GLOSSARY
Accumulation
Changes in stocks of produced assets and product inventories, previously referred to as changes in inventories.
Bagasse
The dry pulpy fibrous residue that remains after sugarcane or sorghum stalks are crushed to extract their juice. It is used as a biofuel for the production of heat, energy, and electricity, and in the manufacture of pulp and building materials.
Biofuels
Produced from renewable organic sources or ‘feedstocks’, biofuels include ethanol and biodiesel, and are commonly used as a fuel in transportation.
Biomass wood
Includes wood and wood waste used to produce energy, usually through burning.
Black coal
A sedimentary organic rock consisting of anthracite, bituminous and sub-bituminous rank coals. Black coal is primarily used as a solid fuel to raise steam to generate electricity and to produce coke for steel making.
Briquettes
Made from brown coal through a process of crushing, drying and the addition of a binding agent, to produce a compact, high energy fuel easily transported and commonly used for industrial and domestic heating.
Brown coal
Also known as lignite, brown coal is a low rank, brownish-black coal with a high moisture content of around 60%.
Butane
A gaseous hydrocarbon and the fourth member of the paraffin series (following methane, ethane and propane). If exposed to higher pressures or lower temperatures it can be converted to liquid form, and is a major component of LPG.
Chain volume measure
For certain types of economic analysis it is useful to examine estimates of the principal flows of goods and services in the economy revalued in such a way as to remove the direct effects of price change over the relevant period. These estimates are obtained by first weighting together the elemental volume indexes from the previous financial year to the current financial year, where the weights are calculated using the current price value shares of the previous financial year. Second, the resulting aggregate year-to-year volume indexes are linked together to form a time series. Third, the time series is referenced to the current price estimates of the reference year.
Coal by-products
Includes blast furnace gas (from iron and steel processing), coal tar and benzene/toluene/xylene (BTX) feedstock and coke oven gas (from the coke making process).
Condensate
A liquid mixture of pentanes and heavier hydrocarbons that form part of the vapour phase of natural gas in the reservoir and become liquid under standard field separation conditions.
Conversion loss
Energy lost in the transformation of a primary fuel to a derived (secondary) energy product.
Crude oil
A mixture of hydrocarbons, existing in the liquid state; both in natural underground reservoirs and at atmospheric pressure after passing through surface separating facilities.
Degree of energy self-sufficiency
Measures the dependence on energy imports to sustain current energy activity. The degree of dependence on imports or 'self-sufficiency', the relationship between gross domestic energy inputs and the domestic end use inclusive of conversion and distribution losses, can be calculated from the Energy Account Australia. This measure is closely connected with the pattern of extraction of energy resources presented in the energy asset tables. An energy self-sufficiency number greater than 100 indicates net exports, a number less than 100 indicates net imports of energy.
Electricity
The flow of electrical power or charge. It is a secondary energy source, meaning it is derived from the conversion of primary sources of energy such as coal, natural gas, oil and nuclear power.
Energy decoupling
The term decoupling refers to a break in the link between the use of energy products and economic growth. The extent to which such decoupling takes place can be illustrated by comparing the change in chain volume Gross Domestic Product (GDP) with the change in total domestic use of energy. Decoupling occurs when the growth rate of energy use is less than (or higher than) that of its economic driving force (e.g. GDP) over a given period. Decoupling can be either absolute or relative. Absolute decoupling occurs when the environmentally relevant variable (e.g. energy) is stable or decreasing while the economic driving force is growing. Decoupling is said to be relative when the growth rate of the environmentally relevant variable is positive, but less than the growth rate of the economic variable.
Energy extracted per household
Energy extracted per household is calculated by dividing the net energy supplied by households by the estimated number of households.
Energy intensity
A measure of the energy consumed to produce one unit of output. Energy intensity measures are calculated for a selected range of industries that rely on energy inputs to produce output based on the net energy use table. Estimates of value added from 'ownership of dwellings' was excluded from the calculation of energy intensity.
Energy Product
Include forms of energy suitable for direct use (e.g. electricity and heat) and energy products that release energy while undergoing some chemical or other process (including combustion). By convention, energy products also include peat, biomass and waste when and only when they are used for energy purposes.
Energy use per household
Energy use per household is calculated from net residential/household energy use divided by the estimated number of households.
Environmental account
An information system and framework that links the economic activities and uses of a resource to changes in the natural resource base, therefore linking resource use with the System of National Accounts. See also SEEA.
