Yeang K., Woo L. Dictionary of Ecodesign: An Illustrated Reference

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 India: LEED India; Terri GRIHA (Green Rating

for Integrated Habitat Assessment)

 Italy: Protocollo Itaca

 Japan: Comprehensive Assessment System

for Building Environmental Efﬁciency (CASBEE)

 Mexico: LEED Mexico

 Netherlands: Building Research Establishment

Environmental Assessment Method (BREEAM)

Netherlands

 New Zealand: Green Star NZ

 Portugal: Lider A

 Singapore: Building Construction Authority

Green Mark Scheme

 South Africa: Green Star SA

 Spain: VERDE

 United Arab Emirates: Emirates Green Building

Council

 United Kingdom: BREEAM

 USA: LEED; Living Building Challenge; Green

Globes

See also:

Building Research Establishment

Environmental Assessment Method (BREEAM); Green

Globes; Leadership in Energy and Environmental

Design (LEED)

Green certiﬁcates Also known as green tags,

renewable energy certiﬁcates, or tradable renew-

able certiﬁcates. Represent the environmental

value of power produced from renewable resour-

ces. Generally, one certiﬁcate represents gen-

eration of 1 megawatt hour of electricity. It is a

tradable commodity, certifying that certain elec-

tricity is generated using renewable energy sources

(including biomass, geothermal, solar, wave, and

wind). The certiﬁcates can be traded separately

from the energy produced. Several countries use

green certiﬁcates as a way to bring green elec-

tricity generation closer to the market economy.

National trading in green certiﬁcates are cur-

rently being used in Poland, Sweden, the UK,

Italy, Belgium, and some US states. By separating

the environmental value from the power value,

clean power generators are able to sell the

electricity they produce to power providers at a

competitive market value. The additional revenue

generated by the sale of green certiﬁcates covers

the above-market costs associated with producing

power made from renewable energy sources.

Green design See:

Ecodesign

Green façade External wall that results in energy

savings by permitting permeability to light, heat,

and air to be controllable and capable of mod-

iﬁcation so the building can react to changing

local climatic conditions. Variables include solar

screening, glare protection, temporary thermal

protection, and adjustable natural ventilation

options. It must be multifunctional.

Green Globes The Canadian environmental

assessment and rating system, researched and

developed by a wide range of international

organizations and experts. The genesis of the

system was the Building Research Establishment

Environmental Assessment Method (BREEAM),

which was brought to Canada in 1996 in coop-

eration with the company ECD Energy and

Environment. Since that time, Canada has con-

tinued to reﬁne and expand its assessment

methods and standards. Green Globes is also

used in the USA, where it is managed through

the Green Building Initiative. See also:

Building

Research Establishment Environmental Assess-

ment Method (BREEAM); Green Building Initiative;

Green building rating systems

Green manure Cut or still growing green vege-

tation that is plowed into the soil to increase

organic matter and humus available to support

crop growth.

Green power A popular term for energy pro-

duced from clean, renewable energy resources.

Green pricing A practice used by some regu-

lated utilities, in which electricity produced

108 Green certiﬁcates

from clean, renewable resources is sold at a higher

cost than that produced from fossil fuel or

nuclear power plants. It is based on the premise

that some buyers are willing to pay a premium

for clean power.

Green Revolution Refers primarily to genetic

improvement of crop varieties and the major

production increases in cereal grain that resul-

ted in many developing countries from the late

1960s. The term was ﬁrst used in 1968 by

former USAID director William Gaud, who

noted the spread of the new technologies and

said, “These and other developments in the ﬁeld

of agriculture contain the makings of a new

revolution.” Beginning in the mid-1940s, research

in crop genetics, funded by the Rockefeller

Foundation, Ford Foundation, and other agen-

cies, resulted in a worldwide change in agri-

culture and a sizeable increase in agricultural

production. Plant geneticist Norman Borlaug

was instrumental in helping to develop disease-

resistant wheat varieties, which improved yields

in Mexico and helped avert famine in India and

Pakistan. Dr Borlaug was awarded the 1970

Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts. Signiﬁcant

improvements were also made in corn and rice

production. By 1992 the research network inclu-

ded 18 centers, mostly in developing countries,

staffed by scientists from around the world, sup-

ported by a consortium of foundations, national

governments, and international agencies.

