Eco Library

Green Glossary

Eco Wellness Terms

Advanced Framing

Framing techniques that use less lumber, thereby reducing material cost and use of natural resources, and increasing the level of insulation as a result. Also known as Optimum Value Engineering. 

 Air Barrier

A rigid material installed around a building frame to prevent or reduce the infiltration of air into the interior of a structure. To improve energy efficiency by maintaining conditioned air inside the home and improving the efficacy of insulation, an air barrier is installed. Air barriers are not vapor barriers. 

Air Infiltration

Uncontrolled inward air leakage to conditioned spaces through unintentional openings in ceilings, floors and walls from unconditioned spaces or the outdoors. 

Batt Insulation

The most common and widely available type of insulation. It comes in the form of pre-cut blankets or rolls and consists of flexible fibers, most commonly fiberglass, but is also available in cotton. It’s held together with a binder. 

Biomimcry or biomimetics

Is the examination of nature, its models, systems, processes, and elements to emulate or take inspiration from in order to solve human problems. The term biomimicry and biomimetics come from the Greek words bios, meaning life, and mimesis, meaning to imitate.

Biophilia

It is defined as the inherent human inclination to affiliate with the love of nature that incorporates natural materials, natural light, vegetation, nature views and other experiences of the natural world into the modern built environment.

Biophilic Design

is a concept used within the building industry to increase occupant connectivity to the natural environment through the use of direct nature, indirect nature, and space and place conditions. Used at both the building and city-scale, it is argued that this idea has health, environmental, and economic benefits for building occupants and urban environments, with few drawbacks  

Building Envelope

The exterior surface of a building’s construction: the walls, windows, floors, roof and floor. Also called building shell.

Cellulose Insulation

A blown-in insulation material that is a mixture of waste paper and fire retardant. It high in recycled content, has no added formaldehyde and is blown in for easy installation around obstacles in the wall cavity.

Circadian Lighting Rhythm

The effects that light has on circadian rhythm. Most animals and other organisms have “built-in clocks” in their brains that regulate the timing of biological processes and daily behavior. These “clocks” are known as circadian rhythms.

Clean Air Delivery Rate

(CADR) is the performance metric for this standard. It indicates an air filter’s ability to reduce smoke, dust, and pollen particles between the range of 0.10 to 11 micron. As a comparison, a strand of human hair is around 100 microns in diameter.

Circadian Lighting Rhythm

The effects that light has on circadian rhythm. Most animals and other organisms have “built-in clocks” in their brains that regulate the timing of biological processes and daily behavior. These “clocks” are known as circadian rhythms.

Combustion Safety

For health and safety, locate combustion appliances outside of the conditioned envelope or use sealed or direct combustion appliances. Provide carbon-monoxide monitoring. 

Daylighting

The controlled admission of natural light into a space through glazing with the intent of reducing or eliminating electric lighting. Daylighting creates a stimulating and productive environment for building occupants.

Energy Modeling

Process to determine the energy use of a building based on software analysis. Can be used to provide a cost-benefit analysis with upgrades for energy efficiency. 

Engineered Lumber

Composite wood products made from lumber, fiber or veneer, and glue. These products can be environmentally preferable to dimensional lumber, as they allow the use of waste wood and small-diameter trees to produce structural building materials, but can also increase off-gassing into the home. 

Fly Ash

A fine, glass powder recovered from the gases of burning coal during the production of electricity. Fly ash can be used to replace a portion of cement in the concrete, providing some distinct quality advantages. 

Forest Stewardship Council (FSC)

A third-party certification organization, evaluating the sustainability of forest products. FSC-certified wood products have met specific criteria in areas such as forest management, labor conditions and fair trade. 

Formaldehyde

A colorless, pungent and irritating gas. H2C0 is used chiefly as a disinfectant, preservative and in synthesizing other compounds like resins. It is the component of many types of glue in wood products and may cause respiratory problems.

Graywater Reuse

A strategy for reducing wastewater outputs from a building by diverting the graywater into productive uses such as subsurface irrigation, or on-site treatment and use for nonpotable functions such as toilet flushing. Graywater includes water from bathtubs, showers, bathroom wash basins, and water from clothes-washer and laundry tubs. 