Exports
Good exported (exports) represents the quantity of goods sent to other countries or for which ownership changes from residents to non-residents.
Extraction rates (by product)
Measure the rate at which physical removal of energy resources occurs from the energy deposits which occur naturally. Extraction rate is the production rate divided by the economic demonstrated resource of an energy asset.
Final use
Use that finally consumes a product, as opposed to an intermediate use. Final use includes: household final consumption; government final consumption; exports; and changes in inventories.
Flow accounts
General term used for a framework presents information on the physical flows of resources throughout the economy. Flow accounts published for energy include supply and use tables.
Fossil fuel
Any natural fuel derived from decomposed or partly decomposed organic matter.
Government use of energy (% total net use)
Measures the proportion of energy used by government (local, state and federal) in the economy. The principal function of the general government is to provide non-market goods and services (roads, hospitals, libraries) primarily financed by taxes, to regulate and influence economic activity, to maintain law and order, and to redistribute income by means of transfer payments. This sector covers the Commonwealth Government, state governments and local government municipalities, as well as associated agencies and non-departmental bodies. Public universities are also included in this sector. Public non-financial corporations are excluded from this sector. For further information please refer to the Government Finance Statistics, Australia (cat. no. 5512.0) publication.
Gross energy
Total energy including that derived from primary as well as secondary energy sources. See also net energy.
Gross energy input
Gross energy input reflects the total energy captured from the environment, energy products that are imported, and energy from residuals within the economy. In Australia, due to limitations on losses due to extraction, this measure is calculated using total gross supply.
Gross energy supply and use
Total energy including that derived from primary as well as secondary energy sources. See also net energy.
Household final consumption expenditure
Net expenditure on goods and services by persons and expenditure of a current nature by private non-profit institutions serving households. This item excludes by unincorporated businesses and expenditures on assets by non-profit institutions (included in gross fixed capital formation). Also excluded is expenditure on maintenance of dwellings (treated as intermediate expenses of private enterprises), but personal expenditure on motor vehicles and other durable goods and the imputed rent of owner-occupied dwellings are included. The value of 'backyard' production (including food produced and consumed on farms) is included in household final consumption expenditure and the payment of wages and salaries in kind (e.g. food and lodging supplied free to employees) is counted in both household income and household final consumption expenditure.
Hydropower
A process in which flowing water is used to spin a turbine connected to a generator.
Imports
Goods imported (imports) represent the quantity of goods received from other countries or for which ownership changes from non-residents to residents.
Industry gross value added (IGVA)
The value of an industry’s output at basic prices, minus the value of goods and services consumed as inputs during the process of production. Basic prices valuation of output removes the distortion caused by variations in commodity taxes and subsidies across the output of individual industries.
Intermediate use
Intermediate use consists of goods and services consumed as inputs by a process of production, excluding fixed assets whose consumption is recorded as consumption of fixed capital. The goods or services may be either transformed or used up by the production process.
Liquefied natural gas (LNG)
Natural gas which has been processed and then refrigerated to the very low temperatures needed to reach the liquid state.
Liquefied petroleum gas (LPG)
Consists of propane, butane and isobutane and petroleum and is derived by processing through a low pressure gas separation plant the natural gas produced from either gas or oil reservoirs.
Metallurgical coke
Coke resulting from high-temperature retorting of suitable coal; a dense, crush-resistant fuel for use in shaft furnaces.
National Accounts
Systematic summary of national economic activity. At a detailed level it shows a statistical picture of the performance and structure of the economy.
National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting Scheme (NGERS)
The NGERS, which commenced in relation to the 2008-09 reference period, is a framework for the mandatory reporting of greenhouse gas emissions, energy consumption and energy production by Australian businesses exceeding specified thresholds.
Natural gas
A combustible mixture of hydrocarbon gases. While natural gas is formed primarily of methane, its composition can vary widely, commonly including ethane, propane, butane and pentane.
Natural input
Energy from natural inputs encompasses flows of energy resulting from the extraction and capture of energy from the environment by resident economic units
Net domestic energy use
Measures all uses of energy by residents of a country. It is equal to the total net use of energy less exports of energy.
Net energy
Total net energy accounts for the transformation process of a primary energy product to a secondary energy product and related conversion losses. In this way, estimates for total net energy avoid double-counting the amount of converted primary energy. See also gross energy.
