title: Inauguration of Joe Biden

text: The scale of protests and armed militia marches that intelligence reports indicated would occur near the U.S. Capitol and at state capitols on Inauguration Day was vastly overestimated, both in size and in scope. Nationally, few people demonstrated at state capitols. At the New York State Capitol, a lone Trump supporter reportedly visited with the intention of protesting—the demonstrator had expected a "massive protest". On January 17, three days before the inauguration, some members of the Michigan Boogaloo Bois openly carried weapons outside the state's capitol, but never became violent. "NPR" attributed the lack of violent protests to several factors: the Justice Department's targeting of rioters from the storming of the Capitol; protest organizers warning of "false flag" events staged by law enforcement to "gather people for potential arrest"; and the banning or removal of social media profiles, groups, pages, and applications, such as Parler, associated with political extremism and fringe movements.


title: Inauguration of Joe Biden

text: Nearly forty million people watched Biden's address on the combined major cable news and broadcast network television stations. More than 21 million people watched the prime time "Celebrating America" special. In 2017, a combined 38.3 million viewers watched Trump's inaugural address across the same networks, according to Nielsen data, representing a 4% increase in raw television viewership. CNN was the ratings leader throughout the day. Compared to the previous inaugural ceremony in 2017, Fox News's viewership fell 77%, while CNN's tripled and MSNBC's quadrupled. The figures below, Nielsen data sourced from "Adweek", do not include streaming figures.


title: Inauguration of Joe Biden

text: Biden and Harris's assumption of their respective offices was met with congratulations from many world leaders, including prime ministers Muhyiddin Yassin, Scott Morrison, Alexander De Croo, Boris Johnson, Justin Trudeau, Mette Frederiksen, Sanna Marin, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, Katrín Jakobsdóttir, Narendra Modi, Micheál Martin, Benjamin Netanyahu, Giuseppe Conte, Yoshihide Suga, Jacinda Ardern, Erna Solberg, Imran Khan, António Costa, Pedro Sánchez, and Stefan Löfven; presidents Xi Jinping, Vladimir Putin, Sahle-Work Zewde, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Emmanuel Macron, Jair Bolsonaro, Rodrigo Duterte, Andrés Manuel López Obrador and Moon Jae-in; European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, and Pope Francis.


title: Inauguration of Joe Biden

text: Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said the Chinese government hopes Biden will restore bilateralism. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani called Trump a "tyrant" and urged Biden to return to the Iran nuclear agreement, which Trump withdrew the United States from, saying Iran will then "fully respect" their "commitments under the pact". Hamas called Trump "the biggest source and sponsor of injustice, violence and extremism in the world", calling for Biden to "reverse the course of misguided and unjust policies against [their] people".


title: Inauguration of Joe Biden

text: Following the inauguration, a picture of Bernie Sanders attending went viral as an internet meme. Sanders’ website subsequently sold merchandise with the picture and donated the profits to charity.


title: Kath Soucie

text: Kath Soucie is an American voice actress, known for playing Linka in "Captain Planet and the Planeteers", Lola Bunny in the "Looney Tunes" franchise, Fifi La Fume and Li'l Sneezer in "Tiny Toon Adventures", Minx in "Jem", Bea in "Mighty Max", Dexter's Mom in "Dexter's Laboratory", Maddie Fenton in "Danny Phantom", Phil, Lil and their mother Betty DeVille in "Rugrats", Princess Sally Acorn in "Sonic the Hedgehog", Cadpig and Rolly in "", Kat Harvey in "The Spooktacular New Adventures of Casper", Morgana Macawber in "Darkwing Duck", and Kanga in the "Winnie the Pooh" franchise. She also voiced Tuffy Mouse in "The Tom and Jerry Show", Perdita in the "101 Dalmatians" franchise, since "" (2003), Ray Ray Lee in "The Life and Times of Juniper Lee", and Kappei in "Ninjala".


title: Kath Soucie

text: She first studied acting under drama teacher Manu Tupou. After attending the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, she began a successful career on the New York stage.


title: Kath Soucie

text: In the late 1970s, Soucie appeared in several television "movies of the week", including "The Incredible Journey of Doctor Meg Laurel". However, she soon experienced disappointment with the physical restrictions of on-camera acting. In 1986 came her first voice-over job, for three different girls on "". Having started her voice acting career, the following year, Soucie played Janine Melnitz on "The Real Ghostbusters", taking over the role from Laura Summer.


title: Republican People's Party

text: The Republican People's Party (, , acronymized as CHP ) is a Kemalist and social-democratic political party in Turkey which currently stands as the main opposition party. It is also the oldest political party in Turkey, founded by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the first president and founder of the modern Turkish Republic. The party is also cited as the founding party of modern Turkey. The CHP describes itself as a <nowiki>"</nowiki>modern social-democratic party, which is faithful to the founding principles and values of the Republic of Turkey". Its logo consists of the Six Arrows, which represent the foundational principles of Kemalism: republicanism, reformism, laicism (Laïcité/Secularism), populism, nationalism, and statism. It is the main opposition party to the ruling conservative Justice and Development Party (AKP) in the Grand National Assembly with 135 MPs.


title: Republican People's Party

text: The political party has its origins in the various resistance groups founded during the Turkish War of Independence. Under the leadership of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk they united in the 1919 Sivas Congress. On 9 September 1923, the "People's Party" declared itself to be a political organisation and on 29 October 1923, announced the establishment of the Turkish Republic, with Atatürk as its first president. In 1924, the People's Party renamed itself the "Republican People's Party". As Turkey moved into its one-party period, the CHP was the apparatus of implementing far reaching political, cultural, social, and economic reforms in the country.


title: Republican People's Party

text: After World War II, Atatürk's successor, İsmet İnönü, allowed for multi-party elections, and the party initiated a peaceful transition of power after losing the 1950 election, ending the one-party period and starting Turkey's multi-party period. The years following the 1960 military coup saw the party gradually trend towards the center-left, which was cemented once Bülent Ecevit became chairman in 1972. The CHP, along with all other political parties of the time, was banned by the military junta of 1980. The CHP was re-established with its original name and a more centrist outlook by Deniz Baykal on 9 September 1992, with the participation of a majority of its members from the pre-1980 period. Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu has returned the party back to its traditional centre-left position when he took over in 2011.


title: Republican People's Party

text: It is a founding party of the Nation Alliance, a coalition consisting of opposition parties like the Good Party, Felicity Party, and Democrat Party against the ruling AKP and their People’s Alliance. In addition, CHP is an associate member of the Party of European Socialists (PES), a member of the Socialist International, and the Progressive Alliance. Many politicians of CHP have declared their support for LGBT rights and the feminist movement in Turkey. The party continues its Pro-European policies and commitment to NATO.


title: Republican People's Party

text: The party's base includes the middle and upper-middle classes such as white-collar workers, retired generals, government bureaucrats, academics, college students, left-leaning intellectuals, labour unions such as DİSK, and Alevis. The party's strongholds include the Western Aegean region (İzmir, Aydın, Muğla), Thrace, the east of the Black Sea Region (Ardahan and Artvin), and the Anatolian college town of Eskişehir.


title: Republican People's Party

text: The Republican People's Party has its origins in the resistance organizations, known as Defence of Rights Associations, created in the immediate aftermath of World War I in the Turkish War of Independence. In the Sivas Congress, Mustafa Kemal Pasha (Atatürk) and his colleagues united the Defence of Rights Associations into the Association for the Defence of National Rights of Anatolia and Rumelia ("Anadolu ve Rumeli Müdâfaa-i Hukuk Cemiyeti") (ADNRAR), and called for elections in the Ottoman Empire to elect representatives associated with the organization to the Commmittee of Representation. The Committee of Representation soon moved to Ankara and formed the Grand National Assembly as a counter parliament from the Ottoman government in Istanbul. Grand National Assembly forces militarily defeated Greece, France, and Armenia, overthrew the Ottoman government, and abolished the monarchy. After the 1923 election, ADNRAR was transformed into a political party called the People's Party ("Halk Fırkası"). Because of the unanimity of the new parliament, the republic was proclaimed, the Treaty of Lausanne was ratified, and the Caliphate was abolished the next year.


title: Republican People's Party

text: In 1924, opposition to Mustafa Kemal Atatürk resulted in the foundation of the Progressive Republican Party (TCF). Reacting to the foundation of the TCF, his People's Party changed its name to the Republican People's Party ("Cumhuriyet Halk Fırkası", soon "Cumhuriyet Halk Partisi") (CHP). The life of the TCF was short. The TCF faced allegations of involvement in the Sheikh Said rebellion and for conspiring with members of the Committee of Union and Progress to assassinate Atatürk in the İzmir Affair. Because of this, it was closed on 5 June by the government. From 1925 until 1946, Turkey was under one-party rule, with one interruption; another brief experiment of opposition politics through the formation of the Liberal Republican Party.


title: Republican People's Party

text: In the period of 1925–1930, the CHP introduced sweeping reforms transforming Turkey into a modern state. In the period of 1930–1939, Atatürk's CHP clarified its ideology by adopting the 'Six Arrows', as well as borrowing tenants from Communism and Fascism. It was during the one-party period that Inspectorates-General, Independence Tribunals, and military force were employed by Atatürk to suppress opposition to his nationalist reforms, at the expense of religious conservatives and Kurds. In the parties third convention, the party clarified their approach towards the religious minorities of the Christians and the Jews, accepting them as real Turks as long as they adhere to the national ideal and use the Turkish language. On 12 November 1938, the day after Mustafa Kemal Atatürk's death, his ally İsmet İnönü was elected the second president and assumed leadership of the Republican People's Party. İnönü's presidency saw the annexation of the Hatay State and the establishment of Village Institutes. İnönü adopted a policy of neutrality despite attempts by the Allies and Axis powers to bring Turkey into World War II. The party was associated with anti-communism.