Green Building

(also known as green construction or sustainable building) refers to both a structure and the application of processes that are environmentally responsible and resource-efficient throughout a building’s life-cycle: from planning to design, construction, operation, maintenance, renovation, and demolition.

Greenguard

Certification that a product meets emission thresholds for formaldehyde, total aldehydes, total volatile organic compounds (TVOCs), and one-tenth of the threshold limit value (TLV) — a regulatory standard — for many other compounds. The program also assesses emissions of other chemicals of concern. 

Green Label

A certification program by the Carpet and Rug Institute for carpet and adhesives meeting specified criteria for release of volatile compounds. 

Green Seal

A nonprofit that has certified products to an environmental standard since 1992. Green Seal now provides third-party certification for a wide range of products, including paints, adhesives, lamps, chillers, windows, cleaners and occupancy sensors. 

Green Roof

Green roofs maintain living plants in a growing medium on top of a membrane and drainage system. Green roofs are considered a sustainable building strategy in that they have the capacity to reduce stormwater runoff from a site, modulate temperatures in and around the building, have thermal insulating properties, can provide habitat for wildlife and open space for humans, and provide other benefits. 

Greenwashing

considered an unsubstantiated claim to deceive consumers into believing that a company’s products are services are environmentally friendly.

Ground Source Heat Pump

A heat pump that uses the ground temperature instead of air temperature to cool or heat a home. Usually this is accomplished with underground water pipes that transfer the ground temperature into the heat pump. 

Health

It is a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.

 Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC)

General term for the heating, ventilation and air-conditioning system in a building. System efficiency and design impact the overall energy performance of a home and its indoor environmental quality.

Heat Recovery Ventilator

An air-to-air heat exchanger with balanced exhaust and supply fans that is an energy-efficient way to meet necessary ventilation needs without producing drafts or air pressure imbalance on a heating or cooling system. 

HEPA

Stands for High Efficiency Particulate Air, is a designation used to describe filters that are able to trap 99.97 percent of particles that are 0.3 microns.

Indoor Air Quality (IAQ)

The nature of the air inside the space that affects the health and well-being of building occupants. IAQ is heavily influenced by both choice of building materials (and cleaning procedures) and ventilation rates. 

Infill

Developing on empty lots of land within an urban area rather than on new undeveloped land outside the city. Infill development helps prevent urban sprawl and can help with economic revitalization. 

Insulated Concrete Forms (ICF)

This wall structural system provides a strong and well-insulated wall system by using blocks fabricated from rigid insulation to create permanent forms for a poured concrete core.

Kilowatt-hour (kWh)

A measure of energy equal to the amount of power multiplied by the amount of time the power is used. It is most often used to describe amounts of electrical energy. A 100-watt light bulb burning for 10 hours uses one kilowatt-hour of power. 

Load Calculation

A heat-gain-and-loss calculation necessary to properly size the heating and cooling equipment to adequately and efficiently provide comfort and dehumidification for a particular building. Room-by-room load calculations should be performed, taking into account actual insulation levels, windows, building orientation, number of occupants, system location, air tightness, etc. 

Lo-Fab

 is short for locally fabricated, and the program sources materials locally and hires and trains community members to participate in the design and building of their community. Building project needs to invest in the power of a community to find its own solutions.

 Volatile organic compounds

(VOCs) are organic chemicals that have a high vapor pressure at ordinary room temperature. They include both human-made and naturally occurring chemical compounds. Most scents or odors are of VOCs.

Minimum Efficiency Reporting Value (MERV)

A number from 1 to 16 that is relative to an air filter’s efficiency. For the cleanest air, a user should select the highest MERV filter that their unit is capable of forcing air through, based on the limit of the unit’s fan power. 

Mixed-Use Development

A development that includes diverse use types, including elements of housing, retail and office space.

Net Metering

A metering and billing arrangement that allows on-site energy generators to send excess electricity flows to the regional power grid.

Passive-Solar Homes

Homes optimally designed to take advantage of the sun for heating in the winter and are shaded with an overhang, trellis etc. in the summer and swing months. These homes have calculated amounts of thermal mass (concrete, tile, stone etc.) and glass, insulation for the window “collectors,” and their solar features are oriented to the south. A passive-solar home is one in which the building itself is the solar collector and heat-storage system. 

