSA - Canadian Standards Association
• CSL - Candidate Standard Level
• CT - combustion turbine
• CT - current transformer
• CTG - combustion turbine generator
• CTL - Coal-to-liquid conversion
• CU - cooper
• CUB - Oregon Citizens' Utility Board
• CURE - California Unions for Reliable Energy
• CWA - Clean Water Act

• dB - decibel
• dB(A) - decibel on the A scale
• DC - direct current
• DCTL - Double Circuit Transmission Line
• DEIR - Draft Environmental Impact Report
• DEIS - Draft Environmental Impact Statement
• DER - Distributed Energy Resources
• DFG - California Department of Fish and Game
• DHS - California Department of Health Services
• DISCO - Distribution Company
• DL - design line (followed by a number indicating which design line)
• DOC - Determination of Compliance
• DOE - U.S. Department of Energy
• DOJ - U.S. Department of Justice
• DSI - Direct Service Industries--primarily aluminum companies
• DSM - Demand Side Management
• DTC - Desert Tortoise Council
• DWR - (California) Department of Water Resources

• E&P - Exploration and production
• ECAA - Energy Conservation Assistance Account
• EDF - Environmental Defense Fund
• Edison - Southern California Edison Company
• EDR - Energy Development Report
• EER, SEER - Energy Efficiency Ratio, Seasonal Energy Efficiency Ratio
• EFS&EPD - Energy Facilities Siting and Environmental Protection Division
• EIA - Energy Information Administration
• EIA - Energy Information Administration
• EIA - Energy Information Administration, division of US Department of Energy
• EIA - U.S. Energy Information Administration (statistical arm of U.S. Department of Energy)
• EIR - Environmental Impact Report
• EIS - Environmental Impact Statement
• ELCAP - Elrick & Lavidge Computerized Audit Program
• ELFIN - Electric Utility Financial and Production Simulation Model
• EMF - electric and magnetic fields
• EMM - Electricity Market Model
• Energy Action Plan (not EAP) - Energy Action Plan
• Energy Commission - Preferred shortened version of California Energy Commission
• ENERGY STAR® on first reference, followed by ENERGY STAR thereafter. Note: Should be all capitals.
• EOR - East of River (Colorado River)
• EOR - Enhanced oil recovery
• EPA - U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
• EPCA - Energy Policy and Conservation Act
• EPR - Energy profit ratio
• EPRI - Electric Power Research Institute
• ER - Electricity Report
• ERC - emission reduction credit {offset}
• ERPA - Energy Resources Program Account (funding that supports the Energy Commission)
• EROEI - Energy return on energy invested
• ERP - equity risk premium
• ESA - Endangered Species Act (Federal)
• ESA - Environmental Site Assessment
• ESP - Energy Service Providers
• ETSR - Energy Technologies Status Report
• EUC - End Use Consumption
• EUI - End Use Intensities
• EWEB - Eugene Water & Electric Board

• FAA - Federal Aviation Administration
• FBE - Functional Basis Earthquake
• FBS - Federal Base System
• FCAA - Federal Clean Air Act
• FCC - Federal Communications Commission
• FCRPS - Federal Columbia River Power System
• FEC - Flathead Electric Co-op
• FEIR - Final Environmental Impact Report
• FEMA - Federal Emergency Management Agency
• FEMP - Federal Energy Management Program
• FERC - Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
• FIP - Federal Implementation Plan
• FIP - Fields in production
• FONSI - Finding of No-Significant Impact
• FOP - Fuel oil price
• FSA - Final Staff Assessment
• FSU - Former Soviet Union
• FT - Fischer-Tropsch process of converting methane, biomass, or coal to liquid fuels
• FUA - Fields under appraisal
• FUD - Fields under development