title: Republican People's Party

text: In the aftermath of World War II, İnönü called for a multi-party general election in 1946 – the first multi-party election in the country's history. The Motion with Four Signatures resulted in the resignation of some CHP members who then founded the Democrat Party (DP), which challenged the party in the election. The result was a victory for the CHP, which won 395 of the 465 seats, amid criticism that the election did not live up to democratic standards. However, four years later, a more free and fair general election was held in 1950 that led to the CHP losing power to the DP. İnönü presided over a peaceful transition of power. The 1950 election marked the end of the CHP's last majority government. The party has not been able to regain a parliamentary majority in any subsequent election since.


title: Republican People's Party

text: Due to the winner-take-all system in place during the 1950s, the DP achieved landslide victories in elections that were reasonably close, meaning the CHP was in opposition for 10 years. In its ninth congress in 1951, the youth branch and the women's branch were founded. In 1953, the establishment of trade unions and vocational chambers was proposed, and the right to strike for workers was added to the party program. The Democrat Party was abolished after the 1960 military coup, and Prime Minister Adnan Menderes, Foreign Minister Fatin Rüştü Zorlu, and Finance Minister Hasan Polatkan were hanged in the İmralı island prison. Right-wing parties have since continuously attacked the CHP for their perceived involvement in the hanging of Adnan Menderes.


title: Republican People's Party

text: With electoral law reform implementing proportional representation, the CHP emerged as the first-placed party at the general election of 1961, and formed a grand coalition with the Justice Party, a successor-party to the Democrat Party. This was the first coalition government in Turkey, which endured for seven-months. İnönü was able to form two more governments with other parties until the 1965 election. Bülent Ecevit, leader of the Democratic Left movement in the CHP, contributed to the party adopting the Left of Centre ("Ortanın solu") programme for that election. İnönü remained as opposition leader and the leader of the CHP until 8 May 1972, when he was overthrown as party leader by Ecevit in a party congress. Ecevit adopted a distinct left wing role in politics and, although remaining staunchly nationalist, attempted to implement democratic socialism into the ideology of CHP. Support for the party increased when Ecevit became prime minister in 1974 and invaded Cyprus. The CHP achieved its best ever result in a free and fair multi-party election under Ecevit, when in 1977, the party received 41% of the vote. The 1970s featured constant changes in government between the CHP and the Justice Party, as well as intense political violence. This resulted in a military coup in 1980, and the banning of every political party in the aftermath.


title: Republican People's Party

text: After the 1980 military coup, pre-1980 politicians were imprisoned and banned from politics, and both the name "Republican People's Party" and the abbreviation of "CHP" were banned. Until 1999, Turkey was ruled by the centre-right Motherland Party (ANAP) and the True Path Party (DYP), unofficial successors of the Democrat Party and the Justice Party, as well as, briefly, by the Islamic Welfare Party. CHP supporters also established successor parties. By 1985, Erdal İnönü, İsmet İnönü's son, consolidated two successor parties to form the Social Democratic Populist Party (SHP), while the Democratic Left Party (, DSP) was formed by Rahşan Ecevit, Bülent Ecevit's wife (Bülent Ecevit took over the DSP in 1987). After the ban on pre-1980 politicians was lifted in 1987, Deniz Baykal refounded the CHP in 1992, and the SHP merged with the party in 1995. However, Ecevit's DSP remained separate, and to this day has not merged with the reformed Republican People's Party. While Baykal's CHP was more centrist compared to Ecevit's DSP, observers noted that the two parties held similar ideologies and split the Kemalist vote. From 1991 to 1996, the SHP and then the CHP were in coalition governments with the DYP. The CHP supported Mesut Yılmaz's coalition government after the collapse of the Welfare-DYP coalition following the 28 February "post-modern coup." However, due to the Türkbank scandal, the CHP withdrew its support and helped depose the government with a no confidence vote. Ecevit's DSP formed an interim-government, during which the PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan was captured in Kenya. As such, in the election of 1999, the DSP benefited massively in the polls at the expense of CHP, and the party failed to exceed the 10% threshold (8.7% vote), not winning any seats.


title: Republican People's Party

text: In the 2002 general election, the CHP came back with 20% of the vote but 32% of the seats in parliament, as only it and the new AKP (Justice and Development Party) received above the 10% threshold to enter parliament. With the collapse of DSP, CHP has been Turkey's main Kemalist and center-left party. It also became the second largest party and the main opposition party, a position it has retained since. Since the dramatic 2002 election, the CHP has been racked by internal power struggles, and has been outclassed by the AKP governments of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. Many on the left were critical of the leadership of CHP, especially Baykal, who they complained was stifling the party of young blood by turning away the young who turn either to apathy or even vote for the AKP. Between 2002 and 2010, Turkey held three general elections and two local elections, all of which the CHP received between 18-23% of the vote. On 10 May 2010, Deniz Baykal announced his resignation as leader of the Republican People's Party after a clandestinely made video tape of him sitting on a bed with a woman was leaked to the media. Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu was elected to be the new party leader, and returned the party back to its traditional centre-left position. However even with Kılıçdaroğlu at the helm, after four general elections the CHP has still not won an election, receiving between only 22 and 26% of the vote in parliamentary elections. CHP and MHP's joint candidate for the 2014 presidential election Ekmeleddin İhsanoğlu lost to Erdoğan with only 38% of the vote. In the 2018 general election the CHP, Good Party, Felicity, and Democrat Party established the Nation Alliance to challenge the AKP and MHP's People's Alliance. Though CHP's vote was reduced to 22%, strategic voting for the other parties yielded the alliance 33% of the vote. Their candidate for president: Muharrem İnce, received only 30% of the vote. The Nation Alliance was re-established for the 2019 local elections, which saw great gains for the CHP, capturing nearly 30% of the electorate and the municipal mayoralties of İstanbul and Ankara. Some consider their new respective mayors Ekrem İmamoğlu and Mansur Yavaş possible candidates for the upcoming 2023 presidential election. Kılıçdaroğlu and his counterpart in the Good Party Meral Akşener continue a close cooperation as leaders of opposition parties, and the two parties are gaining in the polls due to the ongoing economic crisis and government mismanagement of the COVID-19 pandemic.


title: Republican People's Party

text: The Republican People's Party is a centre-left political party that draws its support from professional middle-class secular and liberally religious voters. It has traditional ties to the middle and upper-middle classes such as white-collar workers, retired generals, and government bureaucrats as well as academics, college students, left-leaning intellectuals and labour unions such as DİSK. The distance between the party administration and many leftist grassroots, especially left-oriented Kurdish voters, contributed to the party's shift away from the political left. Leftists still criticize the party's continuous opposition to the removal of Article 301 of the Turkish penal code, which caused people to be prosecuted for "insulting Turkishness" including Elif Şafak and Nobel Prize winner author Orhan Pamuk, its conviction of Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink, its attitude towards minorities in Turkey, as well as its Cyprus policy.


title: Republican People's Party

text: The CHP draws much of their support from voters of big cities and coastal regions. The party's strongholds are the west of the Aegean Region (İzmir, Aydın, Muğla), the northwest of the Marmara Region (Turkish Thrace; Edirne, Kırklareli, Tekirdağ, Çanakkale), the east of the Black Sea Region (Ardahan and Artvin), and the Anatolian college town of Eskişehir.


title: Republican People's Party

text: The party also appeals to minority groups such as Alevis. According to "The Economist", "to the dismay of its own leadership the CHP’s core constituency, as well as most of its MPs, are Alevis." The party's leader, Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, is also an Alevi himself.


title: Republican People's Party

text: The party holds a significant position in the Socialist International, Progressive Alliance and is an associate member of the Party of European Socialists. In 2014 the CHP urged the Socialist International to accept the Republican Turkish Party of Northern Cyprus as an full member.


title: Republican People's Party

text: Due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Turkey and the current economic crisis, polls indicate the party and its alliance has been seeing increasing support, especially among youth.


title: White Plains, New York

text: White Plains is a city in Westchester County within the metropolitan area of the City of New York. It is the eleventh-largest city in the state of New York, an outer suburb of New York City, and the county seat and commercial hub of Westchester County, a densely populated suburban county that is home to approximately one million people. White Plains is located in south-central Westchester County. Its downtown (Mamaroneck Avenue) is north of Midtown Manhattan.


title: White Plains, New York

text: The city's total population was 59,599 in the 2020 census, up from 53,077 at the 2010 census. According to the city government, the daytime weekday population is estimated at 250,000. The city was ranked third in the top 10 places to live in New York for 2014, according to national online real estate brokerage Movoto.


title: White Plains, New York

text: At the time of the Dutch settlement of Manhattan in the early 17th century, the region had been used as farmland by the Weckquaeskeck tribe, a Wappinger people, and was called "Quarropas". To early traders it was known as "the White Plains", either from the white balsam ("gnaphalium polycephalum") which was said to have covered it, or from the heavy mist that local tradition suggests hovered over the swamplands near the Bronx River. The first non-native settlement came in November 1683, when a party of Connecticut Puritans moved westward from an earlier settlement in Rye and bought about , presumably from the Weckquaeskeck. However, John Richbell of Mamaroneck claimed to have earlier title to much of the territory through his purchase of a far larger plot extending inland, perhaps from a different tribe. The matter was not settled until 1721, when a Royal Patent for White Plains was granted by King George II.


title: White Plains, New York

text: In 1758, White Plains became the seat of Westchester County when the colonial government for the county left West Chester, which was located in what is now the northern part of the borough of the Bronx, in New York City. The unincorporated village remained part of the Town of Rye until 1788 when the town of White Plains was created.


title: White Plains, New York

text: On July 9, 1776, a copy of the Declaration of Independence was delivered to the New York Provincial Congress, which was meeting in the county courthouse. The delegates quickly adopted a resolution approving the Declaration, thus declaring both the colony's independence and the formation of the State of New York. The Declaration itself was first publicly read from the steps of the courthouse on July 11.