Net energy supply and use
Total net energy accounts for the transformation process of a primary energy product to a secondary energy product and related conversion losses. In this way, estimates for total net energy avoid double-counting the amount of converted primary energy. See also gross energy.
Other volume changes
Other volume changes are concerned with quantifying changes in resources that occur between one period and another.
Output
Consists of those goods and services produced within a business that become available for use outside that business, plus any goods and services produced for own final use.
Petroleum
Naturally occurring hydrocarbon or mixture of hydrocarbons as oil or gas, or in solution found in sedimentary rocks.
Primary energy source
Those forms of energy obtained directly from nature. They include both non-renewable and renewable energy. Primary energy sources include firewood, coal, crude oil, natural gas, liquefied natural petroleum gases, uranium, bagasse, hydro, wind and solar energy.
Propane
A gaseous hydrocarbon and the third member of the paraffin series (following methane and ethane). If exposed to higher pressures or lower temperatures it can be converted to liquid form, and is a major component of LPG.
Refined products
A petroleum product which has been derived from processes such as catalytic cracking and fractional distillation. Refined products include: automotive gasoline and diesel, aviation gasoline and turbine fuel, kerosene and heating oil, industrial diesel and fuel oil, and others such as naphtha and petroleum coke used as fuel.
Remaining resource life (by product)
Measures the expected life of a resource under current production levels. Remaining resource life is calculated from the economic demonstrated resource of an energy asset divided by the production rate. This is different to the Net Present Value (NPV) which predicts the expected value of the resource based on current prices, current extraction methods and costs, and on present physical rates of extraction.
Renewable energy
Renewable energy is defined as those energy resources that are naturally replenishing. They are virtually inexhaustible in duration but limited in the amount of energy that is available per unit of time. Renewable energy resources include: biomass, hydro, geothermal, solar, wind, ocean thermal, wave action, and tidal action.
Renewable energy extracted by households
Measures the contribution to total net energy supply through renewable sources extracted by households. The indicator is calculated by dividing household renewable energy supply by total net domestic use.
Renewable energy proportion of total domestic use
Measures the proportion of total renewable energy supply compared to total domestic use (i.e. total net energy use minus exports).
Residuals
Energy residuals in physical terms comprise energy losses and other energy residuals. Particular examples of energy losses include flaring and venting of natural gas and losses during transformation in the production of primary energy products from natural inputs and in the production of secondary energy products. Energy losses during distribution may arise from the evaporation and leakages of liquid fuels, loss of heat during transport of steam, and losses during gas distribution, electricity transmission and pipeline transport. Energy residuals also include other energy residuals particularly heat generated when end users (either households or enterprises) use energy products for energy purposes (e.g. household lighting).
Resource
A concentration of naturally occurring solid, liquid, or gaseous materials in or on the earth’s crust and in such form that its economic extraction is presently or potentially feasible. The definition does not intend to imply that exploitation of any such material will take place in that time span, but only that its possibility might reasonably be considered.
Secondary energy source
A product that has been derived from a primary energy source. Secondary energy resources include: refined petroleum products; coal by-products; coke; and electricity.
Share of renewable energy in gross energy inputs
Measures the proportion of renewable energy compared to a gross energy inputs into the economy and households. See gross energy inputs.
Solar power
Photovoltaic conversion generates electric power directly from the light of the sun in a photovoltaic (solar) cell. Solar thermal electric generators use the radiant energy from the sun to produce steam to drive turbines.
Supply-use framework
An accounting framework utilising the basic principle that the total supply of a product is equal to its total use.
System of Environmental-Economic Accounting (SEEA)
The SEEA is a framework used to develop environmental accounts by integrating environmental information into an accounting framework. The SEEA handbook provides the conceptual basis for developing a framework to describe the inter-relationship between the natural environment and the economy. See also Environmental account.
System of National Accounts (SNA)
The SNA is an international framework which can be used to develop a comprehensive, consistent and flexible set of macroeconomic accounts.
Total domestic energy use
A measure of total resident energy use including losses such as those due to conversion or transformation into other energy products. Total domestic energy use is calculated from total net energy use minus exports of energy products.
Total energy use per person
Defined as the total net energy use per capita. Energy use per person is calculated by dividing total net energy use by estimated resident population.
Total supply
Australian production plus imports.
Uranium
Radioactive grey heavy metallic element, used as a source of nuclear energy.
Wind power
The conversion of wind energy into electricity using wind turbines.
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