Glossary of Energy Terms "F"

Fahrenheit: A temperature scale in which the boiling point of water is 212 degrees and its freezing point is 32 degrees. To convert Fahrenheit to Celsius, subtract 32, multiply by 5, and divide the product by 9. For example:

• 100 degrees Fahrenheit – 32 = 68; 68 x 5 = 340; 340 / 9 = 37.77 degrees Celsius

Fan Coil: A component of a heating, ventilation and air conditioning system containing a fan and heating or cooling coil, used to distribute heated or cooled air.

Federal Energy Management Agency (FEMA): The federal agency in charge of disaster recovery in locations that have been declared disaster areas by a state's Governor and the President of the United States.

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC): An independent regulatory commission within the U.S. Department of Energy that has jurisdiction over energy producers that sell or transport fuels for resale in interstate commerce; the authority to set oil and gas pipeline transportation rates and to set the value of oil and gas pipelines for ratemaking purposes; and regulates wholesale electric rates and hydroelectric plant licenses.

Fenestration: In simplest terms, windows or glass doors. Technically, fenestration is described as any transparent or translucent material plus any sash, frame, mullion or divider. This includes windows, sliding glass doors, French doors, skylights, curtain walls and garden windows.

Fission: A release of energy caused by the splitting of an atom's nucleus. This is the energy process used in conventional nuclear power plants to make the heat needed to run steam electric turbines.

Fissionable Material: A substance whose atoms can be split by slow neutrons. Uranium–235, plutonium–239 and uranium–233 are fissionable materials.

Flare Gas:Unwanted natural gas that is disposed of by burning as it is released from an oil field or at gas processing plants.

Flared: The volume of gas burned in flares on the base site or at gas processing plants.

Flat Plate: A device used to collect solar energy. It is a piece of metal painted black on the side facing the sun, to absorb the sun's heat.

Flexible Fuel Vehicle (FFV): A vehicle that can operate on either alcohol fuels such as methanol or ethanol or regular unleaded gasoline or any combination of the two from the same tank.

Flue Gas: Gas that is left over after fuel is burned and which is disposed of through a pipe or stack to the outer air.

Fluidized Bed Combustion: A process for burning powdered coal that is poured in a liquid–like stream with air or gases. The process reduces sulfur dioxide emissions from coal combustion.

Fluorescent Lamp: A tubular electric lamp that is coated on its inner surface with a phosphor and that contains mercury vapor whose bombardment by electrons from the cathode provides ultraviolet light which causes the phosphor to emit visible light either of a selected color or closely approximating daylight.

Fluorocarbon Gases: Propellants used in aerosol products and refrigerants that are believed to be causing depletion of the earth's ozone shield. See CFCs.

F.O.B. (Free on Board) Price: The price actually charged at the point of loading.

Footcandle: A unit of illuminance on a surface that is one foot from a uniform point source of light of one candle and is equal to one lumen per square foot.

Force Majeure: A common law concept borrowed from the French civil law. "Force majeure" means superior or irresistible force that excuses a failure to perform. It has been defined by the United States Supreme Court as a cause that is "beyond the control and without the fault or negligence" of the party excused. Force majeure allows a company to allocate product or cease to deliver it altogether.

Forced Air Unit (FAU): A central furnace equipped with a fan or blower that provides the primary means for circulation of air.

Fossil Fuel: Oil, coal, natural gas or their by–products. Fuel that was formed in the earth in prehistoric times from remains of living–cell organisms.

Fossil–Fueled Steam–Electric Power Plant: An electricity generation plant in which the prime mover is a turbine rotated by high–pressure steam produced in a boiler by heat from burning fossil fuels.

Fractional Distillation: The process of refining crude oil into various oil products. The various products are separated out in the order of their boiling points.

Framing Effects: The effect of framing (wood or metal studs, joists, beams, etc.) on the overall U–value of a wall, roof, floor, window or other building surface. Framing generally increases the U–Value and decreases the R–Value of insulated surfaces.

Framing Percentage: The area of actual framing in an envelope assembly divided by the overall area of the envelope assembly. This percentage is used to calculate the overall U–Value of an assembly.

Free on Board (F.O.B.) Price: The price actually charged at the point of loading.

Frequency: The number of cycles which an alternating current moves through in each second. Standard electric utility frequency in the United States is 60 cycles per second, or 60 Hertz.

Fuel: A substance that can be used to produce heat.

Fuel Cell: A device or an electrochemical engine with no moving parts that converts the chemical energy of a fuel, such as hydrogen, and an oxidant, such as oxygen, directly into electricity. The principal components of a fuel cell are catalytically activated electrodes for the fuel (anode) and the oxidant (cathode) and an electrolyte to conduct ions between the two electrodes, thus producing electricity.

Fuel Gas: Synthetic gas used for heating or cooling. It has less energy content than pipeline–quality gas.

Fuel Oil: Petroleum products that are burned to produce heat or power.

Fuel Reprocessing (Nuclear): The means for obtaining usable, fissionable material from spent reactor fuel.

Fuel Rod (Nuclear): A long slender tube that holds fissionable material (fuel) for nuclear reactor use. Fuel rods are assembled into bundles called fuel elements or assemblies, which are loaded individually into the reactor core.

Fuel Security: See Energy Security.

Fusion Energy: A power source, now under development, based on the release of energy that occurs when atoms are combined under the most extreme heat and pressure. It is the energy process of the sun and the stars.

Futures Price: The price at which two parties in a futures contract agree to transact on a settlement date.