Payback Period

The time estimated for a capital investment to pay for itself, calculated by relating the cost of the investment to the profit it will earn or savings it will incur. 

Performance Contracting

A contracting service that provides customers with a comprehensive set of energy-efficiency, renewable-energy and distributed-generation measures and often comes with guarantees that the savings produced by a project will be sufficient to finance the full cost of the project. 

Pervious Paving

Paving surfaces designed to allow water infiltration and reduce stormwater runoff. 

Photovoltaics (PVs)

Solid-state cells (typically made from silicon) that directly convert sunlight into electricity. 

R-value

A unit of thermal resistance used for comparing insulating values of different materials; the higher the R-value, the greater it’s insulating properties. 

Radiant Barrier

A material (typically an aluminum foil) that is good at blocking the transfer of radiant heat across a space because it has a low emissivity. In a hot climate, it is often installed in attics under the roof decking to keep the attic cooler. 

Radiant Floor Heat

A thermal mass floor with pipes laid underneath to transfer heat generated either by a solar collector or other type of liquid heating system. 

Radon

A colorless, naturally occurring, radioactive, inert gas formed by radioactive decay of radium atoms in soil or rocks. When trapped in buildings, concentrations build up, and can cause health hazards. 

Rainwater Catchment/Harvest

On-site rainwater harvest and storage systems used to offset potable water needs for a building and/or landscape.

Rain Garden (Bioretention)

A landscape feature that incorporates deep porous soils and specially designed plantings to gather, store and treat stormwater. 

Rapidly Renewable Materials

Material that is considered to be an agricultural product that takes 10 years or less to grow or raise and to harvest in an ongoing and sustainable fashion. Examples include bamboo flooring, biocomposite veneers, fiber-based finishes, wool and cotton insulation. 

Recycled Content

The content in a material or product derived from recycled materials versus virgin materials. Recycled content can be materials from recycling programs (post-consumer) or waste materials from the production process of an industrial/agricultural source (post-industrial). 

Retrofit

The replacement, upgrade or improvement of a piece of equipment or structure in an existing building or facility. 

Salvage

Building materials diverted from the waste stream intended for reuse. Commonly salvaged materials include structural beams and posts, flooring, doors, cabinetry, brick and decorative items.

Scientific Certification Systems (SCS)

A third-party assessment body that offers evaluation and certification services to a broad range of manufacturing sectors. Their Eco Product Certifications include: Environmentally Preferable Products, Sustainable Choice, four Indoor Air Quality Certifications and Material Content. 

Seasonal Energy Efficiency Ratio (SEER)

The measure of the energy efficiency for air conditioners and the cooling side of heat pumps. The higher this number, the better, with code being 14 SEER. 

Smart home

Refers to modern homes that have appliances, lighting and/or electronic devices that can be controlled remotely by the owner, often via a mobile app. Smart home-enabled devices can also operate in conjunction with other devices in the home and communicate information to other smart devices.

Solar Electric Systems

Electricity-producing systems that directly convert the sun’s energy into electricity. Photovoltaic systems consist of solar panels, an inverter and controller, and are either off grid or grid tied.

Solar Heat Gain Coefficient (SHGC)

The fraction of solar radiation admitted through a window or screen, both directly transmitted and absorbed, and subsequently released into the living space. 

Solar Thermal Systems

Energy-producing systems that gather the sun’s radiant energy to heat air or water for use as domestic hot water or space heating. 

Spray Foam Insulation

The insulation is applied as a liquid that is sprayed through a nozzle into wall, ceiling and floor cavities, where it expands to fill every nook and cranny. Spray foam insulation makes it easy to completely fill wall cavities with insulation and to perform air sealing in the same step. 

Stormwater Management

To protect the local ecology and hydrology, limit and control stormwater runoff by providing for on-site storage and filtration. Pervious pavement systems, reduced amounts of impervious pavement (concrete, asphalt), rainwater collection, green roofs, rain gardens (bioretention) and constructed wetlands are methods to accomplish this. 

Straw-Bale Construction

Alternative building method using bales of straw for wall systems in place of standard construction materials. 