title: White Plains, New York

text: During September and October 1776, troops led by George Washington took up positions in the hills of the village, hotly pursued by the British under General Sir William Howe, who attacked on October 28. The Battle of White Plains took place primarily on Chatterton Hill, (later known as "Battle Hill," and located just west of what was then a swamp but is now the downtown area) and the Bronx River. Howe's force of 4,000–6,000 British and Hessian soldiers required three attacks before the Continentals, numbering about 1,600 under the command of Generals Alexander McDougall and Israel Putnam, retreated, joining Washington's main force, which did not take part in the battle. Howe's forces had suffered 250 casualties, a severe loss, and he made no attempt to pursue the Continentals, whose casualties were about 125 dead and wounded. Three days after the battle Washington withdrew north of the village, which was then occupied by Howe's forces. But after several inconclusive skirmishes over the next week Howe withdrew on November 5, leaving White Plains to the Continentals. Ironically, one of Washington's subordinates, Major John Austin, who was probably drunk after having celebrated the enemy's withdrawal, reentered the village with his detachment and proceeded to burn it down. Although he was court-martialed and convicted for this action, he escaped punishment.


title: White Plains, New York

text: The first United States Census, conducted in 1790, listed the White Plains population at 505, of whom 46 were slaves. (New York City's population at that time was about 33,000.) By 1800, the population stood at 575 and in 1830, 830. By 1870, 26 years after the arrival of the New York Central Railroad, it had swollen to 2,630 and by 1890 to 4,508. In the decades that followed the count grew to 7,899 (1900) and 26,425 (1910). White Plains was incorporated as a village in 1866 and as a city in 1916.


title: White Plains, New York

text: Following World War II, White Plains' downtown area developed into what amounted to a "destination" shopping district featuring branch stores of many famous New York-based department and specialty stores. Some of these retail locations were the first large-scale suburban stores built in the United States and ushered in the eventual post-war building boom. Construction of nearby parkways and expressways in the 1940s through the 1970s only enhanced White Plains' role as a retail location. With a city opening ceremony, Macy's launched a grand White Plains store on Main Street across from City Hall in 1949. As the mayor said at the time, this was a significant event in the life of White Plains. Other prestigious stores followed, such as B. Altman and Co., Rogers Peet, Saks Fifth Avenue, Lord & Taylor, Alexander's, Wallachs, and a short-lived branch of Bergdorf Goodman, which was converted to sister chain Neiman Marcus in 1981. White Plains is still a huge retail destination in the area with Bloomingdale's, Neiman Marcus, Nordstrom, Nordstrom Rack, Macy's, Burlington Coat Factory, and over 1,000 other small and mid-size stores in four malls.


title: White Plains, New York

text: During the late 1960s, the city of White Plains developed an extensive urban renewal plan for residential, commercial and mixed-use redevelopment that effectively called for the demolition of its entire central business district from the Bronx River Parkway east to Mamaroneck Avenue. By 1978, the urban renewal program centered around the construction of the Westchester County Courthouse (1974), the Westchester One office building (1975), the Galleria at White Plains mall (1978), and a number of other office towers, retail centers and smaller commercial buildings.


title: White Plains, New York

text: At the time of its construction, the Westchester One building was the largest office building between New York City and Albany, and east to Hartford.


title: White Plains, New York

text: Beginning in the 1950s, many major corporations based in New York City relocated operations to White Plains and other suburban locations. These included General Foods, PepsiCo, Hitachi USA, IBM, Nestlé, Snapple and Heineken USA. At the height of the 1980s, at least 50 Fortune 500 corporations called Westchester County and nearby Fairfield County, Connecticut, home, but with the corporate mergers and downsizing of the 1990s many of these companies either reduced their operations in White Plains or left the area completely.


title: White Plains, New York

text: White Plains continues to attract regional and national business as well as international headquarters within its boundaries such as Nine West Group, Allegiance Financial, ITT Corporation, Nokia, Heineken USA, Alliance Bernstein, AT&T and Verizon.


title: White Plains, New York

text: White Plains is also home to the Arts Exchange Building, which serves as the headquarters of the Westchester Arts Council. Since March 1999, visual and performing artists, emerging cultural organizations and new creative businesses have had studios and offices in the building. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.


title: White Plains, New York

text: The construction of the Galleria at White Plains mall in the 1970s ushered in a new era of downtown retail and office development, but by the early 1990s, economic development had stagnated, hampered by a deep recession and the overbuilding of the commercial real estate markets. For a time, White Plains had the dubious distinction of having one of the highest office vacancy rates in the northeastern United States. Consolidation within the retail industry led to the closing of many of downtown's original department and specialty stores as well. After its bankruptcy, the B. Altman store closed in 1989 and was eventually demolished to make way for the massive upscale retail mall, The Westchester, which opened in 1995 with anchors Nordstrom and Neiman Marcus. A freestanding branch of Macy's, one of downtown's original retail anchor stores, was relocated two blocks away to The Galleria mall by its parent company, Federated Department Stores, replacing the location of sister retailer Abraham & Straus when these two store divisions were merged in 1995.


title: White Plains, New York

text: In early 2003, the Saks Fifth Avenue location was also closed and demolished; it was replaced in 2004 with the large retail complex called The Source at White Plains, featuring the upscale restaurants Morton's of Chicago, The Cheesecake Factory, and the gourmet supermarket chain Whole Foods Markets. Note: As of July 20, 2009, the Fortunoff and Mayrock families re-acquired the Fortunoff brand and intellectual property; all Fortunoff stores are currently closed. On August 9, 2018, the Walmart at 275 S Main St. (one of only two in Westchester County) was closed due to lack of convenience.


title: White Plains, New York

text: Other major projects were completed in the late 1990s and early 2000s that have further altered the urban character of downtown White Plains. A new courthouse for the Southern District of New York was opened in 1998 and several large-scale office properties in and near downtown, including the former General Foods headquarters building, were retrofitted and leased to accommodate smaller businesses. The Macy's store on Main Street remained vacant for several years until it was also later demolished to make way for the massive City Center at White Plains complex. This large mixed-use development features two 35-story apartment and condominium towers, of retail, restaurant and entertainment space and new parking facilities. Aside from the Arts Exchange building (which used to be a bank), another bank next to the City Center was renovated to become Zanaro's, a family-style Italian restaurant. Buffalo Wild Wings replaced Zanaro's upon its 2010 closure. City Center's opening in 2003 marked the beginning of a new downtown development renaissance, with an improving economy and healthy office leasing activity.


title: White Plains, New York

text: In 2007, construction was completed on Renaissance Square, a downtown parcel that includes the luxury Ritz-Carlton hotel.


title: White Plains, New York

text: Beginning in 2000, the city's permanent population experienced a growth spurt as additional apartment buildings were constructed. The city is 31 minutes by express train from Midtown Manhattan, and this has attracted new residents who commute to New York City for work. However, in large part because of its proximity to New York City, the cost of living in White Plains, although lower than that of New York City itself, is by some measures among the highest in the world. White Plains is also the home to the United States Tennis Association USTA B team.


title: White Plains, New York

text: White Plains is bordered to the north by the town of North Castle, to the north and east by the town/village of Harrison, to the south by the town/village of Scarsdale, and to the west by the town of Greenburgh. The city is about east of the Hudson River and northwest of the Long Island Sound. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, White Plains has a land area of , and a population density of .


title: White Plains, New York

text: White Plains has a humid continental climate, with four distinct seasons. Winter is cold and wet, with occasional snow and an average January temperature of , and summer is hot and humid, with a mean July temperature of . In spring and fall, temperatures can fluctuate from cool to hot, but are usually mild and comfortable. Precipitation is plentiful in all months of the year. The city receives approximately 229 clear or partly cloudy days per annum, with July typically being the sunniest month, averaging more than 70 percent of possible sunshine.


title: White Plains, New York

text: The lowest temperature ever recorded in White Plains since record-keeping began in 1948 was on January 19, 1977, and the highest ever was on July 6, 2010. Over the course of a typical year, there are 18 days of at least temperatures, and seven days when temperatures do not rise above the freezing point.


title: White Plains, New York

text: The economy of White Plains revolves around large companies that have relocated to the city such as ITT, Xylem, Bunge and Combe. Other companies based in White Plains include Alliance Bernstein, Dannon, Fifth Street Finance Corp., the New York Power Authority, New York-Presbyterian Hospital, Krasdale Foods (which supplies products for the C-Town supermarket chain), Nine West, Acadia Realty Trust and AboveNet, as well as the US headquarters of "Heineken USA" Heineken. At the turn of the second millennium, there was a boom in commercial businesses and residential living and as a result the city's infrastructure grew substantially with two double towers being 40 plus stories and both being high-end apartments.


title: White Plains, New York

text: At one time Prodigy had its headquarters in White Plains Plaza in White Plains. In 2000 the company announced that it would move its headquarters to Austin, Texas.


title: White Plains, New York

text: The White Plains Public School System, with a 2006 enrollment of over 6,000 students, maintains five elementary schools (grades K–5), two middle schools (Eastview for grade 6, Highlands for grades 7–8) and one high school (9–12), as well as auxiliary facilities, including a pre-kindergarten program, a community school (grades 7–12), adult and continuing education, and a program for school-age patients at New York-Presbyterian Hospital, whose campus is located in the city.


title: White Plains, New York

text: Since 1988 the district has operated under a Controlled Parents' Choice Program, whereby the parents of elementary school children can select the school which their child attends based on factors other than proximity to the school.


title: White Plains, New York

text: The five elementary schools, in addition to teaching core competencies, have different educational focuses including science and technology, communication arts and global understanding. Two of the elementary schools offer bilingual education where children are taught in both English and Spanish. Both English speaking and Spanish speaking families can choose to be entered into a lottery for a place in the bilingual classes.


