Hot Links
More than half of all electricity consumers in the U.S. have the option of purchasing some kind of green power product from their electricity provider. Find out how you can buy green power by visiting the Department of Energy.
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
Professional membership association for licensed architects, emerging professionals, and allied partners serving as the voice of the architecture profession and the resource for its members in service to society. The AIA is committed to the goal of reaching at least a 60 percent carbon emission reduction by 2010 and carbon neutral buildings by 2030.Institute that oversees the creation, promulgation and use of thousands of norms and guidelines that directly impact businesses in nearly every sector including construction equipment. ANSI is also actively engaged in accrediting programs that assess conformance to standards.
An international set on advancing heating, ventilation, air conditioning and refrigeration and promoting sustainability through research, standards writing, publishing and continuing education.Wastewater generated by toilets, kitchen sinks, and dishwashers. Some may include showers as well.
Idle facilities where expansion or redevelopment is made difficult by environmental contamination.
Increasingly being incorporated into new domestic and industrial buildings as a principal or ancillary source of electrical power. One of the fastest growing segments of the photovoltaic industry.
The SI unit of luminous intensity.
Ozone-depleting constituent of the most widely used HVAC refrigerants.
Any of a variety of designed systems that approximate natural wetlands, use aquatic plants, and can be used to treat wastewater or runoff.
Crushed, waste glass that is returned for recycling.Using natural light in many different ways to illuminate a building. By using various design methods such as south facing windows and skylights, natural light reduces the demand for electricity.The total area of the building footprint, hardscape, access roads, and parking.
Durable goods leaving the project building, site and organization that have fully depreciated and reached the end of their useful lives for normal business operations. This includes leased durable goods returned to their owner at the end of their useful lives for normal business operations.
A measure of a filter's collection efficiency for fine particles.Leads the nation's environmental science, research, education and assessment efforts. Their mission is to protect human health and the environment.Supplying a total air volume of 14,000 cubic feet of outdoor air per square foot of floor area while maintaining an internal temperature of at least 60ºF and, where mechanical cooling is operated, relative humidity no higher than 60%.
An ash residue created from the combustion processes. A non-toxic fly ash is created in some electrical plants that can be a substitute for Portland Cement.A method of measuring total occupant hours in a building.
A technology that utilizes free subsurface temperatures to heat or cool buildings via water or any heat-transferring liquid.
Green building environmental certification program that brings consumers together with certified building practitioners who have proven knowledge about green building techniques and approaches and elevates standards of practitioners and organizations with regard to energy efficiency and sustainable design.
Provides a third-party project certification and professional credentials recognizing excellence in green building performance and practice based upon the LEED rating systems.
A not for profit organization who foccuses on accelerating the adoption of building practices that result in energy-efficient, healthier and environmentally sustainable buildings by promoting credible and practical green building approaches for residential and commercial construction. Developers of Green Globes.A green building guidance and assessment program that offers an effective, practical, and affordable way to advance the overall environmental performance and sustainability of commercial buildings.
A site thatis not previously developed or graded and remains in a natural state.
Wastewater that doesn't contain contaminates and can then be reused for irrigation after filtration.
Thermal gradient difference between developed and undeveloped area. Dark surfaces and lack of shade/vegitation increases the temperature in those areas.
Mechanical devices used to capture waste heat from another system to replace the heat that would otherwise come from a primary energy source.
Alternative refrigerant type that has reduced ozone-depleting effects.
Alternative refrigerant with no ozone-depleting effects but some tradeoffs.
The content of interior air that could affect health and comfort of building occupants.
Includes IAQ, thermal comfort, daylighting, acoustics etc.
Chiller efficiency including part-load operation for a given duty cycle.
Distinguishes building professionals with the knowledge and skills to successfully steward the LEED certification process. More than 75,000 people have earned the credential since the Professional Accreditation program was launched in 2001.
An internationally recognized green building certification system, providing third-party verification that a building or community was designed and built using strategies aimed at improving performance across all the sustainable metrics. It provides building owners and operators a concise framework for identifying and implementing practical and measurable green building design, construction, operations and maintenance solutions.
Detailed measurements during the manufacturing of a product, from the mining of the raw materials used in its production and distribution, through to its use, possible re-use or recycling, and its eventual disposal.
OSHA-required documents supplied by manufacturers of potentially hazardous products. MSDSs contain information regarding potentially significant airborne contaminants, precautions, steps for inspection, health effects, odor description, volatility, expected contaminants from combustion, reactivity, and procedures for cleanup.
Trade association that helps promote housing policies. Developers of the National Green Building Standard for residential building.
Emission of fumes into the air; these emissions are often caused by building materials that contain certain chemicals.Rating of a gaseous substance's ability to destroy stratospheric ozone.
Material diverted from the waste stream during the manufacturing process.Water that is suitable for drinking and is supplied from wells or municipal water systems.
Waste material generated by households or by commercial, industrial and institutional facilities in their role as end-users of the product, which can no longer be used for its intended purpose.
The ratio of reflected light flux to incident light flux.
When gases and vapors are absorbed onto surfaces such as carpet, drywall, etc., and can later be re-emitted.Arrays made from semiconductor materials that convert sunlight directly into electricity.
A measure of the constructed surface's ability to reflect solar heat, as shown by a small temperature rise. It is defined so that a standard black surface (reflectance 0.05, emmitance 0.90) is 0 and a standard white surface (reflectance 0.80, emmitance 0.90) is 100.
A south-facing wall built of stone, concrete, or adobe that is covered on the outside with glazing a few inches away. Sunlightpassing through the glass is transformed into heat at the wall's surface, which either migrates into the building interior or is convected to other interior spaces.
An estimate of the environmental costs (raw materials, energy pollution, solid waste, etc.) associated with a unit of a material, such as a ton of steel or a cubic yard of concrete.
Non-profit organization dedicated to sustainable building design and construction. Developers of the LEED building rating system.
Toxic chemical compounds that have high enough vapor pressures at room temperature to significantly vaporize and enter the atmosphere harming the ozone. Common artificial VOCs include paint thinners, dry cleaning solvents, and some constituents of petroleum fuels.
Collection of both runoff and rainwater for productive purposes, such as irrigation or fountains.
A new landscaping design that accounts for water and energy efficiency and requires less maintenance by utilizing effective planning, profficient maintenance, foliage conservation, efficient irrigation processes, and soil improvement.