• g/m3 - micro grams (10-6 grams) per cubic meter
• GB - Gigabarrels = 1 billion barrels
• GDP - Gross Domestic Product
• GEP - good engineering practice
• GHG - Greenhouse gas (e.g., CO2, methane)
• GIS - gas insulated switchgear
• GIS - geographic information system
• GOM - Gulf of Mexico
• GOMEX - Gulf of Mexico
• GOSP - Gas Oil Separation Plant
• gpd - gallons per day
• gpm - gallons per minute
• GRDA - Geothermal Resources Development Account
• GRIM - Government Regulatory Impact Model
• GTL - Gas-to-liquids conversion
• GW - gigawatt
• GWh - gigawatt-hour

• H2S - hydrogen sulfide
• HCP - habitat conservation plan
• HELM - Hourly Electric Load Model
• HHV - higher heating value
• HL - Hubbert Linearization
• H-O DR - laser-scribed M3 core steel
• HOUSES - Households
• HRA - Health Risk Assessment
• HRSG - heat recovery steam generator
• HTS - high-temperature superconducting
• HV - high voltage
• HV - high voltage
• HVAC - Heating Ventilation and Air Conditioning
• Hz - hertz

• IAR - Issues and Alternatives Report
• ICIP - Industrial Customers of Idaho Power
• ICNU - Industrial Customers of Northwest Utilities
• ID - load identification
• IDF&G - Idaho Department of Fish & Game
• IEA - International Energy Agency
• IEEE - Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc.
• IEPR - Integrated Energy Policy Report
• IHS - IHS Energy (consulting company, parent of CERA)
• IID - Imperial Irrigation District
• IIR - Issues Identification Report
• IMBUILD - Impact of Building
• IMPLAN - Impact Analysis for Planning
• INFORM - Industrial End Use Forecasting Model
• IOC - International oil company (e.g., British Petroleum, ExxonMobil)
• IOU - Investor-owned Utility
• IID - Imperial Irrigation District
• IPC - Idaho Power Company
• IPUC - Idaho Public Utilities Commission
• IS - Initial Study
• ISO - Independent System Operator

• JES - Joint Environmental Statement
• JODI - Joint oil data initiative
• JPA - Joint Powers Authority

• KCAPCD - Kern County Air Pollution Control District
• KCM - thousand circular mils (also KCmil) (electricity conductor)
• KGRA - known geothermal resource area
• km - kilometer
• KOP - key observation point
• KRCC - Kern River Cogeneration Company
• kV - kilovolt
• KVA - kilovolt-ampere (transformer size rating)
• KVAR - kilovolt-ampere reactive
• kW (small k, capital W) - kilowatt
• kWe - kilowatt, electric
• kWh - kilowatt hour
• kWp - peak kilowatt

• LADWP - Los Angeles Department of Water and Power
• LAER - Lowest Achievable Emission Rate
• LBNL - Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
• lbs - pounds
• lbs/hr - pounds per hour
• lbs/MMBtu - pounds per million British thermal units
• LCAQMD - Lake County Air Quality Management District
• LCC - Life-Cycle Cost
• LL - load loss
• LMUD - Lassen Municipal Utility District
• LNG - liquefied natural gas
• LORS - laws, ordinances, regulations and standards
• LPG - Liquified petroleum gas (propane and butane)
• LQHC - Low quality hydrocarbons (i.e., tar sands and oil shale)
• LSE - Load Serving Entities
• LV - low voltage

