Oil: A dark-colored liquid fossil fuel found underground. Raw (crude) oil can be refined to produce a variety of different products, such as gasoline, diesel, home heating fuel, asphalt, and chemicals that can be used to make paint, plastics, and many other everyday products.
Natural gas: A fossil fuel that is an odorless, colorless gas. Natural gas consists of 50 to 90 percent methane.
Light-emitting diode (LED): A device that uses a material called a semi-conductor to produce light without using a lot of electricity. LEDs are commonly used as indicator lights on electrical devices, but they are now being used more often for general lighting.
Energy audit: The process of inspecting a home, workplace, or other building in order to find ways to use less energy. For example, people might find places where they can seal cracks around windows to prevent heat from escaping during the winter.
Carbon dioxide equivalent: A unit of measurement that can be used to compare the emissions of various greenhouse gases based on how long they stay in the atmosphere and how much heat they can trap. For example, over a period of 100 years, 1 pound of methane will trap as much heat as 21 pounds of carbon dioxide. Thus, 1 pound of methane is equal to 21 pounds of carbon dioxide equivalents.
Sweatshop-free - describes the absence of manufacturing conditions currently existing in many countries, referred to as “sweatshops”. They are production facilities or factories where goods are produced cheaply by minimizing workers’ salaries, and increasing working hours. Proper environmental health standards are diminished, yet demands for high levels of productivity still remain. These sweatshops may thrive from corporations seeking to increase profits by subcontracting inexpensive labor
Sanctuary – any of several North American composite subshrubs of the genera Artemis or Seriphidium.
Recycled Content – Refers to the percentage of the total weight of recycled materials in a product.
Overturn – cause to overturn from an upright or normal position or cause the downfall of; of rulers.
Oridiniation – logical or comprehensible arrangement of separate elements
Nitrogen Fixation – the assimilation of atmospheric nitrogen by soil bacteria and its release for plant use on the death of the bacteria.
Nitrogen Cycle – the circulation of nitrogen; nitrates from the soil are absorbed by plants which are eaten by animals that die and decay returning the nitrogen back to the soil.
A series of building rating products developed by the United States Green Building Council (USGBC) to provide a standard for what constitutes a green building or high performance building. The various LEED products are used as design guidelines & third-party certification tools, aiming ot improve occupant well-being, environmental performance & economic returns of buildings used to establish & innovative practices, standards & technologies. The collection of LEED products include LEED New Construction (NC) for newly constructed buildings, LEED Commercial Interiors (CI) for tenant build outs, LEED Existing Buildings (EB) for existing building operations & for re-certification of already certified buildings, & LEED Core & Shell (CS). An effort is also underway to develop LEED for Homes.
It’s the Law Stupid: Many companies will advertise or brand their environmental achievements as voluntary or proactive. In reality, they have been forced to comply by mandated environmental regulations.
Indoor Air Quality (IAQ): Acceptable IAQ is air in which there are no known contaminants at harmful concentrations as determined by cognizant authorities & with which a substantial majority (80 percent or more) of the people exposed do not express dissatisfaction.
Halophile: archaebacteria requiring a salt-rich environment for growth and survival.
Fluorocarbon: Non-flammable, heat-stable hydrocarbon liquid or gas, in which some or all hydrogen atoms have been replaced by fluorine atoms. As with CFC’s, fluorocarbons, traditionally used as propellants (spray cans), are classified as ozone-depleting substances.
Energy Star Home: about 20 to 30% more efficient than code.
Dirty Business: Stay away from companies who tout themselves as green when the service or product they offer is inherently bad for the environment.
Cosmopolitan: composed of people from or at home in many parts of the world; especially not provincial in attitudes or interests, growing or occurring in many parts of the world.