Definitions - e

This term doesn’t refer to all the spam filling your email box, though those messages do waste plenty of time. E-waste is actually the millions of tons of electronic products, computers, cell phones, and the like that enter the waste stream worldwide each year. As newer, better, cooler gadgets come on the market, the piles of e-waste grow ever higher. Aside from their contribution to landfills, many electronic devices contain hazardous materials, such as mercury; many also contain valuable, reusable materials that can be recycled. There are some simple ways to limit e-waste: Buy quality products that can be upgraded instead of replaced; donate old equipment (to a school for instance); and seek out recycling programs when you’re ready to dispose of an item. Also called electronic waste.

The amount that the earth's revolution deviates from a circular path; the variation of an ellipse from a circle, where a circle has an eccentricity of 0.

Eco-anxiety is a chronic concern over environmental issues. This is not recognized as an official mental disease or dis-order. Rather it is a 'label' given to being overly concerned to the environment and a general feeling of helplessness in how to 'fix' it.

Being concerned about the environment is a good thing; in order to overcome any concerns you may have, we suggest

• Read the articles on this site (its not as bad as some people are painting it)
• Educate yourself on the issues at hand. Having a better understanding and knowledge set will allow you to internally 'rationalize' your concerns and work out how to actually do something effective. Do not be blindly guided by others, keep your own council and point of view.
  

• Minimize environmental impact, across the whole life cycle of the resultant building;
• Maximize the use of recycled or reclaimed materials;
• Minimize the operational costs of the buildings by employing energy efficiency techniques in the building design.

The end result should be a building which is good for the environment and cheap to live in.

Although, with the increased focus on being green in building, quite often regular architects either have direct 'eco' experience or have access to experts or resources to assist them - so do not select on the basis of an architect being eco alone.

Eco Architecture refers to designing buildings with a strong green and environmental element to them; e.g sustainable and minimizing the environmental impact of the final design.

Note: This does not necessarily mean existing buildings cannot be made more 'eco' rather this is focused on taking a new building and designing it from the ground up to be more eco friendly. When building it pays to consider the benefits of reusing an existing structure over knocking down and replacing it.

Being an informed purchaser. Knowing or having an understanding of what effect what you are doing, buying or using has on the environment.

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 very fuzzy 'Eco Marketing' term used to represent the fusion of many disciplines (including education, training, experience, materials availability, and eco inventions); on the premise that we need to tightly merge those disciplines to solely focus on 'improving the environment' in light of climate change. Often used to contrast against more loosely coupled business processes and distinct disciplines as being more 'green'; when often the real motivator is for the Eco Fusion advocate to 'control' more of the purchasing and business process for direct profit; in essence a form of ecofraud.

Mud stencils that create messages made of natural plants such as moss, intended for art and social justice, not advertisement.

Eco Lighting is lighting which is both energy efficient and has a light burden on the environment, i.e. they are easy to recycle and repair.

This is when a business deliberately markets itself as being 'eco' above and beyond the core functions or services of the business; when in actuality the business is not eco at all. This form of ecofraud is done to  firstly pray on peoples tendency to assume anything eco is good; then secondly to utilise people's tendency not to question anything eco to sell on its core functions or services easily to eco minded people.

As we always recommend, make sure you have the real facts at hand (look on this site and use our search engine) and always shop around and do not over prefer the 'eco businesses' - quite a few businesses now are eco minded without feeling the need to promote it.

Travel that entails destinations where natural and cultural heritage are the primary attractions. Typically including environmental awareness aspects of the locale.

An Eco Village is usually a planned development of a set of properties which have a combined low environmental impact. Either implemented by a developer or by a set of individuals. The resultant properties can range from being very traditional to totally unique depending on planning requirements and available resources.

A person actively involved in preventing damage to the environment

An eco-architect is someone in the building design field (architecture) who either has specific training in designing eco-friendly houses, or equivalent accumulative knowledge.

This used to be quite a specialist field, as the methods and techniques employed were only understood by a minority of architects and designers; although now the ability to create eco-friendly houses can be enacted often by a regular architect, designer or drafts person using either specific software applications or following well understood principals of eco-friendly design (such as passive solar). Also the increased focus by local goverments through planning law on green building has made it almost universal that all architects or designers have had some experience with eco-friendly design.

An evaluation of your home or workplace with the aim of cutting your energy and water usage.

An ethically and organically made bag for use instead of plastic carrier bags. 

A bus which uses a combination of diesel and electric power sources.

A product or good that is both eco-friendly and hip.

A textile product using PET (Recyclable plastic bottles) and processed to create fibres to be knitted or woven into the fabric.

having a serious concern for environmental issues: ecocentric management.

