Definitions - h

The living place or "home" of a particular organism or biological community.

In return, the landowner is permitted to sell credits to national or international companies or developers, enabling them to satisfy legal requirements compensating for the environmental impacts of their development projects in the region or elsewhere.

Although big in the US, where there is a $3bn market, habitat banking's global reach is nowhere near the size of carbon offsets.

Potential for schemes is particularly high in Central and South America, although concerns remain over monitoring and proving how effective projects really are.

A dust or sandstorm that forms as cold downdraft's from a thunderstorm turbulently lift dust and sand into the air.

Cork isn’t just for wine bottles anymore. Probably the most popular use of cork now is flooring because it provides natural thermal insulation, thus helping to lower energy consumption, and it also has the natural ability to absorb sound and shock. It is a type of flooring that suits most allergy sufferers and is very durable despite its rubbery feel. Did you know there is actually a Cork Oak tree? Well, there is and it’s a pretty cool tree that is responsible for all those wine corks and cork flooring. Cork is harvested by peeling away the bark from the trunk and branches every 9-12 years and does not necessitate the felling of the tree. And, Cork Oak trees do not die when their bark is removed like most trees.

Halogen bulbs are a form of energy efficient lighting that use around 25 per cent less energy than traditional incandescent bulbs.

Like traditional bulbs, Halogen bulbs use a tungsten filament, but they use a halogen gas inside the bulb rather than argon or nitrogen, making the filament last longer.

Around half the size of traditional bulbs, they are most commonly used in fixed ceiling down-lighters.

It is expected that some lower-efficiency Halogen bulbs will be banned alongside incandescent bulbs under upcoming EU regulations, though the sale of higher efficiency models will still be permitted.

Bromine-containing compounds with long atmospheric lifetimes whose breakdown in the stratosphere causes depletion of ozone. Halons are used in firefighting.

A Carbon Tax is a government imposed taxation on source goods and services in an attempt to reduce the production of carbon into the atmosphere.

Usually implemented as a form of 'at source' taxation; i.e. those whom manufacturer or consume the most carbon pay and everybody else on the supply chain picks up the price increase. This is often encountered with a carbon credit scheme, by which carbon producers can 'offset' their taxable carbon emissions against less carbon intense production methods.

As always with such schemes, the devil is in the detail; in particular there has been problems in the past with carbon fraud.

Note: This equally applies to the energy production sector as basic manufacturing; say if coal is being used as a source of electrical power.

An electric vehicle (EV) is a vehicle powered by electricity, offering an alternative to traditional gasoline or diesel-powered cars. EVs are broadly categorized into Battery Electric Vehicles (BEVs), Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles (PHEVs), Fuel Cell Electric Vehicles (FCEVs), and Hybrid Electric Vehicles (HEVs).

Distant lightning that illuminates the sky but is too far away for its thunder to be heard.

Cork isn’t just for wine bottles anymore. Probably the most popular use of cork now is flooring because it provides natural thermal insulation, thus helping to lower energy consumption, and it also has the natural ability to absorb sound and shock. It is a type of flooring that suits most allergy sufferers and is very durable despite its rubbery feel. Did you know there is actually a Cork Oak tree? Well, there is and it’s a pretty cool tree that is responsible for all those wine corks and cork flooring. Cork is harvested by peeling away the bark from the trunk and branches every 9-12 years and does not necessitate the felling of the tree. And, Cork Oak trees do not die when their bark is removed like most trees.

Rewilding is the act of reintroducing species to areas where they previously went extinct. The assumption being that by them being reintroduced it makes the areas more 'wild' and therefore natural compared to what it was previously.

The main uses of hemp fiber are rope, sacking, carpet, nets and webbing. Hemp is also being used in increasing quantities in paper manufacturing. The cellulose content is about 70%.

Rewilding is the act of reintroducing species to areas where they previously went extinct. The assumption being that by them being reintroduced it makes the areas more 'wild' and therefore natural compared to what it was previously.

Heterotrophs are the organisms in an ecology which do not produce their own food. These are all the consumers, regardless of their level.

Climate change is a change in the statistical distribution of weather over periods of time that range from decades to millions of years. It can be a change in the average weather or a change in the distribution of weather events around an average (for example, greater or fewer extreme weather events). Climate change may be limited to a specific region, or may occur across the whole Earth.

In recent usage, especially in the context of environmental policy, climate change usually refers to changes in modern climate. It may be qualified as anthropogenic climate change, more generally known as global warming.

Wikipedia - Climate Change entry

A Home Battery System is a system that is used to time shift cheap electricity to a more expensive time period by the use of a battery.

The atmosphere up to 80 km (50 mi) in which the proportionality of principal gaseous constituents, such as oxygen and nitrogen, is constant.

A "normal" wind turbine design, in which the shaft is parallel to the ground, and the blades are perpendicular to the ground.