Recent research responds to criticism that the

Green Revolution depends on fertilizers, irriga-

tion, and other factors that poor farmers cannot

afford and that may be ecologically harmful;

and that it promotes monoculture and loss of

genetic diversity. While production yields have

improved substantially in less-developed coun-

tries to meet the needs of growing populations,

there have been adverse effects on the environ-

ment. Organizations such as the International

Food Policy Research Institute have monitored

the progress of increased crop yields. It notes

that yields are not increasing as they have in the

past, and there is still not enough food for an

ever-growing world population. Intensive farm-

ing has caused soil degradation and erosion;

and has increased the use of pesticides such as

DDT and dieldrin, which do not break down in

the environment, instead accumulating in the

food chain and spreading throughout ecosys-

tems. Pesticides are toxic when inhaled by farm

workers and contaminate water through runoff.

In addition, the creation of a monoculture of

crops decreases the biodiversity of ecosystems;

water depletion becomes a problem; and

monocrops may be susceptible to new patho-

gens that have the potential to wipe out genetic

traits that were indigenous to those crops.

Green roof Also known as a rooftop garden.

An alternative to traditional rooﬁng materials,

green roofs reduce rooftop and building tem-

peratures, ﬁlter pollution, decrease pressure on

sewer systems, and reduce the heat island effect.

The aim is to achieve a self-sustaining plant

community. Installation of an extensive green

roof consists of a waterproof, root-safe mem-

brane covered by a drainage system, a light-

weight growing medium, a soil layer of 6 inches

(15 cm) or less, and plants that require no irri-

gation system (such as turf, grass, and other

ground cover).

Green roofs may be either intensive or exten-

sive (see Figure 30). See also:

Extensive green

roof; Intensive green roof

Green tags See: Green certiﬁcates

Green wall system See: Breathing wall

Greenﬁeld site Site that has not previously

been used as a site for a built structure. See

also:

Brownﬁeld site

Greenhouse effect The trapping and build-up

of heat in the troposphere, the lower part of the

Greenhouse effect 109

atmosphere. Some of the heat ﬂowing away

from the Earth and back toward space is absorbed

by water vapor, carbon dioxide (CO

), ozone,

and several other gases in the atmosphere. The

downward-directed heat emitted by these gases is

known as the greenhouse effect. The absorbed

heat is re-radiated back toward the Earth’s sur-

face and trapped. Re-radiation of some of this

energy keeps surface temperatures higher than

would occur if the gases were absent. If the

atmospheric concentrations of these greenhouse

gases rise, the average temperature of the lower

atmosphere will gradually increase. Atmospheric

concentrations of greenhouse gases are affected

by the total amount of greenhouse gases emitted

to, and removed from, the atmosphere around

the world over time. Figure 31 shows a break-

down of global greenhouse gas emissions by

each gas.

Figure 32 shows data on the major global

sources of CO

emissions by country, from the

beginning of the Industrial Revolution to 2002.

The World Resources Institute’s Climate Ana-

lysis Indicators Tool (CAIT) provides existing

greenhouse gas data on global emissions by

year, country, source, and greenhouse gas. In

addition, the Intergovernmental Panel on Cli-

mate Change synthesizes existing scientiﬁc data

on global ﬂuxes of greenhouse gas emissions

and removals in its assessment reports. These

reports provide global data by gas and by type

of emission pathway, such as general type of

source or sink, and include both human and

natural emissions.

Figure 33 shows a projection of future green-

house gas emissions of developed and devel-

oping countries. Total emissions from the

developing world are expected to exceed those

from the developed world by 2015.

See also:

Global warming; Greenhouse gases

Greenhouse gases Gases that trap heat in the

lower atmosphere (troposphere). Some green-

house gases, such as carbon dioxide (CO

) and

water vapor, occur naturally and are emitted to

the atmosphere through natural processes and

human activities. The principal greenhouse gases

that enter the atmosphere solely through human

activities are CO

, methane (CH

), nitrous oxide

O), and ﬂuorinated gases. Other human

Figure 30 Example of roof-edge greening details

110 Greenhouse gases

Figure 32 Global CO

emissions 1751–2002

Source: Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center

Figure 31 Global greenhouse gas emissions 2000

Source: US Environmental Protection Agency

activities that add to greenhouse gas levels

include use of fossil fuels, deforestation, live-

stock and paddy rice farming, changes in land

use and wetlands, landﬁll emissions, pipeline

losses, use of chloroﬂuorocarbons (CFCs) in

refrigeration, ﬁre suppression and manufacturing,

and use of fertilizers. Gases such as water vapor,

,CH

O, ozone, hydroﬂuorocarbons,

perﬂuorocarbons, and sulfur hexaﬂuoride are

transparent to solar, short-wave radiation but

opaque to long-wave infrared radiation, thus

preventing long-wave radiant energy from leav-

ing the Earth’s atmosphere. The net effect is

trapping of absorbed radiation and a tendency

to warm the planet’s surface.