title: White Plains, New York

text: White Plains High School, built in the late 1950s (when it relocated from The Highlands School) on a campus (formerly James Cash Penney's 72 acre Westchester Estate, until he relocated to Westport, CT in the 1940s), serves all public school students in grades 9–12. The school has a swimming pool that overlooks a small valley which included the track and football field. The White Plains Recreation Department worked in cooperation with the schools to offer many programs.


title: White Plains, New York

text: The district is governed by a seven-member Board of Education, elected at-large for staggered three-year terms. A school superintendent reports to the Board.


title: White Plains, New York

text: As of the 2020 United States census, there were 59,559 people residing in the city. The racial makeup of the city was 46.4% white, 11.9% black, .1% Native American, 8% Asian, <.1% Pacific Islander, .3% from some other race, and 2.7% from two or more races. 32.4% were Hispanic or Latino of any race.


title: White Plains, New York

text: As of the 2010 United States census, there were 56,853 people residing in the city. The racial makeup of the city was 48.9% white, 13.2% black, .1% Native American, 6.3% Asian, <.1% Pacific Islander, .3% from some other race and 1.5% from two or more races. 29.6% were Hispanic or Latino of any race.


title: White Plains, New York

text: As of the census of 2000, there were 53,077 people, 20,921 households, and 12,704 families residing in the city. The population density was 5,415.5 people per square mile (2,091.1/km). There were 21,576 housing units at an average density of 2,201.4 per square mile (850.1/km). The racial makeup of the city was 64.93% white, 15.91% African American, 4.5% Asian, .34% Native American, .07% Pacific Islander, 10.37% from other races, and 3.88% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 23.51% of the population. In 2010, Businessweek Magazine named White Plains one of the fastest-growing cities in the United States.


title: White Plains, New York

text: There were 20,921 households, out of which 26.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 45.7% were married couples living together, 11.3% had a female householder with no husband present, and 39.3% were non-families. 33.4% of all households were made up of individuals, and 11.8% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.47 and the average family size was 3.14.


title: White Plains, New York

text: In the city, the population was spread out, with 21.2% under the age of 18, 7.5% from 18 to 24, 32.5% from 25 to 44, 23.6% from 45 to 64, and 15.2% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 38 years. For every 100 females, there were 89.8 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 85.7 males.


title: White Plains, New York

text: The median income for a household in the city was $58,545, and the median income for a family was $71,891 (these figures had risen to $73,744 and $92,215 respectively as of a 2007 estimate). Males had a median income of $47,742 versus $36,917 for females. The per capita income for the city was $33,825. About 9.2% of families and 12.4% of the population were below the poverty line, including 12.2% of those under age 18 and 7.2% of those age 65 or over.


title: White Plains, New York

text: Several popular films and TV series have been filmed in White Plains, including "The Departed", "Across The Universe", "Eighth Grade", "Alex Strangelove, The Beaver," "The Americans," and "Sisters". The animated television series "Big Mouth" also plays a basketball game against the White Plains Tigers. White Plains was also selected as the original filming destination for Larry Charles' "Borat", but Sacha Baron Cohen insisted the film be shot in New York City.


title: White Plains, New York

text: The White Plains Performing Arts Center, which can seat up to 410 people, serves as a venue for a variety of events, such as Broadway theatre and concerts.


title: White Plains, New York

text: White Plains is home to the Westchester Philharmonic, the sole professional symphony orchestra in Westchester County. The Philharmonic performs at SUNY Purchase's Performing Arts Center.


title: White Plains, New York

text: The White Plains Farmers' Market operates year-round in the city, setting up Downtown at 255 Main Street from May to November, and in the Westchester County Center the rest of the year. In addition to the various food products sold, there is often also live music at the Market.


title: White Plains, New York

text: Westchester County Center is home to the Westchester Knicks of the NBA G League, which began play in the 2014–2015 season. Due to its use as a makeshift hospital and later vaccination center during the COVID-19 Pandemic from 2020 to 2022, the Knicks played their home games at Total Mortgage Arena in Bridgeport, Connecticut for the 2021-22 season. It was also the primary home of the New York Liberty of the Women's National Basketball Association from 2018 to 2020.


title: White Plains, New York

text: The city is also home to USA Rugby League franchise the White Plains Wombats. and North American Rugby League franchise New York Freedom.


title: White Plains, New York

text: The Cross-Westchester Expressway, or I-287, runs through White Plains, connecting Tarrytown to Rye. On its eastern end, I 287 meets I-95, the major commercial route along the East Coast. At its western end, I-287 meets I-87 and the New York State Thruway on its approach to the Tappan Zee Bridge, which crosses the Hudson River into Rockland County. The bridge allows connections to Rockland, points upstate, and parts of northern New Jersey. Current highway works include pedestrian walkways over the highway, an extra lane on either side, and on/off ramps to help motor traffic and pedestrians. Vegetation removals have upset some in the community but it is reported that the area will be fixed and trees will be replanted when work on the highway comes to an end. The Bronx River Parkway, which runs north–south through White Plains, provides access south to New York City or north to the Kensico Circle in North Castle.


title: White Plains, New York

text: Westchester County Airport is located in Harrison, about northeast of downtown White Plains. Often the airlines and traveling public refer to Westchester County Airport as "White Plains." It serves as a minor hub for JetBlue Airways, which offer regularly scheduled flights to several destinations in Florida. In addition, JetBlue began service from Westchester to Nassau, Bahamas in November 2011. White Plains is also located within an hour's drive of two major New York City airports.


title: White Plains, New York

text: Two Metro-North Railroad stations – the White Plains station, located downtown at Main Street and the Bronx River, and the North White Plains station, provide daily train service to Grand Central Terminal in Midtown Manhattan. Both stations are on the Harlem Line.


title: White Plains, New York

text: Bee Line is Westchester County's public bus system and several routes pass through White Plains offering local service to many surrounding communities. A few routes serve the Bronx and connect with the New York City subway. The main Bee Line hub in White Plains is the Trans-Center, adjacent to the Metro-North station. Other regional bus services that serve White Plains include the Hudson Link to Rockland County; Leprechaun Lines to Poughkeepsie; CT Transit's I-Bus to Stamford, Connecticut; as well as Greyhound, Trailways and Coach USA service to upstate New York and Long Island.


title: White Plains, New York

text: The city of White Plains is protected by professional firefighters of the City of White Plains Fire Bureau, part of the Department of Public Safety, but commonly referred to as the "fire department"(WPFD). The White Plains Fire Department is currently the seventh-largest fire department in the state of New York. The WPFD currently operates out of 5 fire stations, located throughout the city, with each shift commanded by a deputy chief. The WPFD also operates a frontline fire apparatus fleet of 5 engines, 3 ladders, 1 rescue, and numerous other special, support, and reserve units.


title: White Plains, New York

text: "The Journal News", the major daily newspaper for the Lower Hudson Valley region, is based in White Plains. The current paper, owned by the Gannett Company, was formed in 1998 by the merger of eleven local papers in Westchester and Rockland counties.


title: White Plains, New York

text: White Plains is also referenced in season 6, episode 11 of "Friends" as the location of where Rachel bought an apothecary table that was shipped from Pottery Barn's White Plains location.


title: Cost of electricity by source

text: Different methods of electricity generation can incur a variety of different costs, which can be divided into three general categories: 1) wholesale costs, or all costs paid by utilities associated with acquiring and distributing electricity to consumers, 2) retail costs paid by consumers, and 3) external costs, or externalities, imposed on society.


title: Cost of electricity by source

text: Wholesale costs include initial capital, operations & maintenance (O&M), transmission, and costs of decommissioning. Depending on the local regulatory environment, some or all wholesale costs may be passed through to consumers. These are costs per unit of energy, typically represented as dollars/megawatt hour (wholesale). The calculations also assist governments in making decisions regarding energy policy.


title: Cost of electricity by source

text: On average the levelized cost of electricity from utility scale solar power and onshore wind power is less than from coal and gas-fired power stations, but this varies a lot depending on location.


title: Cost of electricity by source

text: The levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) is a metric that attempts to compare costs of different methods of electricity generation on a consistent basis. Though LCOE is often presented as the minimum constant price at which electricity must be sold in order to break even over the lifetime of the project, such a cost analysis requires assumptions about the value of various non-financial costs (environmental impacts, local availability, others), and is therefore controversial. Roughly calculated, LCOE is the net present value of all costs over the lifetime of the asset divided by an appropriately discounted total of the energy output from the asset over that lifetime.


title: Cost of electricity by source

text: The levelized cost of storage (LCOS) is analogous to LCOE, but applied to energy storage technologies such as batteries. Regardless of technology, however, storage is but a secondary source of electricity dependent on a primary source of generation. Thus, a true cost accounting demands that the costs of both primary and secondary sources be included when the cost of storage is compared to the cost of generating electricity in real time to meet demand.


title: Cost of electricity by source

text: A cost factor unique to storage are losses that occur due to inherent inefficiencies of storing electricity, as well as increased emissions if any component of the primary source is less than 100% carbon-free.In the U.S., a comprehensive 2015 study found that net system CO2 emissions resulting from storage operation are nontrivial when compared to the emissions from electricity generation [in real time to meet demand], ranging from 104 to 407 kg/MWh of delivered energy depending on location, storage operation mode, and assumptions regarding carbon intensity.


title: Cost of electricity by source

text: The metric levelized avoided cost of energy (LACE) addresses some of the shortcomings of LCOE by considering the economic value that the source provides to the grid. The economic value takes into account the dispatchability of a resource, as well as the existing energy mix in a region.


title: Cost of electricity by source

text: In 2014, the US Energy Information Administration recommended that levelized costs of non-dispatchable sources such as wind or solar be compared to the "levelized avoided cost of energy" (LACE) rather than to the LCOE of dispatchable sources such as fossil fuels or geothermal. LACE is the avoided costs from other sources divided by the annual yearly output of the non-dispatchable source. The EIA hypothesized that fluctuating power sources might not avoid capital and maintenance costs of backup dispatchable sources. The ratio of LACE to LCOE is referred to as the value-cost ratio. When LACE (value) is greater than LCOE (cost), then value-cost ratio is greater than 1, and the project is considered economically feasible.


