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Glossary of Solar Radiation Resource Terms |
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Other relevant glossaries
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Nadir -
straight down (toward the center of the Earth).
NCDC -
the United States National Climatic Data Center.
NIP -
a Normal
Incident
Pyrheliometer, used to determine the amount of
solar irradiance emitted from the direction of the sun.
Below is a picture of two NIPs (silver) mounted on a sun-following tracker (white)
at the Solar Radiation Research Laboratory.
These thermopile-based
radiometers
have a uniform spectral response from 280 nm to 2800 nm and a 5.7° field of view.
NOAA -
the United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration.
Non-renewable Energy Source -
there is no formal definition for this term. Typical usage defines it as any
energy source that is used faster than it is replenished. Standard examples are
petroleum products, natural gas, coal, and fissionable materials; the replenishment rates
of these energy sources are immensely slow, making it likely that they will become
depleted at some time.
Normal Radiation -
radiation striking a surface that is facing the sun. Mathematically, the word
normal is the vector (direction) that is perpendicular to a surface, and
the direction of a normal radiation source is perpendicular to a radiation
source. Global (total) normal solar irradiance is all radiation that strikes a flat
surface that faces the sun, while
direct normal solar irradiance excludes
all radiation that does not come from the direction of the sun in the sky.
NREL -
the National Renewable Energy Laboratory,
a U. S. National Laboratory specializing in developing technologies and procedures for
using renewable energy
sources.
NSRDB -
the 1961-1990
National Solar Radiation Data Base, which supplies hourly
solar and meteorological data from 239 locations in the United States and its territories.
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