Ecodesign is an approach to design of a product with special consideration for the environmental impacts of the product during its whole life cycle. In a life cycle assessment the life cycle of a product is usually divided into procurement, manufacture, use and disposal.

Term introduced (“ecofeminisme”) by Francois d’Eaubonne in the 1974 text Le Feminisme ou la Mort. Dissatisfied with ecological analyses that leave patriarchy out of account, ecofeminists out parallels between how men in the West mistreat women and how they mistreat the Earth: in both cases a relationship of power, control, a will to dominate, and a pervasive fear of of the fact of interdependency. A twist on this is the patriarchal habit of objectifying women while feminizing the environment; women are then seen as less mature or human because "closer to nature."

This term is associated with a business/group or individual who engages in or who presents themselves as being a subscriber to sound science based eco and environmental principals; when in fact they are either:

a) solely being 'Eco' for personal or monetary gain, with little real regard for any eco or environmental principals or,
b) totally misrepresenting, misapplying or distorting sound scientific based eco and environmental principals to add weight to an argument or issue.

The first case is usually very deliberate in intent; whereas with the second case, a person or group can be 'duped' into believing and then promoting an 'eco fact' - when in fact it may have little empirical or scientific basis when the bigger picture (either in time or space) is considered.

This in itself is nothing new, misquoted and misunderstood information abounds in everyday life; but what is concerning is the degree of lack of question and real knowledge share that often occurs when people are confronted with an 'Eco fact'; please demand to be informed. Remember: a decision based on ecofraud info could well be doing longer term harm to our Environment.

Environmentally friendly (eco-friendly and nature friendly) are synonyms used to refer to goods and services considered to inflict minimal harm on the environment.

To make consumers aware, environmentally friendly goods and services are often marked with eco-labels. But because there is no single international standard for this concept, the International Organization for Standardization considers such labels too vague to be meaningful.

See wikipedia.

An Ecohome is a house which has been designed from the ground up to be environmentally friendly whilst at the same time energy efficient.

Usually this requires a custom build  (which can be expensive); although with some careful thinking it is possible to make an existing property more eco friendly whilst preserving the embedded energy incurred when it was built. Too often existing properties are demolished that could have been made 'good' with a bit thought.

A seal of approval (or certification) of a product, process or service complying with a particular set of agreed environmental criteria usually awarded by an impartial third party (certification company).

The ecological dimension describes the relationship between people and the environment and the effect that they have on each other in turn.

The tropicalzone lies between 23.5 degrees north and south of the equator, has small seasonal changes in temperature and large seasonal changes in precipitation.

This is the gradual and orderly process of change in an ecosystem brought about by the progressive replacement of one community by another until a stable climax is established.

Capacity of ecosystems to maintain their essential functions and processes, and retain their biodiversity in full measure over the long-term.

Essentially it refers to the ability of an ecological system to 'keep running' over long time scales, such as centuries or longer.

Ecologically Sustainable Development (ESD) is where development is undertaken in such a way that the needs of the present at met without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.

Alternative spelling of ecology - see ecologie wikipedia entry.

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

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

Chemicals used to control pests and to defoliate cash crops such as cotton.

The portion of the technical potential for GHG emissions reductions or energy-efficiency improvements that could be achieved cost-effectively in the absence of market barriers. The achievement of the economic potential requires additional policies and measures to break down market barriers.

Ecosmart refers to a system or service that has been designed to incorporate 'smarts' into its design to actively manage and reduce its impact on environment. This can be done using a mix of static and dynamic features. 

The "bio-bubble" that contains life on earth, in surface waters, and in the air.

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

Eco-terrorism, also called ecoterrorism or green terrorism, is terrorism committed in support of ecological, environmental, or animal rights causes. The word is a neologism and its application is contested.

See wikipedia.

Carbon is the chemical element with symbol C and atomic number 6. As a member of group 14 on the periodic table, it is nonmetallic and tetravalent—making four electrons available to form covalent chemical bonds. There are three naturally occurring isotopes, with 12C and 13C being stable, while 14C is radioactive, decaying with a half-life of about 5730 years. Carbon is one of the few elements known since antiquity. The name "carbon" comes from Latin language carbo, coal.

See the full entry on wikipedia

See Eco Tourism.

Being poisonous or harmful to plants or animals in some degree.

A correction factor, dependent on the radiational characteristics of the Earth-atmosphere system, that permits application of black body radiation laws to the Earth-atmosphere system

Cap and Trade is a market-based policy tool for protecting human health and the environment.