• m (M) - meter, million, mega, milli or thousand
• M* - M2, M3, M4, M6 - thickness of core steel
• m/s - meters per second
• MB - Millions of barrels
• MBD - Millions of barrels per day
• MBUAPCD - Monterey Bay Unified Air Pollution Control District
• MCE - maximum credible earthquake
• MCF - thousand cubic feet
• MCF but in parentheses say (1000 cubic feet of natural gas) - MCF
• MCL - Maximum Containment Level
• MCM - thousand circular mil (electricity conductor)
• MEID - Merced Irrigation District
• MER - Maximum effective rate (of production)
• MG - milli gauss
• mgd - million gallons per day
• MIA - Manufacturer Impact Analysis
• MID - Modesto Irrigation District
• Middle East and North Africa (includes Algeria, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates)
• MMcfd - Million cubic feet per day (used with natural gas)
• MMS - Minerals Management Service, division of US Department of the Interior
• MMT - Million metric tons
• MOU - Memorandum of Understanding
• MPE - maximum probable earthquake
• MRC - Maximum Reservoir Contact
• MS - Mail Station
• MV - megavolt
• MVA - megavolt-amperes
• MVAR - megavolt-ampere reactive
• MW - megawatt (million watts)
• MW (all capitals) / MWh - megawatt / megawatt-hour
• MWA - Mojave Water Agency
• MWD - Metropolitan Water District
• MWh - megawatt hour
• MWp - peak megawatt

• N-1 - one transmission circuit out
• N-2 - two transmission circuits out
• NAAQS - National Ambient Air Quality Standards
• NAICS - North American Industry Classification System
• NCI - Navigant Consulting, Inc. (formerly Arthur D. Little, Inc.)
• NCPA - Northern California Power Agency
• NEEA - Northwest Energy Efficiency Alliance, also known as The Alliance.
• NEEP - Northeast Energy Efficiency Partnership
• NEMA - National Electrical Manufacturers Association
• NEMS - National Energy Modeling System
• NEPA - National Environmental Policy Act (federal "equivalent" of CEQA) of 1969
• NERC - North American Electric Reliability Council
• NES - National Energy Savings
• NESHAPS - National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants
• NG - Natural gas (mainly methane)
• NGL - Natural gas liquids (ethane, propane, butane, isobutane and natural gasoline)
• NHA - National Hydropower Association
• NIMBY - Not In My Backyard
• NL - no-load losses
• NMFS - National Marine Fisheries Service
• NMHC - nonmethane hydrocarbons
• NO - nitrogen oxide
• NO2 - nitrogen dioxide
• NOAA - National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
• NOC - National oil company (e.g., Saudi Aramco)
• NOI - Notice of Intention
• NOL - North of Lugo
• NOM - Normas Oficiales Mexicanas-NOM (official Mexican standards)
• NOP - Notice of Preparation (of EIR)
• NOPR - Notice of Proposed Rulemaking
• NOV - Notice of Violation
• NOx - nitrogen oxides
• NPV - net present value
• NRC - Nuclear Regulatory Commission
• NRCan - Natural Resources Canada
• NRDC - Natural Resources Defense Council
• NRECA - National Rural Electric Cooperative Association
• NREL - National Renewable Energy Laboratory, a laboratory of the US Department of Energy
• NRTA - Northwest Regional Transmission Association
• NSCAPCD - Northern Sonoma County Air Pollution Control District
• NSPS - New Source Performance Standards
• NSR - New Source Review
• NWEC - Northwest Energy Coalition
• NWPP - Northwest Power Pool
• NWPPA - Northwest Public Power Association
• NWPPC - Northwest Power Planning Council
• NYMEX - New York Mercantile Exchange
• NYSERDA - New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA)

• O&M - operation and maintenance
• O3 - Ozone
• OASIS - Open Access Same-Time Information System
• OCB - oil circuit breaker
• OCSG - Operating Capability Study Group
• ODAC - Oil Depletion Analysis Centre
• OECD - Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development
• OEE - Office of Energy Efficiency
• OEFSC - Oregon Energy Facility Siting Council
• OEMs - original equipment manufacturers
• OGJ - The Oil & Gas Journal
• OIRA - Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs
• OMB - Office of Management and Budget
• OOIP - Original oil in place
• OPEC - Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries
• OPS - Optimized Program Service, Inc.
• OPUC - Oregon Public Utilities Commission
• ORA - Office of Ratepayer Advocates
• ORNL - Oak Ridge National Laboratory
• OSB - Oversight Board
• OSHA - Occupational Safety and Health Administration (or Act)