title: Cost of electricity by source

text: The value-adjusted levelized cost of electricity (VALCOE) is a metric devised by the International Energy Agency which includes both the cost of the electricity and the value to the electricity system. For example, the same amount of electricity is more valuable at a time of peak demand. However VALCOE does not take into account future changes to the electricity system, for example the addition of much more solar power could reduce midday value but today's VALCOE does not take that into account.


title: Cost of electricity by source

text: While calculating costs, several internal cost factors have to be considered. Note the use of "costs," which is not the actual selling price, since this can be affected by a variety of factors such as subsidies and taxes:


title: Cost of electricity by source

text: To evaluate the total cost of production of electricity, the streams of costs are converted to a net present value using the time value of money. These costs are all brought together using discounted cash flow.


title: Cost of electricity by source

text: For power generation capacity capital costs are often expressed as overnight cost per watt. Estimated costs are:


title: Cost of electricity by source

text: Real life costs can diverge significantly from those estimates. Olkiluoto block 3, which achieved first criticality in late 2021 had an overnight cost to the construction consortium (the utility paid a fixed price agreed to when the deal was signed of only 3.2 billion euros) of and a net electricity capacity of 1.6 gigawatt or per kilowatt of capacity. Meanwhile Darlington Nuclear Generating Station in Canada had an overnight cost of for a net electric capacity of 3512 Megawatts or per Kilowatt of capacity. The oft cited figure of - which works out to per kilowatt of capacity - includes interest (a particularly high cost in this case as the utility had to borrow at market rates and had to absorb the cost of delays in construction) and is thus not an "overnight cost". Furthermore, there is the issue of comparability of different sources of power, as capacity factors can be as low as 10-20% for some wind and solar applications reaching into the 50% range for offshore wind and finally above 90% for the most reliable nuclear power plants. The average capacity factor of all commercial nuclear power plants in the world in 2020 was 80.3% (83.1% the prior year) but this includes outdated Generation II nuclear power plants and countries like France which run their nuclear power plants load following which reduces the capacity factor. Peaking power plants have particularly low capacity factors but make up for it by selling electricity at the highest possible price when supply does not meet demand otherwise.


title: Cost of electricity by source

text: The first German Offshore Wind Park Alpha Ventus Offshore Wind Farm with a nameplate capacity of 60 MW cost (after an initial estimate of ). In 2012 it produced 268 Gigawatt-hours of electricity, achieving a capacity factor of just over 50%. If the overnight cost is calculated for the nameplate capacity, it works out to per Kilowatt whereas if one takes into account the capacity factor, the figure needs to be roughly doubled.


title: Cost of electricity by source

text: Geothermal power is unique among renewables in that it usually has a low above-ground impact and is capable of baseload power generation as well as combined heat and power. However, depending on the plant and conditions underground naturally occurring radioactive materials such as radon may be released into the air. This partially offsets relatively high costs per capacity which were cited as for the 45 MW first phase of Þeistareykir Geothermal Power Station and a total of for the 90 MW combined two first phases. This gives a cost per kilowatt of capacity of if only the first phase is considered and if the cost estimates for both phases together hold. The source also calls this power plant uniquely cost effective for geothermal power and the unique geology of Iceland makes the country one of the largest producers of geothermal power worldwide and by far the largest per capita or relative to all energy consumed.


title: Cost of electricity by source

text: Block 5 of Irsching Power Station in Southern Germany uses natural gas as fuel in a combined cycle converting 1750 Megawatts of thermal energy to 847 net Megawatts of usable electricity. It cost to build. This works out to some per Kilowatt of capacity. However, due to the uneconomical prospect of operating it as a peaking power plant, the owners, soon after opening the plant in 2010, wanted to shut down the plant.


title: Cost of electricity by source

text: The Lieberose Photovoltaic Park - one of the largest in Germany - had a nameplate capacity at opening of 52.79 Megawatt and cost some to build or per kilowatt. With a yearly output of some 52 Gigawatt-hours (equivalent to just over 5.9 Megawatts) it has a capacity factor just over 11%. The figure was again cited when the solar park was sold in 2010.


title: Cost of electricity by source

text: The world's largest solar farm to date (2022) in Rajasthan, India - Bhadla Solar Park - has a total nameplate capacity of 2255 Megawatts and cost a total of 98.5 billion Indian rupees to build. This works out to roughly 43681 rupees per kilowatt.


title: Cost of electricity by source

text: As can be seen by these numbers, costs vary wildly even for the same source of electricity from place to place or time to time and depending on whether interest is included in total cost. Furthermore, capacity factors and the intermittency of certain power sources further complicate calculations. Another issue that is often omitted in discussions is the lifespan of various power plants - some of the oldest hydropower plants have existed for over a century, and nuclear power plants going on five or six decades of continuous operation are no rarity. However, many wind turbines of the first generation have already been torn down as they can no longer compete with more modern wind turbines and/or no longer fit into the current regulatory environment. Some of them were not even twenty-five years old. Solar panels exhibit a certain aging, which limits their useful lifetime, but real world data does not yet exist for the expected lifetime of the latest models.


title: Cost of electricity by source

text: O&M costs include marginal costs of fuel, maintenance, operation, waste storage, and decommissioning for an electricity generation facility. Fuel costs tend to be highest for oil fired generation, followed in order by coal, gas, biomass and uranium. Due to the high energy density of uranium (or MOX fuel in plants that use this alternative to uranium) and the comparatively low price on the world uranium market (especially when measured in units of currency per unit of energy content), fuel costs only make up a fraction of the operating costs of nuclear power plants. In general, the cost balance between capital and running costs tilts in favor of lower operating expenses for renewables and nuclear and in the other direction for fossil fuels.


title: Cost of electricity by source

text: As sovereign debt in high income countries is usually to be had at lower interest rates than private loans, nuclear and renewable power become significantly cheaper - also compared to fossil alternatives - the bigger the involvement of state investment or state guarantees. In the Global South, where interest rates tend to be higher, the shorter construction period of small scale projects (particularly wind and solar) partially compensates for their increased capital cost. In terms of import substitution, solar can be particularly attractive in replacing bunker oil or diesel generators for rural electrification as it needs no imported hydrocarbons and as it allows hydrocarbon resources (where available) to be exported instead.


title: Cost of electricity by source

text: Short term fluctuations in fuel prices can have significant effects on the cost of energy generation in natural gas and oil fired power plants and to a lesser extent for coal fired power plants. As renewable energies need no fuel, their costs are independent of world markets for fuels once built. Coal-fired power plants are often supplied with locally or at least domestically available coal - this is especially true for lignite whose low grade and high moisture content make transporting it over long distances uneconomical - and are thus less subject to the influence of world markets. If there is a carbon tax or other forms of CO-pricing, this can have a significant impact on the economic viability of fossil fueled power plants. Due to the ease of stockpiling uranium and the rarity of refueling (most Pressurized Water Reactors will change about a quarter to a third of their fuel loading every one and a half to two years), short term fluctuations in world uranium prices are a risk absorbed by fuel suppliers, not power plant operators. However, long-term trends in uranium price can have an effect of a few tenths of a cent to a cent or two per Kilowatt-hour on the final price of nuclear energy.


title: Cost of electricity by source

text: The biggest factor in the operating costs of both nuclear and renewable are local wages - in most cases those need to be paid regardless of whether the plant is operating at full capacity or putting out only a fraction of its nameplate capacity and thus those plants are usually run to as high a fraction of their capacity as the market (negative prices) and weather (avoiding overheating rivers with cooling water, availability of sun or wind...) allow. However, in France the nuclear power plants which provide some 70% of electricity demand are run load following to stabilize the grid. As a lot of home heating in France is supplied via electric means (heat pumps and resistive heating), there is a notable seasonality to nuclear energy generation in France with planned outages usually scheduled for the lower demand summer period, which also coincides with school holidays in France. In Germany some two decades old and older wind turbines were shut down after no longer receiving renewable energy subsidies due to a reported market-rate electricity price of some per kWh not covering marginal costs or only covering them as long as no major maintenance was needed. By contrast after being fully depreciated, Germany's (then remaining) nuclear power plants were described in media reports throughout the 2010s and into the early 2020s as highly profitable for their operators even without direct government subsidy.


title: Cost of electricity by source

text: Many scholars, such as Paul Joskow, have described limits to the "levelized cost of electricity" metric for comparing new generating sources. In particular, LCOE ignores time effects associated with matching production to demand. This happens at two levels:


title: Cost of electricity by source

text: Ramp rates (how fast the power can be increased or decreased) may be quicker for more modern nuclear and the economics of nuclear power plants differ.


title: Cost of electricity by source

text: Nevertheless, capital intensive technologies such as wind, solar, and nuclear are economically disadvantaged unless generating at maximum availability since the LCOE is nearly all sunk-cost capital investment. Grids with very large amounts of intermittent power sources, such as wind and solar, may incur extra costs associated with needing to have storage or backup generation available. At the same time, intermittent sources can be even more competitive if they are available to produce when demand and prices are highest, such as solar during summertime mid-day peaks seen in hot countries where air conditioning is a major consumer.


title: Cost of electricity by source

text: In the 2010s EEC caused the electricity demand of many countries, such as the US, to remain flat or decline. For solar systems installed at the point of end use, it may be more economical to invest in EEC first, then solar, or both at the same time. This results in a smaller required solar system than what would be needed without the EEC measures. However, designing a solar system on the basis of LCOE would cause the smaller system LCOE to increase, as the energy generation drops faster than the system cost. The whole of system life cycle cost should be considered, not just the LCOE of the energy source. LCOE is not as relevant to end-users than other financial considerations such as income, cashflow, mortgage, leases, rent, and electricity bills. Comparing solar investments in relation to these can make it easier for end-users to make a decision, or using cost-benefit calculations "and/or an asset's capacity value or contribution to peak on a system or circuit level".