A cap and trade program first sets an aggressive cap, or maximum limit, on emissions. Sources covered by the program then receive authorizations to emit in the form of emissions allowances, with the total amount of allowances limited by the cap. Each source can design its own compliance strategy to meet the overall reduction requirement, including sale or purchase of allowances, installation of pollution controls, implementation of efficiency measures, among other options. Individual control requirements are not specified under a cap and trade program, but each emissions source must surrender allowances equal to its actual emissions in order to comply. Sources must also completely and accurately measure and report all emissions in a timely manner to guarantee that the overall cap is achieved.

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

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

See definition of e-waste.

All the energy used to grow, extract and manufacture a product including the amount of energy needed to transport it to the job site and complete the installation.

A forest's upper layer, 200 feet above the forest floor, produced by the tallest trees, often with trunks that measure up to 16 feet around. Most of these trees are broad-leaved, hardwood evergreens. It is very sunny at the top and only the strongest and tallest plants reach this level. 

A non-transferable or trade-able allocation of entitlements by a government to an individual firm to emit a specific amount of a substance.

The portion or share of total allowable emissions assigned to a country or group of countries within a framework of maximum total emissions and mandatory allocations of resources or assessments.

Climate Science is the study of the behaviour of the climate using scientific techniques to discover provable processes and actions within the climate and hence be able to:

A limit placed on companies regarding the amount of greenhouse gases (or other polutants) it can emit.

This is a concept often used by policymakers in reference to the problem that emissions abatement achieved in one location may be offset by increased emissions in unregulated locations. Such leakage can arise, for example, in the short term as emissions abaters reduce energy demand or timber supply, influencing world prices for these commodities and increasing the quantity emitted elsewhere; and it can arise in the longer term, for example, as industries relocate to avoid controls.

This is an economic incentive-based alternative to command-and-control regulation. In an emissions trading program, sources of a particular pollutant (most often an air pollutant) are given permits to release a specified number of tons of the pollutant. The government issues only a limited number of permits consistent with the desired level of emissions. The owners of the permits may keep them and release the pollutants, or reduce their emissions and sell the permits. The fact that the permits have value as an item to be sold or traded gives the owner an incentive to reduce their emissions.

Emissions trading or cap and trade is usually a government-mandated, market-based approach to controlling pollution by providing economic incentives for achieving reductions in the emissions of pollutants.

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 rate at which a black body radiates energy across all wave-lengths.

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 survey that shows how much energy used in a home, which helps find ways to use less energy.

Crops grown specifically for their fuel value. These include food crops such as corn and sugarcane and nonfood crops such as poplar trees and switch-grass.

Also known as Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles (PHEVs), plug-in hybrids are similar in design to conventional Hybrids except their battery can be recharged from an external power source such as electric vehicle charging points.

As a result they can travel significant distances, typically 40 miles, using just their electric motor before their internal combustion engine kicks in.

They are being widely touted as a means of cutting carbon emissions and urban air pollution, while improving vehicle fuel efficiency to a level where cars can travel upwards of 250 miles on a single tank of fuel.

A range of new plug-in hybrids are expected to be launched over the next two years, including GM's Chevy Volt and a new version of Toyota's Prius.

Plug in hybrids are expected to be more expensive than conventional cars, however they will result in reduced fuel costs and a number of governments are offering tax breaks to try and increase consumer take up.

Electrical devices or appliances that perform their task, and use less electricity than lower-efficient devices. Electrical inefficiency in many devices is directly related to the heat they produce. For example, energy efficient light bulbs use most of the incoming electrical energy to produce light, not heat.

This refers to the amount of time required for a solar panel to generate the amount of energy it took to manufacture it. Modern PV panels can have an energy payback of 1 to 3 years depending on where they are installed; over a 30+ year life span, a PV system could return 10 to 30 times the energy that went into making it.

Where installing energy-efficient appliances leads to an increase in energy use; because being energy-efficient makes energy cheaper, or makes consumers feel less guilty about using energy.

In an ecosystem, variability among living organisms from all sources, sometimes measured by the total number of species or other taxonomic groupings, and their relative abundances.

The mixing of environmental air into a preexisting air current or cloud so that the environmental air becomes part of the current or cloud.

In an ecosystem, variability among living organisms from all sources, sometimes measured by the total number of species or other taxonomic groupings, and their relative abundances.

A search for moral values and ethical principles in human relations with the natural world.

Where a substance ends up after it is released into the environment. Environmental fate depends on many factors, including transport (e.g., wind, runoff) and transformation processes (e.g., degradation).

