Glossary

Accountancy: A system to manage business records and financial accounts (information concerning money).

Carbon emissions: Greenhouse gases, released when we burn fossil fuels such as coal, oil and gas, are causing global warming.

Clean energy: Energy from resources that do not release greenhouse gas emissions, such as wind and sun.

Climate change: The process of changes in the environment around us over a period of time. These changes include the warming of the Earth’s surface and rising sea levels caused by humans burning fossil fuels and releasing greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.

Deposition: A process where materials such as soil or rocks are transported by wind, water or ice to make up a new land type, such as a mountain.

Electricity grid: The network for generating and distributing electricity, which connects power plants or wind farms to our homes, schools, offices and factories.

Erosion: The process whereby soil is washed away by wind or water

European law: The set of rules which guides the way people live in the European Union.

European Commission: The organisation at the centre of the European Union, which suggests policies to create change in Europe.

European Green Deal: This is the European Union’s plan to become more sustainable by reducing greenhouse gas emissions enormously, promoting more local and sustainable products, creating better jobs for people and many other projects that aim at making our lives more environmentally friendly.

Finance: The management of money.

Fossil fuels: Oil, gas and coal are fossils fuels as they are made from the fossils of animals and plants buried in the earth, which have broken down over millions of years. Burning them releases lots of energy and greenhouse gases.

Global warming: The increase in Earth’s average temperature over a long period of time.

Greenhouse gases: Burning fossil fuels releases greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane, which are causing climate change.

Master’s degree or Master’s: A degree (diploma) awarded by a college or university, to students who have successfully completed a number of subjects and passed the exams. This usually takes four to five years of studies.

NASA: The National Aeronautics and Space Administration in the US, which studies space and space travel.

Political science: The study of how groups of people make decisions together, through governments or other forms of agreement.

Renewable energy or sustainable energy: Energy from resources that are naturally replaceable and don’t pollute the environment, such as wind, water and sun.

Rotor blades: These are the most important parts of wind turbines. They capture wind and transform it into energy. They can have different lengths and shapes to catch different types of wind.

Solar farm: When lots of solar panels are built together in an organised manner to capture the sun’s energy and generate electricity.

Sustainable: When humans live and interact with the environment and its natural resources in a smart and careful way. It is important to ensure there will be enough natural resources (food, water, plants and animals) left for future generations. We should use all resources in a thoughtful, and not a wasteful, way.

Waste materials: Items which are thrown away and become rubbish, like the wrapping on a chocolate bar. Some of this waste can be recycled into new products or reused for another purpose.

Wind farm: A group of wind turbines that are built and connected together either on land or at sea.

Wind flows: The movement of air.

Wind tunnel: A long chamber through which air is forced through to test how the wind reacts in different circumstances.