Sustainability Terms

For those who are new to the concept of sustainability, on this page, you will find a list of unfamiliar “green” terms and their meanings.

• Biofuels – Fuels produced from living organisms or from metabolic by-products (organic or food waste products). In order to be considered a biofuel the fuel must contain over 80 percent renewable materials.



• Biomass - Any organic material made from plants or animals. Domestic biomass resources include agricultural and forestry residues, municipal solid wastes, industrial wastes, and terrestrial and aquatic crops grown solely for energy purposes.



• Bioswale - A shallow depression created in the earth to accept and convey stormwater runoff. A bioswale uses natural means, including vegetation and soil, to treat stormwater by filtering out contaminants being conveyed in the water.



• Blackwater - Wastewater from toilets, urinals, and sinks with garbage disposals.



• Carbon footprint - Measure of the impact our activities have on the environment, and in particular climate change. It relates to the amount of greenhouse gases produced in our day-to-day lives through burning fossil fuels for electricity, heating and transportation etc.



• Carpooling - The sharing of rides in a private vehicle among two or more individuals. It involves the use of one person's private or company vehicle to carry one or more fellow passengers, either by using one car or rotating cars.



• Compact Florescent Lamp (CFL) - A small fluorescent light bulb that uses 75% less energy than a traditional incandescent bulb and can be screwed into a regular light socket.



• Composting - Nature's process of recycling decomposed organic materials into a rich soil known as compost.



• Condensate meter – A more accurate method of measuring steam in buildings by measuring the condensate that forms after the steam condenses before it is pumped back to the boiler.



• Electric meter – An electric meter measures kWh. A kWh is 1000 watts of electricity used for one hour. One 100 watt bulb burning for 10 hours equals one kWh.



• Electronic ballast - A device intended to control the amount of current flowing in an electric circuit.



• Grey water - Any water that has been used in the home, except water from toilets, is called grey water. Dish, shower, sink, and laundry water comprise 50-80% of residential "waste" water. This may be reused for other purposes, especially landscape irrigation.



• Geothermal heat pump - Used for space heating and cooling, as well as water heating. Its great advantage is that it works by concentrating naturally existing heat, rather than by producing heat through combustion of fossil fuels.



• Heat island effect - This phenomenon describes urban and suburban temperatures that are 2 to 10F (1 to 6C) hotter than nearby rural areas. Elevated temperatures can impact communities by increasing peak energy demand, air conditioning costs, air pollution levels, and heat-related illness and mortality.



• Heating/Ventilation/Air Conditioning (HVAC) - Help to control the climate and keep occupants comfortable by regulating the temperature and air flow.



• Hybrid car - Any vehicle that combines two or more sources of power that can directly or indirectly provide propulsion power is a hybrid.



• LEED certification - Encourages and accelerates global adoption of sustainable green building and development practices through the creation and implementation of universally understood and accepted tools and performance criteria.



• Light Emitting Diode (LED) - Tiny light bulbs that fit easily into an electrical circuit. Unlike ordinary incandescent bulbs, they don't have a filament that will burn out, and they don't get especially hot. They are illuminated solely by the movement of electrons in a semiconductor material, and they last just as long as a standard transistor.



• Low-Flow aerator - Installing Low-Flow shower heads and faucet aerators is the single most effective water conservation savings you can do for your home. Inexpensive and simple to install, low-flow shower heads and faucet aerators can reduce your home water consumption as much as 50%, and reduce your energy cost of heating the water also by as much as 50%.



• Metal halide lights - Generate 65-115 lumens per watt, more than incandescent, fluorescent or mercury vapor lamps.



• Metasy building automation system - Incorporates open systems technologies of both the building automation and the information technologies industries. The result is a system that integrates all your building equipment, organizes the information in the most logical way imaginable and delivers it where and when you need it.



• Organic - Grown without the use of pesticides, synthetic fertilizers, sewage sludge, genetically modified organisms, or ionizing radiation. Animals that produce meat, poultry, eggs, and dairy products do not take antibiotics or growth hormones.



• Permaculture - A design system that encompasses both "permanent agriculture" and "permanent culture." It recognizes, first, that all living systems are organized around energy flows. It teaches people to analyze existing energy flows (sun, rain, money, human energy) through such a system (a garden, a household, a business). Then it teaches them to position and interconnect all the elements in the system (whether existing or desired) in beneficial relationship to each other and to those energy flows. When correctly designed such a system will, like a natural ecosystem, become increasingly diverse and self-sustaining.



• Pervious concrete - By capturing stormwater and allowing it to seep into the ground, porous concrete is instrumental in recharging groundwater, reducing stormwater runoff, and meeting U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) stormwater regulations.



• Photovoltaic energy - Sunlight is converted to electricity using photovoltaic or solar cells. Photovoltaic (PV) cells are semiconductor devices, usually made of silicon, which contain no liquids, corrosive chemicals or moving parts. They produce electricity as long as light shines on them, they require little maintenance, do not pollute and they operate silently, making photovoltaic energy the cleanest and safest method of power generation.



• Rain garden - A garden which takes advantage of rainfall and stormwater runoff in its design and plant selection. Usually, it is a small garden which is designed to withstand the extremes of moisture and concentrations of nutrients, particularly Nitrogen and Phosphorus, that are found in stormwater runoff.



• Rainwater harvesting - The collection and storage of rain. Collection is usually from rooftops, and storage in catchment tanks. Stored water can be used for non-potable purposes such as irrigating lawns, washing cars, or flushing toilets.



• Solar Panel - Array of photvoltaic cells that make use of renewable energy from the sun, and are a clean and environmentally sound means of collecting solar energy.



• Sustainability - Meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.



• T-8 florescent light bulb - Save even more energy and produce a higher level of light output than original fluorescent bulbs, which are known as T12 bulbs. The T8 are far more energy efficient and operate on an electronic ballast usually configured to run several variances of T8 lamps.



• Thermal mass - A property that enables building materials to absorb, store, and later release significant amounts of heat.



• Variable frequency drive (VFD) – The most efficient method of part load control, resulting in minimal wasted energy. VFDs accomplish part load control by varying electric motor speed.



• Vermicomposting - Known also as worm compost, vermicast, worm castings, worm humus or worm manure, vermicompost is similar to plain compost, except that it uses worms in addition to microbes and bacteria to turn organic waste into a nutrient-rich fertilizer.



• Volatile Organic Chemicals (VOCs) - Emitted as gases from certain solids or liquids. VOCs include a variety of chemicals, some of which may have short- and long-term adverse health effects. VOCs are emitted by a wide array of products numbering in the thousands. Examples include: paints and lacquers, paint strippers, cleaning supplies, pesticides, building materials and furnishings, office equipment such as copiers and printers, correction fluids and carbonless copy paper, graphics and craft materials including glues and adhesives, permanent markers, and photographic solutions.



• Water meter - A water meter is a device that records the amount of water being used in your home for billing purposes, similar to your gas and electricity metering.



• Wind power – Capturing and converting the wind’s kinetic energy to other forms of energy, such as electricity or mechanical power.



• Zone damper - A valve or plate that stops or regulates the flow of air inside a duct, chimney, VAV box, air handler, or other air handling equipment.

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