Active (Electrochronic) windows: Use a small electric current to alter their transmission properties.

Amorphous silicon: Cheaper to manufacture than single crystalline silicon cells. Not as conductive as crystalline silicon.

BTU: British Thermal Units, It is a unit of the R and U Value.

CFL: Compact Fluorescent Lamps

Crystalline silicon: Use silicon wafers, much like those used in electronics and are therefore rather expensive to manufacture.

Emissivity: The amount of radiation emitted by a surface to the radiation emitted by a blackbody at the same temperature.

Exhaust air window: forces indoor air window space and then exhausts it outdoors.

Fluorescent light: One of the best advantages in lighting technology. it consists of a glass tube with an electrode at each end.

Gallium arsenide: A dark-gray crystalline compound, GaAs, used in transistors, solar cells, and semiconducting lasers.

Glazing: A thin, smooth, shiny coating

Halogen bulbs: Iinvented by GE is 1958. They contain a tungsten filament similar to that in incadescents.

High Intensity Discharge (HID) lamps: produce so much light that they are generally used to light arenas and parking lots. Takes a few seconds for the lamps to light and require special fixtures.

High-pressure sodium lamps: good for outdoor use. They provide 1/6 the energy of incandescent bulbs.

Incandescent light: The most common type of light that people use in their homes. Least expensive but, waste 90% of the energy they use in homes.

Infrared: Invisible radiation with wavelengths that range from about 750 nanometers, just longer than red in the visible spectrum, to 1 millimeter, on the border of the microwave region.

Low-e coatings: thin, clear coatings of undetectable metal oxide or semiconductor films that are placed right onto the glass.

Low-e films: If inserted into windows, low-e films can reduce energy loss by as much as 305 to 50%

Low-pressure sodium lamps: are the most efficient artificial lighting, have the longest service life, and maintain their light output better than any other lamp type.

NREL: National Renewable Energy Lab

n-type (semiconductor): n-type stands for Negative and means that it has an extra unbonded electron due to the nature of the doping material, usually phosphorous which has 5 valence electrons in its outer orbital.

Passive glazing: can vary the amount of light transmitted through a window by altering the window's characteristics according to changes in sunlight.

Photovoltaics: Devices that are capable of producing a voltage when exposed to radiant energy, especially light

Polycrystalline thin film cells: They are made by applying the proper materials in layers to a surface, usually glass or plastic.

p-type (semiconductor): p-type stands for Positive and means that the doping material, usually boron, has bonds filled by only 3 valence electrons, leaving "holes"

R-value: Is the reciprocal of U Value. R=(1/U)

Semiconductor: Any of various solid crystalline substances, such as germanium or silicon, having electrical conductivity greater than insulators but less than good conductors.

Solar cells: A semiconductor device that converts the energy of sunlight into electric energy. Also called photovoltaic cell.

STA: Sustainable Technologies Australia

Supply air window: draws in outside air into buildings through windows.

U-value: Measures Insulating Efficiency and conducted heat gain, or loss through a window.

Ultraviolet: Invisible radiation with wavelengths that range from about 4 nanometers, on the border of the x-ray region, to about 380 nanometers, just beyond the violet in the visible spectrum.

Watts: An International System (metric) unit of power equal to one joule per second