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California Public Utilities Commission

A regulatory agency whose responsibilities include oversight of the electric, natural gas, water and telecommunications industries in California.

Cambridge Energy Research Associates

Cambridge Energy Research Associates (CERA) is a think tank that explores issues relating to energy. http://www.cera.com

Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce

provides more affordable, accessible and responsible banking to Canadians; advancing the goals of small businesses; creating a supportive work environment for employees; contributing to communities; protecting the environment; and making responsible product and service purchases.

Cap and trade system

An environmental regulator establishes a “cap” that limits emissions from a designated group of polluters, such as power plants, to a level lower than their current emissions. The emissions allowed under the new cap are then divided up into individual permits—usually equal to one ton of pollution—that represent the right to emit that amount. Because the emissions cap restricts the amount of pollution allowed, permits that give a company the right to pollute take on financial value. Companies are free to buy and sell permits in order to continue operating in the most profitable manner available to them. So, those that are able to reduce emissions at a low cost can sell their extra permits to companies facing high costs (which will generally prefer to buy permits rather than make costly reductions themselves).

Caspian Pipeline Consortium

The Caspian Pipline Consortium (CPC) was formed in 2001 between the governments of Kazakhstan and Russia as well as the American-owned oil company Chevron. http://www.cpc.ru

Cat Cracker

"A catalytic cracker, or ""cat cracker,"" is the basic gasoline-making process in a refinery. The cat cracker uses high temperatures, low pressure, and a catalyst to create a chemical reaction that breaks heavy gas oil into smaller gasoline molecules. With a cat cracker, more of each barrel of oil can be turned into gasoline."

CBOE volatility index

A key measure of market expectations of near-term volatility conveyed by S&P 500 stock index option prices.

Chicago Board Options Exchange

First U.S. options exchange revolutionizing options trading by creating standardized, listed stock options.

China National Offshore Oil Corporation

China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) is a state-owned oil company in the People's Republic of China. Its focus is on the exploitation, exploration and development of crude oil and natural gas offshore of China. Headquartered in Beijing. http://www.cnooc.com.cn

China National Petroleum Corporation

The China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) is a state-owned fuel-producing corporation in the People's Republic of China. It is China's largest integrated oil and gas company whose business operations cover a broad spectrum of upstream and downstream activities, domestic marketing and international trade, technical services, and equipment manufacturing and supply.

China premium

China is paying a higher-than-market price for energy assets to close certain deals

City gate

The delivery point at which gas is delivered from an interstate or intrastate pipeline and received by the local distribution system for further delivery within their service territory.

Clean Development Mechanism

A Kyoto Protocol program that enables industrialized countries to finance emissions-avoiding projects in developing countries and receive credit for reductions achieved against their own emissions limitation targets.

Coal gasification

The process of converting coal into gas. The basic process involves crushing coal to a powder, which is then heated in the presence of steam and oxygen to produce a gas. The gas is then refined to reduce sulfur and other impurities. The gas can be used as a fuel or processed further and concentrated into chemical or liquid fuel.

Coal-fired generation

The process of producing electric energy by transforming other forms of energy such as burning coal; A station that consists of electric generators and auxiliary equipment for converting coal as a fuel into electric energy.

Coalbed methane

Methane is generated during coal formation and is contained in the coal microstructure. Typical recovery entails pumping water out of the coal to allow the gas to escape. Methane is the principal component of natural gas. Coalbed methane (CBM) can be added to natural gas pipelines without any special treatment.

Cogeneration

The production of electrical energy and another form of useful energy (such as heat or steam) through the sequential use of energy.

Coking

Thermal refining processes used to produce fuel gas, gasoline blendstocks, distillates, and petroleum coke from the heavier products of atomspheric and vacuum distillation.

Cold cracking process

use of radiation to refine petroleum

Commodity Futures Trading Commission

An independent agency with the mandate to regulate commodity futures and option markets in the United States. The CFTC assures the economic utility of the futures markets by encouraging their competitiveness and efficiency, ensuring their integrity, protecting market participants against manipulation, abusive trading practices, and fraud, and ensuring the financial integrity of the clearing process.

Compressed natural gas

Compressed natural gas (CNG) is a substitute for gasoline or diesel fuel. It is considered to be an environmentally "clean" alternative to those fuels. It is made by compressing purified natural gas, and is typically stored and distributed in hard containers.

Compressor or compressor station

Any combination of facilities that supply the energy to move gas in transmission or distribution lines or into storage by increasing the pressure.

Condensate

A natural gas liquid recovered from associated and nonassociated gas wells from lease separators or field facilities, reported in barrels of 42 U.S. gallons at atmospheric pressure and 60 degrees Fahrenheit.

Congressional Budget Office

Provides Congress with nonpartisan analyses for economic and budget decisions and with estimates required for the Congressional budget process. It is a small, nonpartisan agency that provides economic and budgetary analysis to the Congress.

Consumer price index

Consumer price index (CPI) is a program of the U.S. Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics that produces monthly data on changes in the prices paid by urban consumers for a representative basket of goods and services.

Cooling degree days

A measure of how warm a location is over a period of time relative to a base temperature, most commonly specified as 65 degrees Fahrenheit. The measure is computed for each day by subtracting the base temperature (65 degrees) from the average of the day's high and low temperatures, with negative values set equal to zero. Each day's cooling degree days are summed to create a cooling degree day measure for a specified reference period. Cooling degree days are used in energy analysis as an indicator of air conditioning energy requirements or use.

Cost of service

A rate-making concept used for the design and development of rate schedules to ensure that the filed rate schedules recover only the cost of providing the electric service at issue. This concept attempts to correlate the utility's costs and revenue with the service provided to each of the various customer classes.

Cubic foot

The amount of natural gas contained at standard temperature and pressure (60 degrees Fahrenheit and 14.73 pounds standard per square inch) in a cube whose edges are one foot long.

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