ALTERNATIVE ENERGY

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does alternative energy mean? 

• ALTERNATIVE ENERGY (noun)
  The noun ALTERNATIVE ENERGY has 1 sense:

1. energy derived from sources that do not use up natural resources or harm the environment

  Familiarity information: ALTERNATIVE ENERGY used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• ALTERNATIVE ENERGY (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Energy derived from sources that do not use up natural resources or harm the environment

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural phenomena

Hypernyms ("alternative energy" is a kind of...):

energy; free energy ((physics) a thermodynamic quantity equivalent to the capacity of a physical system to do work; the units of energy are joules or ergs)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "alternative energy"):

solar energy; solar power (energy from the sun that is converted into thermal or electrical energy)

wind generation; wind power (power derived from the wind (as by windmills))

 Context examples 

A unit used to compare the energy content of gasoline and alternative energy sources equal to approximately 33.705 watt-hours.

(Gasoline-Equivalent Gallon, NCI Thesaurus)

Instead of combating the heat, two University of Nebraska-Lincoln engineers have embraced it as an alternative energy source that would allow computing at ultra-high temperatures.

(Harnessing Heat to Power Computers, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

At the same time, visual regions had the most significant decreases in cost of activity during alcohol intoxication, which is consistent with the reliance of these regions on alternative energy sources such as acetate, a byproduct of alcohol metabolism.

(Study of brain energy patterns provides new insights into alcohol effects, National Institutes of Health)

Two researchers, however, developed a method to use heat as an alternative energy source.

(Harnessing Heat to Power Computers, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)