title: Cost of electricity by source

text: Typically pricing of electricity from various energy sources may not include all external costs – that is, the costs indirectly borne by society as a whole as a consequence of using that energy source. These may include enabling costs, environmental impacts, energy storage, recycling costs, or beyond-insurance accident effects.


title: Cost of electricity by source

text: This is expected to result in the evacuation of millions of homes in low-lying areas, and an annual cost of hundreds of billions of dollars' worth of property damage.


title: Cost of electricity by source

text: Solar panel performance is usually guaranteed for 25 years and sometimes 30. According to a 2021 Harvard Business Review study costs of recycling solar panels will reach $20–30 per panel in 2035, which would increase the LCOE fourfold for PV solar power but only if panels are replaced after 15 years rather than the expected 30 years. If panels are replaced early this presents a significant policy challenge because if the recycling is made legal duty of the manufacturers (as it already is in the EU) it will dramatically reduce profit margins on this already competitive market. A 2021 IEA study of repairing old panels to reuse rather than recycle them concluded that the financial viability depends on country specific factors such as grid tariffs, but that reuse is only likely for utility solar, as rooftop owners will want to make best use of space with more efficient new panels.


title: Cost of electricity by source

text: An EU funded research study known as ExternE, or Externalities of Energy, undertaken over the period of 1995 to 2005 found that the cost of producing electricity from coal or oil would double over its present value, and the cost of electricity production from gas would increase by 30% if external costs such as damage to the environment and to human health, from the particulate matter, nitrogen oxides, chromium VI, river water alkalinity, mercury poisoning and arsenic emissions produced by these sources, were taken into account. It was estimated in the study that these external, downstream, fossil fuel costs amount up to 1%–2% of the EU's entire Gross Domestic Product (GDP), and this was before the external cost of global warming from these sources was even included. Coal has the highest external cost in the EU, and global warming is the largest part of that cost. Sustainable energy avoids or greatly reduces future costs to society, such as respiratory illnesses. In 2022 the EU created a green taxonomy to indicate which energy investments reduce such external costs.


title: Cost of electricity by source

text: A means to address a part of the external costs of fossil fuel generation is carbon pricing — the method most favored by economists for reducing global-warming emissions. Carbon pricing charges those who emit carbon dioxide for their emissions. That charge, called a "carbon price", is the amount that must be paid for the right to emit one tonne of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Carbon pricing usually takes the form of a carbon tax or a requirement to purchase permits to emit (also called "allowances").


title: Cost of electricity by source

text: Depending on the assumptions of possible accidents and their probabilities external costs for nuclear power vary significantly and can reach between 0.2 and 200 ct/kWh. Furthermore, nuclear power is working under an insurance framework that limits or structures accident liabilities in accordance with the Paris convention on nuclear third-party liability, the Brussels supplementary convention, and the Vienna convention on civil liability for nuclear damage and in the U.S. the Price-Anderson Act. It is often argued that this potential shortfall in liability represents an external cost not included in the cost of nuclear electricity; but the cost is small, amounting to about 0.1% of the levelized cost of electricity, according to a 2008 study.


title: Cost of electricity by source

text: These beyond-insurance costs for worst-case scenarios are not unique to nuclear power, as hydroelectric power plants are similarly not fully insured against catastrophic events like a large dam failure. As private insurers base dam insurance premiums on limited scenarios, major disaster insurance in this sector is likewise provided by the state.


title: Cost of electricity by source

text: Because externalities are diffuse in their effect, external costs cannot be measured directly, but must be estimated.


title: Cost of electricity by source

text: Different countries charge generating companies differently for the negative externalities (such as pollution) that they create. To avoid unfair competition from imports of dirty electricity a tariff may be applied. For example, the UK and the EU may include electricity in their Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanisms. Alternatively the emissions trading systems (ETS) of the importing and exporting countries may be linked, or the generators in one country may be subject to the ETS of another country (for example Northern İreland generators are in the EU ETS).


title: Cost of electricity by source

text: Calculations often do not include wider system costs associated with each type of plant, such as long-distance transmission connections to grids, or balancing and reserve costs. Calculations do not necessarily include externalities such as health damage by coal plants, nor the effect of greenhouse emissions on the climate change, ocean acidification and eutrophication, ocean current shifts. Decommissioning costs of power plants are usually not included (nuclear power plants in the United States is an exception, because the cost of decommissioning is included in the price of electricity per the Nuclear Waste Policy Act), is therefore not full cost accounting. These types of items can be explicitly added as necessary depending on the purpose of the calculation.


title: Cost of electricity by source

text: In March 2021, Bloomberg New Energy Finance found that "renewables are the cheapest power option for 71% of global GDP and 85% of global power generation. It is now cheaper to build a new solar or wind farm to meet rising electricity demand or replace a retiring generator, than it is to build a new fossil fuel-fired power plant. ... On a cost basis, wind and solar is the best economic choice in markets where firm generation resources exist and demand is growing." They further reported "the levelized cost of energy from lithium-ion battery storage systems is competitive with many peak-demand generators." BNEF does not disclose the detailed methodology and LCOE calculation assumptions, however, apart from declaring it is "derived from selected public sources". Costs of gas peakers are substantial, and include both the cost of fuel and external costs of its combustion. Costs of its combustion include emission of greenhouse gases carbon monoxide and dioxide, as well as nitrogen oxides (), which damage the human respiratory system and contribute to acid rain.


title: Cost of electricity by source

text: In December 2020 IEA and OECD NEA published a joint "Projected Costs of Generating Electricity" study which looks at a very broad range of electricity generating technologies based on 243 power plants in 24 countries. The primary finding was that "low-carbon generation is overall becoming increasingly cost competitive" and "new nuclear power will remain the dispatchable low-carbon technology with the lowest expected costs in 2025". The report calculated LCOE with assumed 7% discount rate and adjusted for systemic costs of generation. The report also contains a modeling utility that produces LCOE estimates based on user-selected parameters such as discount rate, carbon price, heat price, coal price and gas price. The report's main conclusions:


title: Cost of electricity by source

text: In October 2020, the investment bank Lazard compared renewable and conventional sources of energy, including comparison between existing and new generation (see table). Lazard study assumes "60% debt at 8% interest rate and 40% equity at 12% cost" for its LCOE calculation but did not disclose their methodology or project portfolio used to calculate prices.


title: Cost of electricity by source

text: IPCC Fifth Assessment Report contains LCOE calculations for broad range of energy sources in the following four scenarios:


title: Cost of electricity by source

text: It can be seen from the following table that the cost of renewable energy, particularly photovoltaics, is falling very rapidly. As of 2017, the cost of electricity generation from photovoltaics, for example, has fallen by almost 75% within 7 years.


title: Cost of electricity by source

text: In the United Kingdom, a feed-in tariff of £92.50/MWh at 2012 prices (currently the equivalent of €131/MWh) plus inflation compensation was set in 2013 for the new nuclear power plant to be built at Hinkley Point C, with a term of 35 years. At that time, this was below the feed-in tariff for large photovoltaic and offshore wind plants and above onshore wind plants.


title: Cost of electricity by source

text: In Germany, the bidding processes that have been carried out since 2017 have led to significant cost reductions. In one bid for offshore wind farms, at least one bidder dispensed entirely with public subsidies and was prepared to finance the project through the market alone. The highest subsidy price that was still awarded was 6.00 ct/kWh. In a bid for onshore wind farm projects, an average payment of 5.71 ct/kWh was achieved, and 4.29 ct/kWh in a second bidding round.


title: Cost of electricity by source

text: In 2019, there were bids for new offshore wind farms in the United Kingdom, with costs as low as 3.96 pence per kWh (4.47 ct).


title: Cost of electricity by source

text: In the same year, there were bids in Portugal for photovoltaic plants, where the price for the cheapest project is 1.476 ct/kWh.


title: Cost of electricity by source

text: gas is the largest source of electricity at 40%: its cost varies and being high carbon it causes climate change. So to reduce the share of gas the government annually auctions contracts for difference to build low carbon generation capacity, mainly offshore wind. Before 2022 these generators had always received payments from electricity suppliers, but that year they started making payments. In other words renewables became subsidy free, partly due to the fall in cost of offshore wind. Instead of gas still dark weeks can be supplied by Norwegian hydropower or by nuclear. As many of Britain's existing nuclear reactors are due to retire soon the government hopes that cost effective small modular reactors can be developed.


title: Cost of electricity by source

text: The International Energy Agency and EDF have estimated the following costs. For nuclear power, they include the costs due to new safety investments to upgrade the French nuclear plant after the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster; the cost for those investments is estimated at €4/MWh. Concerning solar power, the estimate of €293/MWh is for a large plant capable of producing in the range of 50–100 GWh/year located in a favorable location (such as in Southern Europe). For a small household plant that can produce around 3 MWh/year, the cost is between 400 and €700/MWh, depending on location. Solar power was by far the most expensive renewable source of electricity among the technologies studied, although increasing efficiency and longer lifespan of photovoltaic panels together with reduced production costs have made this source of energy more competitive since 2011. By 2017, the cost of photovoltaic solar power had decreased to less than €50/MWh.


title: Cost of electricity by source

text: The Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems publishes studies comparing the cost of different styles of energy production. The values for PV installations are based on the average cost between Northern and Southern Germany. The reports differentiate between the two and gives more details.


title: Cost of electricity by source

text: The LCOE for PV battery systems refers to the total amount of energy produced by the PV system minus storage losses. The storage losses are calculated based on the capacity of the battery storage, the assumed number of cycles and the efficiency of the battery. The results include differences in PV costs, battery costs (500 to 1200 EUR/kWh), and varying solar irradiation. For larger rooftop PV systems with battery storage, the battery costs between 600 and 1000 EUR/kWh. For ground-mounted PV with battery storage systems, investment costs for battery storage of 500 to 700 EUR/kWh were assumed. The prices for smaller systems are in part lower, as these are standardized products, whereas larger battery systems tend to be individualized projects that additionally incur costs for project development, project management, and infrastructure. The range of investment costs is smaller for the larger sizes, as there is more competitive pressure.