Greenhouse gas score Reﬂects the vehicle

exhaust emissions of carbon dioxide. The score

is from 0 to 10, where 10 is best. The score is

determined by analyzing the vehicle’s estimated

fuel economy and its fuel type. The lower the

fuel economy, the more carbon dioxide (CO

)is

emitted as a by-product of combustion. The

amount of CO

emitted per liter or gallon

burned varies by fuel type, as each type of fuel

contains a different amount of carbon per gallon

or liter.

Gray water Wastewater produced from baths

and showers, clothes washers, lavatories, and

dishwashing. The primary method of gray water

irrigation is through subsurface distribution. The

use of gray water for irrigation requires separate

black water and gray water waste lines in the

house (see Figure 34). See also:

Black water

Grid-connected system Solar electric or pho-

tovoltaic (PV) system in which the PV array

becomes a distributed generating plant, supply-

ing power to the grid. A grid-connected system

Figure 33 USEPA’s global anthropogenic emissions of non CO

Source: SGM Energy Modeling Forum EMF-21 Projections, Energy Journal Special

112 Greenhouse gas score

provides power for a home or small business with

renewable energy during those periods—diurnal

as well as seasonal—when the Sun is shining,

the water is running, or the wind is blowing.

Any excess electricity produced is fed back into

the grid. When renewable resources are una-

vailable, electricity from the grid can supply the

consumer’s needs.

Ground cover Material over the surface of soil to

prevent erosion and leaching of the soil. Mate-

rial may be organic humus, plants, or synthetic

biodegradable sheets.

Ground-level ozone Ozone (O

) occurs in two

layers of the atmosphere. The layer closest to

the Earth’s surface is the troposphere. Here,

ground-level or “bad” ozone is an air pollutant

that is harmful to breathe, and damages crops,

trees, and other vegetation. It is a main ingre-

dient of urban smog. The troposphere generally

extends to a level about 6 miles (9.7 km) up,

where it meets the second layer, the stratosphere.

The stratosphere or “good” ozone layer extends

upward from about 6 to 30 miles (9.7–48 km)

and protects life on Earth from the Sun’s harmful

ultraviolet rays. See also:

Ozone

Ground loop In geothermal (ground-source)

heat pump systems, a series of ﬂuid-ﬁlled

plastic pipes buried in the shallow ground, or

placed in a body of water, near a building.

The ﬂuid within the pipes is used to transfer

heat between the building and the shallow

ground (or water) in order to heat and cool

the building. See also:

Ground-source heat

pump

Ground reﬂection Solar radiation reﬂected from

the ground onto a solar collector.

Ground-source heat Using the natural heat of

the ground as the energy source for heat pumps.

Ground-source heat pump (GSHP) Also called

a geothermal heat pump or geo-exchange system.

A heat pump in which the refrigerant exchanges

heat (in a heat exchanger) with a ﬂuid circulating

through an earth connection medium (ground

or groundwater). The ﬂuid is contained in a

variety of loop (pipe) conﬁgurations depending

on the temperature of the ground, and the

available ground area. Loops may be installed

horizontally or vertically in the ground or sub-

mersed in a body of water. Higher efﬁciencies

are achieved with geothermal (ground-source

or water-source) heat pumps, which transfer

heat between the house and the ground or a

nearby water source. Although they cost more

to install, geothermal heat pumps have low

operating costs because they take advantage of

relatively constant ground or water tempera-

tures. However, the installation depends on the

size of the building lot, the subsoil, and land-

scape. Ground-source or water-source heat

pumps can be used in more extreme climatic

Figure 34 An integrated gray water reuse system

Ground-source heat pump (GSHP) 113

conditions than air-source heat pumps, and

customer satisfaction with the systems is very

high. For example, based on results to date, the

US Department of Energy estimates savings of

as much as 20–40% of the energy consumption

at each site that is retroﬁtted. See also:

Air-source

heat pump

Groundwater Subsurface water that occurs

beneath the water table in soils and geological

formations that are fully saturated.

GSHP See:

Ground-source heat pump

GWP See: Global warming potential

114 Groundwater

Habitat Biotic environment for an organism or

community of organisms. The environment

includes food, water, space, and shelter. The

environment must remain relatively stable for the

existing biodiversity of organisms and species to

be maintained. Changes in habitat environment

may cause disruptions to the ecobalance.