• P/Q - Hubbert Production "P" to Cumulative Production "Q"
• PBL - Power Business Line of BPA
• PBP - payback period
• PC - product class
• PCI - Per Capita Income
• PDCI - Pacific DC Intertie
• PG&E - Pacific Gas and Electric Company
• PGC - Public Goods Charge
• PGE - Portland General Electric
• PGP - Public Generating Pool
• PHC(S) - Prehearing Conference (Statement)
• PIER Program - Public Interest Energy Research Program
• PIFUA - Federal Powerplant & Industrial Fuel Use Act of 1978
• PM - particulate matter
• PM - Project Manager
• PM10 - particulate matter 10 microns and smaller in diameter
• PM2.5 - particulate matter 2.5 microns and smaller in diameter
• PMA - Power Marketing Authority
• PNGC - Pacific Northwest Generating Cooperative
• PNUCC - Pacific Northwest Utilities Conference Committee
• PO - peak oil
• ppb - parts per billion
• PPC - Public Power Council
• PPHH - Persons Per Household
• ppm - parts per million
• ppmvd - parts per million by volume, dry
• ppt - parts per thousand
• PRC - California Public Resources Code
• PRC - Public Resources Code
• PRF - peak responsibility factor
• PSD - Power Source Disclosure
• PSD - Prevention of Significant Deterioration
• PSE - Puget Sound Energy
• PSRC - Plumas Sierra Rural Electric Cooperative
• PT - potential transformer
• PTO - Permit to Operate
• PU - per unit
• PUC - (California) Public Utilities Commission
• PURPA - Federal Public Utilities Regulatory Policy Act of 1978
• PV - photovoltaic

• QA/QC - Quality Assurance/Quality Control
• QF - Qualifying Facility
• QFER - Quarterly Fuel and Energy Reports
• Qt - The estimated URR from a Hubbert Linearization
• Quad - one quadrillion (1015) British thermal units

• RACT - Reasonably Available Control Technology
• RASS - Residential Appliance Saturation Survey
• RD&D - research, development, and demonstration
• RDF - refuse derived fuel
• RETO - Reasonably Expected to Occur
• RFP - Request for Proposals
• RFQ - Request for Qualifications
• RMS - root mean square
• ROC - reactive organic compounds
• ROC - Report of Conversation
• ROG - reactive organic gas
• ROW - right of way
• RP - Reserves/production ratio
• RPS - Renewables Portfolio Standard
• RTO - Regional Transmission Organization
• RTP - real-time pricing
• RUL - Regular unleaded gasoline
• RWQCB - Regional Water Quality Control Board

• SA1 - Metglas amorphous core material
• SACOG - Sacramento Area Council of Governments
• SANBAG - San Bernardino Association of Governments
• SANDAG - San Diego Association of Governments
• SANDER - San Diego Energy Recovery Project
• SB - Senate Bill
• SCAB - South Coast Air Basin
• SCAG - Southern California Association of Governments
• SCAQMD - South Coast Air Quality Management District
• SCE - Southern California Edison Company
• SCE - Southern California Edison Company
• SCFM - standard cubic feet per minute
• SCH - State Clearing House
• SCIT - Southern California Import Transmission
• SCL - Seattle City Light
• SCR - Selective Catalytic Reduction
• SCTL - single circuit transmission line
• SDCAPCD - San Diego County Air Pollution Control District
• SDG&E - San Diego Gas & Electric Company (Note: An ampersand is the correct usage in the company's name.)
• SEC - Securities and Exchange Commission
• SEGS - Solar Electric Generating Station
• SEPCO - Sacramento Ethanol and Power Cogeneration Project
• SIC - Standard industrial classification
• SIP - State Implementation Plan
• SJVAB - San Joaquin Valley Air Basin
• SJVAQMD - San Joaquin Valley Air Quality Management District
• SMAQMD - Sacramento Metropolitan Air Quality Management District
• SMUD - Sacramento Municipal Utility District
• SMUDGEO - SMUD Geothermal
• SNCR - Selective Noncatalytic Reduction
• SNG - Synthetic Natural Gas
• SnoPUD - Snohomish PUD
• SO2 - sulfur dioxide
• SO4 - sulfates
• SoCal Gas - Southern California Gas Company
• SONGS - San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station
• SOx - sulfur oxides
• SPP - Sierra Pacific Power
• SPR - Sierra Pacific Resources
• SPR - Strategic petroleum reserve
• STIG - steam injected gas turbine
• SWP - State Water Project
• SWRCB - State Water Resources Control Board