title: Cost of electricity by source

text: The capital investment costs, fixed and variable costs, and the average capacity factor of utility-scale wind and photovoltaic electricity supplies from 2000 to 2018 have been obtained using overall variable renewable electricity production of the countries in the Middle East and 81 examined projects.


title: Cost of electricity by source

text: for projects starting generating electricity in Turkey from renewable energy in Turkey in July feed-in-tariffs in lira per kWh are: wind and solar 0.32, hydro 0.4, geothermal 0.54, and various rates for different types of biomass: for all these there is also a bonus of 0.08 per kWh if local components are used. Tariffs will apply for 10 years and the local bonus for 5 years. Rates are determined by the presidency, and the scheme replaces the previous USD-denominated feed-in-tariffs for renewable energy.


title: Cost of electricity by source

text: A 2010 study by the Japanese government (pre-Fukushima disaster), called the Energy White Paper, concluded the cost for kilowatt hour was ¥49 for solar, ¥10 to ¥14 for wind, and ¥5 or ¥6 for nuclear power.


title: Cost of electricity by source

text: Masayoshi Son, an advocate for renewable energy, however, has pointed out that the government estimates for nuclear power did not include the costs for reprocessing the fuel or disaster insurance liability. Son estimated that if these costs were included, the cost of nuclear power was about the same as wind power.


title: Cost of electricity by source

text: More recently, the cost of solar in Japan has decreased to between ¥13.1/kWh to ¥21.3/kWh (on average, ¥15.3/kWh, or $0.142/kWh).


title: Cost of electricity by source

text: The cost of a solar PV module make up the largest part of the total investment costs. As per the recent analysis of Solar Power Generation Costs in Japan 2021, module unit prices fell sharply. In 2018, the average price was close to 60,000 yen / kW, but by 2021 it is estimated at 30,000 yen / kW, so cost is reduced by almost half.


title: Cost of electricity by source

text: Since 2010, the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) has published the Annual Energy Outlook (AEO), with yearly LCOE projections for future utility-scale facilities to be commissioned in about five years' time.


title: Cost of electricity by source

text: The following data are from the Energy Information Administration's (EIA) Annual Energy Outlook released in 2020 (AEO2020). They are in dollars per megawatt-hour (2019 USD/MWh). These figures are estimates for plants going into service in 2025, exclusive of tax credits, subsidies, or other incentives. The LCOE below is calculated based on a 30-year recovery period using a real after tax weighted average cost of capital (WACC) of 6.1%. For carbon intensive technologies 3 percentage points are added to the WACC. (This is approximately equivalent to a fee of $15 per metric ton of carbon dioxide .) Federal tax credits and various state and local incentive programs would be expected to reduce some of these LCOE values. For example, EIA expects the federal investment tax credit program to reduce the capacity weighted average LCOE of solar PV built in 2025 by an additional $2.41, to $30.39.


title: Cost of electricity by source

text: The electricity sources which had the most decrease in estimated costs over the period 2010 to 2019 were solar photovoltaic (down 88%), onshore wind (down 71%) and advanced natural gas combined cycle (down 49%).


title: Cost of electricity by source

text: For utility-scale generation put into service in 2040, the EIA estimated in 2015 that there would be further reductions in the constant-dollar cost of concentrated solar power (CSP) (down 18%), solar photovoltaic (down 15%), offshore wind (down 11%), and advanced nuclear (down 7%). The cost of onshore wind was expected to rise slightly (up 2%) by 2040, while natural gas combined cycle electricity was expected to increase 9% to 10% over the period.


title: Cost of electricity by source

text: "Note": Projected LCOE are adjusted for inflation and calculated on constant dollars based on two years prior to the release year of the estimate.Estimates given without any subsidies. Transmission cost for non-dispatchable sources are on average much higher.


title: Big cat

text: The term "big cat" is typically used to refer to any of the five living members of the genus "Panthera", namely the tiger, lion, jaguar, leopard, and snow leopard.


title: Big cat

text: Despite enormous differences in size, various cat species are quite similar in both structure and behaviour, with the exception of the cheetah, which significantly stands out from the other big and small cats. All cats are carnivores and some are efficient apex predators. Their native ranges include the Americas, Africa, and Asia; the leopard's range also extends into Europe, specifically in Russia.


title: Big cat

text: It is estimated that the ancestors of most big cats split away from the Felinae about 6.37 million years ago. The Felinae, on the other hand, comprises mostly small to medium-sized cats, including the domestic cats, but also some larger cats such as the cougar and cheetah.


title: Big cat

text: A 2010 study published in "Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution" has given insight into the exact evolutionary relationships of the big cats. The study reveals that the snow leopard and the tiger are sister species, while the lion, leopard, and jaguar are more closely related to each other. The tiger and snow leopard diverged from the ancestral big cats approximately 3.9 Ma. The tiger then evolved into a unique species towards the end of the Pliocene epoch, approximately 3.2 Ma. The ancestor of the lion, leopard, and jaguar split from other big cats from 4.3–3.8 Ma. Between 3.6–2.5 Ma the jaguar diverged from the ancestor of lions and leopards. Lions and leopards split from one another approximately 2 Ma. The earliest big cat fossil, "Panthera blytheae", dating to 4.1−5.95 MA, was discovered in southwest Tibet.


title: Big cat

text: The ability to roar comes from an elongated and specially adapted larynx and hyoid apparatus. The larynx is attached to the hyoid bone that is hanging from a sequence of bones. This sequence of bones the hyoid hangs from are tympanohyal, stylohyal, epihyal, and ceratohyal; these are located in the mandible and skull. In the larynx there are vocal folds that produce the structure needed to stretch the ligament to a length that creates the roar effect. This tissue is made of a thick collagen and elastic fiber that becomes denser as it approaches the epithelial mucosal lining. When this large pad folds it creates a low natural frequency, causing the cartilage walls of the larynx to vibrate. When it begins to vibrate the sound moves from a high to low air resistance which makes the roaring.


title: Big cat

text: The lion's larynx is longest, giving it the most robust roar. The roar in good conditions can be heard 8 or even 10 km away. All five extant members of the genus "Panthera" contain this elongated hyoid but owing to differences in the larynx the snow leopard cannot roar. Unlike the roaring cats in their family, the snow leopard is distinguished by the lack of a large pad of fibro-elastic tissue that allows for a large vocal fold.


title: Big cat

text: The range of weights exhibited by the species is large. At the bottom, adult snow leopards usually weigh , with an exceptional specimen reaching .


title: Big cat

text: Male and female lions typically weigh and respectively, and male and female tigers and respectively. Exceptionally heavy male lions and tigers have been recorded to exceed in the wilderness, and weigh around in captivity.


title: Big cat

text: The liger, a hybrid of a lion and tiger, can grow to be much larger than its parent species. In particular, a liger called 'Nook' is reported to have weighed over .


title: Big cat

text: An animal sanctuary provides a refuge for animals to live out their natural lives in a protected environment. Usually these animal sanctuaries are the organizations which provide a home to big cats whose private owners are no longer able or willing to care for their big cats. However, use of the word "sanctuary" in an organization's name is by itself no guarantee that it is a true animal sanctuary in the sense of a refuge. To be accepted by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) as a bona fide animal sanctuary and to be eligible for an exemption from the prohibition of interstate movement of big cats under the Captive Wildlife Safety Act (CWSA), organizations must meet the following criteria:


title: Big cat

text: Internationally, a variety of regulations are placed on big cat possession. In Austria, big cats may only be owned in a qualified zoo which is overseen by a zoologist or veterinarian. Requirements must also be met for enclosures, feeding, and training practices. Both Russia and South Africa regulate private ownership of big cats native to each country. Some countries, including Denmark, Thailand and India, prohibit all private ownership of big cats.


title: Big cat

text: The members of the "Panthera" genus are classified as some level of threatened by the IUCN Red List: the lion, leopard and snow leopard are categorized as Vulnerable; the tiger is listed as Endangered; and the jaguar is listed as Near Threatened. Cheetahs are also classified as Vulnerable, and the cougar is of Least Concern. All species currently have populations that are decreasing.


title: Big cat

text: The principal threats to big cats vary by geographic location, but primarily consist of habitat destruction and poaching. In Africa, many big cats are hunted by pastoralists or government 'problem animal control' officers. Certain protected areas exist that shelter large and exceptionally visible populations of African leopards, lions and cheetahs, such as Botswana's Chobe, Kenya's Masai Mara, and Tanzania's Serengeti; outside these conservation areas, hunting poses the dominant threat to large carnivores.


title: Big cat

text: In the United States, 19 states have banned ownership of big cats and other dangerous exotic animals as pets, and the Captive Wildlife Safety Act bans the interstate sale and transportation of these animals. The initial Captive Wildlife Safety Act (CWSA) was signed into law on December 19, 2003. To address problems associated with the increasing trade in certain big cat species, the CWSA regulations were strengthened by a law passed on September 17, 2007. The big cat species addressed in these regulations are the lion, tiger, leopard, snow leopard, clouded leopard, cheetah, jaguar, cougar, and any hybrid of these species (liger, tigon, etc.). Private ownership is not prohibited, but the law makes it illegal to transport, sell, or purchase such animals in interstate or foreign commerce. Although these regulations seem to provide a strong legal framework for controlling the commerce involving big cats, international organizations such as the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) have encouraged the U.S. to further strengthen these laws. The WWF is concerned that weaknesses in the existing U.S. regulations could be unintentionally helping to fuel the black market for tiger parts.