Carbon is the chemical element with symbol C and atomic number 6. As a member of group 14 on the periodic table, it is nonmetallic and tetravalent—making four electrons available to form covalent chemical bonds. There are three naturally occurring isotopes, with 12C and 13C being stable, while 14C is radioactive, decaying with a half-life of about 5730 years. Carbon is one of the few elements known since antiquity. The name "carbon" comes from Latin language carbo, coal.

See the full entry on wikipedia

A environmental management system (EMS) is a standard system of business operation that considers all aspects of sustainable business in the day to day running of a business, such as ISO 14001.

A major environmental category that surrounds or contacts humans, animals, plants, and other organisms (e.g. surface water, ground water, soil or air) and through which chemicals or pollutants move.

Environmental Pollution refers to the presence or introduction of known pollutants into an environment that result in a degrading of the environmental biosphere in terms of size, variety and longevity/sustainability.

Racial discrimination takes many insidious forms. This term refers to a situation in which industrial operations, environmental policymaking, and the enforcement (or lack of enforcement) of environmental laws unfairly impact a particular race of people, either intentionally or unintentionally. Examples include the locating of hazardous waste landfills in minority communities, and the exclusion of minorities in environmental policy-making leadership.

Products or services that have a lesser or reduced effect on the environment.

Plants that emerge and bloom during one season, then die back for the remainder of the year. Many spring ephemerals bloom in woodlands, including trillium and ladyslipper.

The steady state response of the climate system (or a climate model) To an imposed radiative forcing.

In an ecosystem, variability among living organisms from all sources, sometimes measured by the total number of species or other taxonomic groupings, and their relative abundances.

To spend the summer in a sleeplike condition of partial or total inactivity.

Ethical investment refers to investment which takes into account all the effects of the investment, both positive and negative to people, the environment and quality of life in general. Such investment aim to therefore be 'ethical' in how they invest, as opposed to other forms of investment by implication which are not ethical.

Note: An ethical investment does not provide a greater power to grow wealth, rather it is a choice taken by the investor in what they are willing to investment in, and hence it is a marketing exercise - the risk and benefits mix is not considered as to whether an investment is 'ethical'.

Shallow, murky bodies of water that have excessive concentrations of plant nutrients causing excessive algal production.

Enrichment of water, which causes excessive growth of aquatic plants and increasing activity of anaerobic microrganisms. As a result the oxygen levels in the water quickly decline and the water chokes, making life impossible for aerobic water organisms.

An evacuated tube is most often encountered in solar hot water heating systems. This is where a glass tube is used, with a good heat conductor placed in the middle of it. All the air is removed from the tube, so that when the Sun light hits the heat conductor no heat is then lost out to the tube itself. This way the maximum amount of heat is caught and sent up the heat conductor to then heat the water passing over at the top of the tube.

The other advantage with this approach is that the tube will be placed to be always inline with the Sun as it move through the sky, i.e. no matter where the Sun is the central conductor will present the same surface area to heat.

Often these heating systems are so efficient, that over temperature valves and safety guards need to be put into the installed system.

Climate Science is the study of the behaviour of the climate using scientific techniques to discover provable processes and actions within the climate and hence be able to:

Plants whose leaf cover remains alive year-round, though individual leaves may die and fall. Includes species, such as Rhododendron, whose leaves go dormant and change color at the end of the growing season, then green up again for the new season. Other evergreens, such as Pinus banksiana (Jack Pine), discard batches of leaves periodically. Evergreens may have needles (pine and spruce, for instance) or "broad" leaves (holly and rhododendron). Perennial plants whose leaves all die at once (and usually fall) at the end of each growing season (i.e. maple trees) are deciduous.

Climate Science is the study of the behaviour of the climate using scientific techniques to discover provable processes and actions within the climate and hence be able to:

This is the process by which low-lying clouds are produced from water evaporation off plants, which take their water from the soil. The clouds so produced can help reflect the sun's rays, causing atmospheric cooling..

Materials used to generate heat in chemical or other processes.

An introduced species, plant or animal that is not native to a geographic area or ecosystem.

The path from sources of pollutants via, soil, water, or food to man and other species or settings.

A cost or benefit not accounted for in the price of goods or services. Often "externality" refers to the cost of pollution and other environmental impacts.

In meteorology, the area north of the Tropic of Cancer and the area south of the Tropic of Capricorn. In other words, the area outside the tropics.

Carbon is the chemical element with symbol C and atomic number 6. As a member of group 14 on the periodic table, it is nonmetallic and tetravalent—making four electrons available to form covalent chemical bonds. There are three naturally occurring isotopes, with 12C and 13C being stable, while 14C is radioactive, decaying with a half-life of about 5730 years. Carbon is one of the few elements known since antiquity. The name "carbon" comes from Latin language carbo, coal.

See the full entry on wikipedia