• TAC - Toxic Air Contaminant
• TB - Trillions of barrels
• TBL - Transmission Business Line of BPA
• TBtu - trillion Btu
• TCF - trillion cubic feet
• TCF - Trillion cubic feet (dry natural gas)
• TCM - transportation control measure
• TCU - Transportation, Communications and Utilities
• TDM - Tariff Data Model
• TDS - total dissolved solids
• TE - transmission engineering
• TEOR - Thermally Enhanced Oil Recovery
• TID - Turlock Irrigation District
• TL - total losses
• TL - transmission line or lines
• T-Line - transmission line
• TOC - Total Owning Cost
• TOD - The Oil Drum
• TOG - total organic gases
• TOU - time of use
• TPD - tons per day
• TPY - tons per year
• TS&N - Transmission Safety and Nuisance
• TSD - Technical Support Document
• TSE - Transmission System Engineering
• TSIN - Transmission Services Information Network
• TSP - total suspended particulate matter

• U.S. DOE - (United States) Department of Energy
• U.S. EPA (not EPA) - United States Environmental Protection Agency
• UAE - United Arab Emirates (Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Sharjah, Ajman, Umm Al-Qaiwain, Ras Al-Khaimah, Fujairah)
• UBC - Uniform Building Code
• UDC - Utility Displacement Credits
• UDF - Utility Displacement Factor
• UEC - Average Unit of Energy Consumption for each end use
• UEG - Utility Electric Generator
• UL - Underwriters Laboratories
• ULSD - Ultra-low sulfur diesel
• United States (not U.S. unless it proceeds an abbreviation for a federal agency) - United States
• URL - uniform resource locator
• URR - Ultimately recoverable resources
• US - United States
• USC(A) - United States Code (Annotated)
• USCOE - U.S. Corps of Engineers
• USEPA - U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
• USFS - U.S. Forest Service
• USFWS - U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
• USFWS - US Fish & Wildlife Service
• USGS - U.S. Geological Survey
• USGS - United States Geological Survey

• V - volts
• VCAPCD - Ventura County Air Pollution Control District
• VMT - Vehicle miles traveled
• VOC - volatile organic compounds

• W - Watt
• WAA - Warren-Alquist Act
• WAPA - Western Area Power Administration
• WDF&W - Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife
• WECC - Western Electricity Coordinating Council
• WEFSEC - Washington Energy Facility Site Evaluation Committee
• WEPEX - Western Energy Power Exchange
• WICF - Western Interconnection Coordination Forum
• WICF - Western Interconnection Forum
• WIEB - Western Interstate Energy Board
• WOEC - West Oregon Electric Cooperative
• WOR - West of River (Colorado River)
• WPAG - Western Public Agency Group
• WPPSS - the Washington Public Power Supply System, renamed Energy Northwest
• WPUDA - Washington Public Utility District's Association
• WRECA - Washington Rural Electric Cooperative Association
• WRTA - Western Region Transmission Association
• WSCC - Western Systems Coordinating Council
• WSPP - Western System Power Pool
• WTI - West Texas Intermediate (crude oil)
• WUTC - Washington Utilities & Transportation Commission

No entries

• Y - w ye-type transformer terminal connection
• YTF - Yet to find

• ZDMH - mechanically scribed, deep-domain refined core steel