title: Antenna (radio)

text: In radio engineering, an antenna or aerial is the interface between radio waves propagating through space and electric currents moving in metal conductors, used with a transmitter or receiver. In transmission, a radio transmitter supplies an electric current to the antenna's terminals, and the antenna radiates the energy from the current as electromagnetic waves (radio waves). In reception, an antenna intercepts some of the power of a radio wave in order to produce an electric current at its terminals, that is applied to a receiver to be amplified. Antennas are essential components of all radio equipment.


title: Antenna (radio)

text: An antenna is an array of conductors (elements), electrically connected to the receiver or transmitter. Antennas can be designed to transmit and receive radio waves in all horizontal directions equally (omnidirectional antennas), or preferentially in a particular direction (directional, or high-gain, or “beam” antennas). An antenna may include components not connected to the transmitter, parabolic reflectors, horns, or parasitic elements, which serve to direct the radio waves into a beam or other desired radiation pattern. Strong directivity and good efficiency when transmitting are hard to achieve with antennas with dimensions that are much smaller than a half wavelength.


title: Antenna (radio)

text: The first antennas were built in 1888 by German physicist Heinrich Hertz in his pioneering experiments to prove the "existence" of waves predicted by the electromagnetic theory of James Clerk Maxwell. Hertz placed dipole antennas at the focal point of parabolic reflectors for both transmitting and receiving. Starting in 1895, Guglielmo Marconi began development of antennas practical for long-distance, wireless telegraphy, for which he received a Nobel Prize.


title: Antenna (radio)

text: The words "antenna" and "aerial" are used interchangeably. Occasionally the equivalent term “aerial” is used to specifically mean an elevated horizontal wire antenna. The origin of the word "antenna" relative to wireless apparatus is attributed to Italian radio pioneer Guglielmo Marconi. In the summer of 1895, Marconi began testing his wireless system outdoors on his father's estate near Bologna and soon began to experiment with long wire "aerials" suspended from a pole. In Italian a tent pole is known as "l'antenna centrale", and the pole with the wire was simply called "l'antenna". Until then wireless radiating transmitting and receiving elements were known simply as “terminals”. Because of his prominence, Marconi's use of the word "antenna" spread among wireless researchers and enthusiasts, and later to the general public.


title: Antenna (radio)

text: "Antenna" may refer broadly to an entire assembly including support structure, enclosure (if any), etc., in addition to the actual RF current-carrying components. A receiving antenna may include not only the passive metal receiving elements, but also an integrated preamplifier or mixer, especially at and above microwave frequencies.


title: Antenna (radio)

text: Antennas are required by any radio receiver or transmitter to couple its electrical connection to the electromagnetic field. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves which carry signals through the air (or through space) at the speed of light with almost no transmission loss.


title: Antenna (radio)

text: Antennas can be classified as omnidirectional, radiating energy approximately equally in all horizontal directions, or directional, where radio waves are concentrated in some direction(s). A so-called beam antenna is unidirectional, designed for maximum response in the direction of the other station, whereas many other antennas are intended to accommodate stations in various directions but are not truly omnidirectional. Since antennas obey reciprocity the same radiation pattern applies to transmission as well as reception of radio waves. A hypothetical antenna that radiates equally in all "vertical" as well as all horizontal angles is called an isotropic radiator however these cannot exist in practice nor would they be particularly desired. For most terrestrial communications, rather, there is an advantage in "reducing" radiation toward the sky or ground in favor of horizontal direction(s).


title: Antenna (radio)

text: A dipole antenna oriented horizontally sends no energy in the direction of the conductor – this is called the antenna null – but is usable in most other directions. A number of such dipole elements can be combined into an antenna array such as the Yagi-Uda in order to favor a single horizontal direction, thus termed a beam antenna.


title: Antenna (radio)

text: The dipole antenna, which is the basis for most antenna designs, is a balanced component, with equal but opposite voltages and currents applied at its two terminals. The vertical antenna is a "monopole" antenna, not balanced with respect to ground. The ground (or any large conductive surface) plays the role of the second conductor of a dipole. Since monopole antennas rely on a conductive surface, they may be mounted with a "ground plane" to approximate the effect of being mounted on the Earth's surface.


title: Antenna (radio)

text: More complex antennas increase the directivity of the antenna. Additional elements in the antenna structure, which need not be directly connected to the receiver or transmitter, increase its directionality. Antenna "gain" describes the concentration of radiated power into a particular solid angle of space. "Gain" is perhaps an unfortunately chosen term, by comparison with amplifier "gain" which implies a net increase in power. In contrast, for antenna "gain", the power increased in the desired direction is at the expense of power reduced in undesired directions. Unlike amplifiers, antennas are electrically “passive” devices which conserve total power, and there is no increase in total power above that delivered from the power source (the transmitter), only improved distribution of that fixed total.


title: Antenna (radio)

text: A phased array consists of two or more simple antennas which are connected together through an electrical network. This often involves a number of parallel dipole antennas with a certain spacing. Depending on the relative phase introduced by the network, the same combination of dipole antennas can operate as a "broadside array" (directional normal to a line connecting the elements) or as an "end-fire array" (directional along the line connecting the elements). Antenna arrays may employ any basic (omnidirectional or weakly directional) antenna type, such as dipole, loop or slot antennas. These elements are often identical.


title: Antenna (radio)

text: Log-periodic and frequency-independent antennas employ self-similarity in order to be operational over a wide range of bandwidths. The most familiar example is the log-periodic dipole array which can be seen as a number (typically 10 to 20) of connected dipole elements with progressive lengths in an endfire array making it rather directional; it finds use especially as a rooftop antenna for television reception. On the other hand, a Yagi–Uda antenna (or simply "Yagi"), with a somewhat similar appearance, has only one dipole element with an electrical connection; the other parasitic elements interact with the electromagnetic field in order to realize a highly directional antenna but with a narrow bandwidth.


title: Antenna (radio)

text: Even greater directionality can be obtained using "aperture antennas" such as the parabolic reflector or horn antenna. Since high directivity in an antenna depends on it being large compared to the wavelength, highly directional antennas (thus with high antenna gain) become more practical at higher frequencies (UHF and above).


title: Antenna (radio)

text: At low frequencies (such as AM broadcast), arrays of vertical towers are used to achieve directionality and they will occupy large areas of land. For reception, a long Beverage antenna can have significant directivity. For non directional portable use, a short vertical antenna or small loop antenna works well, with the main design challenge being that of impedance matching. With a vertical antenna a "loading coil" at the base of the antenna may be employed to cancel the reactive component of impedance; small loop antennas are tuned with parallel capacitors for this purpose.


title: Antenna (radio)

text: An antenna lead-in is the transmission line, or feed line, which connects the antenna to a transmitter or receiver. The “antenna feed” may refer to all components connecting the antenna to the transmitter or receiver, such as an impedance matching network in addition to the transmission line. In a so-called “aperture antenna”, such as a horn or parabolic dish, the “feed” may also refer to a basic radiating antenna embedded in the entire system of reflecting elements (normally at the focus of the parabolic dish or at the throat of a horn) which could be considered the one active element in that antenna system. A microwave antenna may also be fed directly from a waveguide in place of a (conductive) transmission line.


title: Antenna (radio)

text: An antenna counterpoise, or ground plane, is a structure of conductive material which improves or substitutes for the ground. It may be connected to or insulated from the natural ground. In a monopole antenna, this aids in the function of the natural ground, particularly where variations (or limitations) of the characteristics of the natural ground interfere with its proper function. Such a structure is normally connected to the return connection of an unbalanced transmission line such as the shield of a coaxial cable.


title: Antenna (radio)

text: An electromagnetic wave refractor in some aperture antennas is a component which due to its shape and position functions to selectively delay or advance portions of the electromagnetic wavefront passing through it. The refractor alters the spatial characteristics of the wave on one side relative to the other side. It can, for instance, bring the wave to a focus or alter the wave front in other ways, generally in order to maximize the directivity of the antenna system. This is the radio equivalent of an optical lens.


title: Antenna (radio)

text: An antenna coupling network is a passive network (generally a combination of inductive and capacitive circuit elements) used for impedance matching in between the antenna and the transmitter or receiver. This may be used to minimize losses on the feed line, by reducing transmission line's standing wave ratio, and to present the transmitter or receiver with a standard resistive impedance needed for its optimum operation. The feed point location(s) is selected, and antenna elements electrically similar to tuner components may be incorporated in the antenna structure itself, to improve the match.


title: Antenna (radio)

text: It is a fundamental property of antennas that the electrical characteristics of an antenna described in the next section, such as gain, radiation pattern, impedance, bandwidth, resonant frequency and polarization, are the same whether the antenna is transmitting or receiving. For example, the ""receiving pattern"" (sensitivity as a function of direction) of an antenna when used for reception is identical to the radiation pattern of the antenna when it is "driven" and functions as a radiator. This is a consequence of the reciprocity theorem of electromagnetics. Therefore, in discussions of antenna properties no distinction is usually made between receiving and transmitting terminology, and the antenna can be viewed as either transmitting or receiving, whichever is more convenient.


title: Antenna (radio)

text: A necessary condition for the aforementioned reciprocity property is that the materials in the antenna and transmission medium are linear and reciprocal. "Reciprocal" (or "bilateral") means that the material has the same response to an electric current or magnetic field in one direction, as it has to the field or current in the opposite direction. Most materials used in antennas meet these conditions, but some microwave antennas use high-tech components such as isolators and circulators, made of nonreciprocal materials such as ferrite. These can be used to give the antenna a different behavior on receiving than it has on transmitting, which can be useful in applications like radar.


title: Antenna (radio)

text: The majority of antenna designs are based on the "resonance" principle. This relies on the behaviour of moving electrons, which reflect off surfaces where the dielectric constant changes, in a fashion similar to the way light reflects when optical properties change. In these designs, the reflective surface is created by the end of a conductor, normally a thin metal wire or rod, which in the simplest case has a "feed point" at one end where it is connected to a transmission line. The conductor, or "element", is aligned with the electrical field of the desired signal, normally meaning it is perpendicular to the line from the antenna to the source (or receiver in the case of a broadcast antenna).