Habitat conservation plans Agreements in

which a federal or state governmental conserva-

tion agency allows private property owners to

harvest resources or develop land as long as the

natural habitat is conserved or replaced to beneﬁt

endangered or threatened species. Most agree-

ments have an allowance for incidental loss of

endangered species.

Habitat patch Areas (habitats) with high local

variability in shape and pattern, which can accom-

modate many species of organism. If the patches

decrease in size or are separated by distance, spe-

cies abundance and composition also decrease.

Halocarbons Compounds containing chlorine,

bromine, or ﬂuorine and carbon. These com-

pounds can act as powerful greenhouse gases in

the atmosphere. The chlorine- and bromine-

containing halocarbons also contribute to

depletion of the ozone layer.

Halogens Compounds that contain atoms of

chlorine, bromine, or ﬂuorine.

Halon Toxic chemical. Compound consisting

of bromine, ﬂuorine, and carbon. Halons are

used as ﬁre extinguishing agents. By federal

regulation, halon production in the USA ended

on December 31, 1993 because they contribute

to ozone depletion. They cause ozone depletion

because they contain bromine. Bromine is

many times more effective at destroying ozone

than chlorine. See also:

Toxic chemicals

HAP See: Hazardous air pollutant

Hardwoods Deciduous, slow-growing trees,

used for ﬂooring and furniture because of their

durability. Typically, hardwoods take from 25 to

80 years to grow to harvestable maturity. They

include ash, cherry, elm, hickory, maple, poplar,

oak, and teak. Because hardwoods grow at such

a slow rate, their depletion dramatically chan-

ges the ecosystem of forested areas. Alternatives

for ﬂooring and furniture include bamboo,

which grows very quickly and is easily replen-

ished; and the faster-growing softwoods. See

also:

Bamboo; Deciduous; Softwoods

Harvested rainwater Rainwater captured and

stored in a cistern or other container, and used

for irrigating plants (see Figure 35).

Hazardous air pollutant (HAP) Chemical that

causes adverse health and environmental

problems. Health effects may include birth

defects, nervous system problems, and death.

HAPs are released by sources such as chemi-

cal plants, dry cleaners, printing plants, and

motor vehicles. See also:

Air pollutants; Toxic

chemicals

Hazardous material Chemical or product that

affects human health and/or the environment

adversely. Characteristics of hazardous materials

are toxicity, corrosivity, ignitability, and explo-

sivity. See also:

Air pollutants; Soil contaminants;

Water pollutants

Hazardous waste Waste with properties that

make it dangerous or potentially harmful to

human health or the environment. These wastes

may be liquids, solids, contained gases, or

sludges. They can be by-products of manu-

facturing processes, or discarded commercial

products such as cleaning ﬂuids or pesticides.

Four characteristics of hazardous waste are:

ignitability, corrosivity, reactivity, and toxicity.

Ignitable wastes can create ﬁres, are sponta-

neously combustible, or have a ﬂash point less

than 60 °C (140 °F). Corrosive wastes are acids

or bases that corrode metal containers. Reactive

wastes are unstable and can cause explosions,

toxic fumes, gases or vapors when heated,

compressed, or mixed with water. Toxic wastes

are harmful or fatal when ingested or absorbed.

USEPA has also developed a list of more than

500 speciﬁc hazardous wastes. Hazardous

waste may be solid, semi-solid, or liquid. See

also:

Toxic waste

HDD Heating degree day See: Degree day

HDPE See: High-density polyethylene

Heat Form of energy resulting from combus-

tion, chemical reaction, friction, or movement

of electricity.

Heat-absorbing window glass A type of

window glass that contains special tints that

allow the window to absorb as much as 45% of

incoming solar energy, to reduce heat gain in

an interior space. Part of the absorbed heat will

continue to be passed through the window by

conduction and re-radiation.

Heat balance Thermal energy output from a

system that equals thermal energy input.

Heat engine A device that produces mechan-

ical energy directly from two heat reservoirs of

Figure 35 A combined solar collection and rainwater collection system

116 Hazardous material

different temperatures. A machine that converts

thermal energy to mechanical energy, such as a

steam engine or turbine.

Heat exchanger A device that transfers heat

from one material to another. Usually con-

structed to transfer heat from a ﬂuid (liquid or

gas) to another ﬂuid where the two are physi-

cally separated. In phase-change heat exchan-

gers, heat transfers to or from a solid to a ﬂuid.