 Structural Insulated Panel (SIP)

Manufactured panels consisting of a sandwich of polystyrene between two layers of engineered wood paneling. SIPs can be used for walls, roof or flooring, and result in a structure very resistant to air infiltration. 

Thermal Mass

A mass (often stone, tile, concrete or brick) used to store heat and reduce temperature fluctuation in a space by releasing heat slowly over time. Used in passive-solar design. 

Toxicology

It is a scientific discipline, overlapping with biology, chemistry, pharmacology, and medicine, that involves the study of the adverse effects of chemical substances on living organisms and the practice of diagnosing and treating exposures to toxins and toxicants.

Universal Design

The design of products and environments that are usable by all people, regardless of age or physical ability, to the greatest extent possible, without adaptation or specialized design. 

Utopia

community or society that possesses highly desirable or nearly perfect qualities of life for its citizens.

Utopia also focuses on equality in economicsgovernment and justice, though by no means exclusively, with the method and structure of proposed implementation varying based on ideology.

Ventilation

The process by which outside air is conveyed to an indoor space. Energy-efficient homes must be air tight, but to maintain healthy indoor air it is necessary to provide controlled fresh air to the building interior at recommended rates. 

Volatile Organic Compound (VOC)

Carbon compounds that become a gas at normal room temperatures. This class of chemical compounds can cause nausea, tremors, headaches and, some doctors believe, long-lasting harm. VOCs can be emitted by oil-based paints, solvent-based finishes, formaldehyde-laden products and other products on or in construction materials. 

WaterSense

Modeled after Energy Star, the EPA’s new water-efficiency program seeks to educate consumers about water efficiency through an easily identifiable logo. Products include fixtures, faucets, showerheads, irrigation systems and toilets. WaterSense differs from Energy Star in that a product’s conformance to EPA standards must be independently tested before qualifying for the label. 

Well-being

A positive outcome that is meaningful for people and for many sectors of society, because it tells us that people perceive that their lives are going well. Good living conditions (e.g., housing, employment) are fundamental to well-being.

Wellness

It is an active process of becoming aware of and making choices towards a healthy and fulfilling life.  It is more than being free from illness, it is a dynamic process of change and growth. A good or satisfactory condition of existence; a state characterized by health, happiness, and prosperity; welfare.

Wellness home

Taking a holistic approach to wellness, designing homes to improve health, mind and well-being. To do this, we focus on the following 7 areas of wellness: Air, water, health, nourishment, light, fitness, comfort.

Wind Power

Systems that convert air movement into mechanical or electrical energy. Driven by the wind, turbine blades turn a generator or power a mechanical pump. Wind generators include a tower and wind turbine, and can be off-grid or grid-tied. 

Xeriscaping

Landscaping design for conserving water that uses drought-resistant or drought-tolerant plants. 

Sources

(Sourcebook Glossary, http://www.austinenergy.com/Energy Efficiency/Programs/Green 

(1)Building/Sourcebook/sourcebookGlossary.pdf  

(2)CityofSeattle,http://www.cityofseattle.net/dclu/GreenBuilding/OurProgram/Resources/Greenbuildingglossary/default.asp 

(3) 2007 N.C. Sustainable Energy Association’s Tour Book 

 (4) http://www.filterair.info/articles/article.cfm/ArticleID/7AF95A61-EAF8-4C90-BFA98EE04B0DD02B 

 (5) Environmental Building News, “Defining Recycled Content,” December2008,http://www.buildinggreen.com/auth/article.cfm/2008/11/24/Defining-Recycled-Content/ 

6) http://www.universaldesign.org/universaldesign1.htm  

(7) Environmental Building News, “Behind the Logos: Understanding Green Product Certifications,” January 2008, http://www.buildinggreen.com/auth/article.cfm?filename=170101a.xml&printable=yes  

(8 http://www.scscertified.com/ecoproducts/  

(9) http://www.toolbase.org 

(10)http://apps1.eere.energy.gov/consumer/your_home/insulation_airsealing/index.cfm/mytopic=11520

(11)http://www.energystar.gov/ia/partners/spp_res/Introduction_to_Performance_Contracting.pd.