A hot water recirculator is basically a pump that is put in at the furthest part of the hot water system in your house, this pump has a return line back to the hot water tank. A thermometer is used to control when the pump goes on, idea is that hotter water is kept in the pipe at all times, so reducing the time it takes for the hot water to 'appear' at the tap or shower head.

This is good for existing installations, but do make sure the pipes are well lagged. For new builds it is often easier to use a smaller bore pipe, so less water rests in the pipe so it draws from the hot water tank quicker. 

The human food chain is the chain of food producers and consumers from the first producer to human consumption.

Humidity is a term for the amount of water vapor in the air, and can refer to any one of several measurements of humidity. Formally, humid air is not "moist air" but a mixture of water vapor and other constituents of air, and humidity is defined in terms of the water content of this mixture, called the Absolute humidity. In everyday usage, it commonly refers to relative humidity, expressed as a percent in weather forecasts and on household humidistat's; it is so called because it measures the current absolute humidity relative to the maximum. Specific humidity is a ratio of the water vapor content of the mixture to the dry air content (on a mass basis). The water vapor content of the mixture can be measured either as mass per volume or as a partial pressure, depending on the usage.

In meteorology, humidity indicates the likelihood of precipitation, dew, or fog. High relative humidity reduces the effectiveness of sweating in cooling the body by reducing the rate of evaporation of moisture from the skin. This effect is calculated in a heat index table, used during summer weather.

The substance which results from decay of plant or animal matter. Biodegradable matters form humus as they decompose.

Energy Generation: A solar electric or photovoltaic system that includes other sources of electricity generation, such as wind or diesel generators.

The process by which the mechanical energy of moving water is transferred by a rotating turbine to a generator, where it is converted to electric energy and conveyed along transmission lines.

The treatment of plant oils or animal fats, primarily with hydrogen gas in a refining process, for the production of synthetic hydrocarbons.

Climate change is a change in the statistical distribution of weather over periods of time that range from decades to millions of years. It can be a change in the average weather or a change in the distribution of weather events around an average (for example, greater or fewer extreme weather events). Climate change may be limited to a specific region, or may occur across the whole Earth.

In recent usage, especially in the context of environmental policy, climate change usually refers to changes in modern climate. It may be qualified as anthropogenic climate change, more generally known as global warming.

Wikipedia - Climate Change entry

Cork isn’t just for wine bottles anymore. Probably the most popular use of cork now is flooring because it provides natural thermal insulation, thus helping to lower energy consumption, and it also has the natural ability to absorb sound and shock. It is a type of flooring that suits most allergy sufferers and is very durable despite its rubbery feel. Did you know there is actually a Cork Oak tree? Well, there is and it’s a pretty cool tree that is responsible for all those wine corks and cork flooring. Cork is harvested by peeling away the bark from the trunk and branches every 9-12 years and does not necessitate the felling of the tree. And, Cork Oak trees do not die when their bark is removed like most trees.

Hydronic flooring heating is where a network of water carrying pipes are embedded into the floor to transfer heat from a heat source (say solar hot water) to the floor - thereby providing a comfortable living environment. The only downside with such systems is that they depend upon the Sun to provide the warmth, this is often out of cycle with the demand for heat - i.e. you need to be warm in the evening and during cloudy days. Thermal mass can help phase shift the heating but you will often require additional back up heating as well.

This is often something which can only be done on a new build as you need to build the pipes into the structure of the floor. An option after build is to use a roof space heat recovery system to transfer the hot air from the roof into the living space by way of a filter and fan set up. The advantage with this is that such a system can also provide cooling air in Winter (as the roof space cools quicker than the living space below at night).

The living place or "home" of a particular organism or biological community.

Cork isn’t just for wine bottles anymore. Probably the most popular use of cork now is flooring because it provides natural thermal insulation, thus helping to lower energy consumption, and it also has the natural ability to absorb sound and shock. It is a type of flooring that suits most allergy sufferers and is very durable despite its rubbery feel. Did you know there is actually a Cork Oak tree? Well, there is and it’s a pretty cool tree that is responsible for all those wine corks and cork flooring. Cork is harvested by peeling away the bark from the trunk and branches every 9-12 years and does not necessitate the felling of the tree. And, Cork Oak trees do not die when their bark is removed like most trees.

Cork isn’t just for wine bottles anymore. Probably the most popular use of cork now is flooring because it provides natural thermal insulation, thus helping to lower energy consumption, and it also has the natural ability to absorb sound and shock. It is a type of flooring that suits most allergy sufferers and is very durable despite its rubbery feel. Did you know there is actually a Cork Oak tree? Well, there is and it’s a pretty cool tree that is responsible for all those wine corks and cork flooring. Cork is harvested by peeling away the bark from the trunk and branches every 9-12 years and does not necessitate the felling of the tree. And, Cork Oak trees do not die when their bark is removed like most trees.