GLOSSARY

Glossary

Mechanization: To equip (a factory, industry, etc) with machinery.

Mining: The act, process, or industry of extracting coal, ores, etc, from the earth.

Mineral: Any of a class of naturally occurring solid inorganic substances with a characteristic crystalline form and a homogeneous chemical composition.

Fossil fuels: A hydrocarbon deposit, such as petroleum, coal, or natural gas, derived from living matter of a previous geologic time and used for fuel.

Industry: Organized economic activity concerned with manufacture, extraction and processing of raw materials, or construction.

Irrigated farming: The artificial application of water to land to assist in the production of crops.

Energy: A source of power.

Biomass: The total number of living organisms in a given area, expressed in terms of living or dry weight per unit area.

Management: The members of the executive or administration of an organization or business.

Workforce: The total number of workers employed by a company on a specific job, project, etc.

Wind turbine: A machine that converts wind energy to mechanical energy; typically connected to a generator to produce electricity.

Solar panel: A panel exposed to radiation from the sun, used to heat water or, when mounted with solar cells, to produce electricity direct, for powering instruments in satellites.

Renewable energy: Any naturally occurring, theoretically inexhaustible source of energy, as biomass, solar, wind, tidal, wave, and hydroelectric power, that is not derived from fossil or nuclear fuel.

Non-renewable energy: An energy resource that is not replaced or is replaced only very slowly by natural processes.

Alternative energy: Energy, as solar, wind, or nuclear energy, that can replace or supplement traditional fossil-fuel sources, as coal, oil, and natural gas.

Dam: A barrier of concrete, earth, etc, built across a river to create a body of water for a hydroelectric power station, domestic water supply, etc.

Heavy industry: Relates to a type of business that typically carries a high capital cost (capital-intensive), high barriers to entry and low transportability.

Light industry: A section of an economy's secondary industry characterized by less capital-intensive and more labor-intensive operations.

Cutting-edge industries: Technological devices, techniques or achievements that employ the most current and high-level IT developments; in other words, technology at the frontiers of knowledge.  

Craftsperson: A person who makes beautiful objects by hand.