Quiz #1
downcyclable
Most common construction materials that are not completely recyclable but rather are downcyclable for lower-value reuse, such as for fill or road subbase.
High performance green building assessment system
1. BREEAM - UK, Canada, Hong Kong 2. LEED - US 3. CASBEE - Japan 4. Green Star - Australia 5. DGNB - Germany
Principles of Sustainable Construction
1. Reduce resource consumption REDUCE 2. Reuse resources REUSE 3. Use recyclable resources RECYCLE 4. Protect nature NATURE 5. Eliminate toxics TOXICS 6. Apply life-cycle costing ECONOMICS 7. Focus on quality QUALITY
Seven elements of eco-efficiency
1. Reducing the material requirements of goods and services 2. Reducing the energy intensity of goods and services 3. Reducing toxic dispersion 4. Enhancing materials recyclability 5. Maximizing sustainable use of renewable resources 6. Extending product durability 7. Increasing the service intensity of goods and services
Sustainable land use
1. agricultural land - greenfields 2. former industrial zones - brownfields 3. blighted urban areas - grayfields
high-performance building projects are now addressing three emerging challenges:
1. the demand for high-efficiency or hyperefficient buildings, 2. consideration of building location to minimize transportation energy, and 3. the challenges of climate change.
Construction Ecology
A subcategory of industrial ecology that applies specifically to the built environment Supports the design and construction of a built environment that: 1. Has a closed-loop materials systems integrated with ecoindustrial and natural systems. 2. Depends solely on renewable energy sources. 3. Fosters the preservation of natural system functions.
Natural Step
A trademarked, science-based framework to help organizations and communities understand and become more sustainable.
Industrial Symbiosis
Industrial symbiosis is the sharing of services, utility, and by-product resources among industries in order to add value, reduce costs and improve the environment. Industrial ecology is a relatively new field that is based on a natural paradigm, claiming that an industrial ecosystem may behave in a similar way to the natural ecosystem wherein everything gets recycled.
environmental amenity.
Such integration can supplant conventional manufactured systems and complex technologies in controlling external building loads, processing waste, absorbing stormwater, growing food, and providing natural beauty, sometimes referred to as environmental amenity.
Factor 10
The goal of being ten times as productive with half the resources (materials and energy), leading to a factor 10 improvement in efficiency.
Factor 4
The goal of being twice as productive with half the resources (materials and energy), leading to a factor 4 improvement in efficiency.
whole-building design
This approach requires that the design team fully collaborate from the project's inception in a process often referred to as integrated design.
Life Cycle Costing (LCC)
a cost/benefit analysis is performed for each year of the building's probable life.
ecological economics
a fundamental requirement of sustainable development that specifically addresses the relationship between human economies and natural ecosystems.
Sustainability
a long-term view that balances economics, equity, and environmental impacts
Charrette
a meeting in which all stakeholders in a project attempt to resolve conflicts and map solutions
Life Cycle Assessment (LCA)
a method for determining the environmental and resource impacts of a material, a product, or even a whole building over its entire life.
Green Design
a practice that integrates environmental considerations into product and process engineering procedures and considers the entire product life cycle
Closed loop
a process of keeping materials in productive use by reuse and recycling rather than disposing of them as waste at the end of the product or building life cycle. P
corporate transparency
complete openness of companies about all financial transactions and all decisions that affect their employees and the communities in which they operate.
Sustainable construction
construction that is deemed to be energy efficient and environmentally friendly also known as green construction
Our Common Future (1987)
defined sustainable development as that which "meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs"
Carrying capacity
focuses on the relationship between land area and human population growth and suggests the point at which the system may break down.
eco-efficiency
includes environmental impacts and costs as a factor in calculating business efficiency.
Integrated Design or Whole-Building Design
is a design process that includes the active and continuing participation of users and community members, code officials, building technolo- gists, contractors, cost consultants, civil engineers, mechanical and electrical engineers, structural engineers, specifications specialists, and consultants from many specialized fields. It is especially important for solving complex design problems such as optimizing the building envelope for heat transfer, daylighting, and noise control. The best buildings result from continual, organized collaboration among all players throughout the building's life cycle.
Ecological Sustainability
is a school of sustainability that focuses on the capacity of ecosystems to maintain their essential functions and processes and retain their biodiversity in full measure over the long term.
Ecological design
is an approach to design that transforms matter and energy- using processes that are compatible and synergistic with nature and that are modeled on natural systems.
Sustainable land use
is based on the principle that land, particularly undeveloped, natural, or agricultural land (greenfields), is a precious finite resource and its development should be minimized.
Biomimicry
is the "conscious imitation of nature's genius," and it suggests that most of what we need to know about energy and materials use has been developed by natural systems over almost 4 billion years of trial and error.
Sustainable development
is the foundational principle underlying various efforts to ensure a decent quality of life for future generations.
Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method (BREEAM)
is the primary building assessment system in the United Kingdom.
Comprehensive Assessment System for Building Environmental Efficiency (CASBEE)
is the primary building assessment system used in Japan.
Biodiversity
is the variety of life in all forms, levels, and combinations, including ecosystem diversity, species diversity, and genetic diversity.
Light pollution
is waste light from buildings and their sites that produces glare, is directed upward to the sky, or is directed off the site, wasting energy and creating navigation problems for some species, such as sea turtles.
Materials intensity per unit service (MIPS)
measures how much service a given product delivers. The higher or greater the service, the lower is the MIPS value. M
LEED
or Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, is an internationally recognized green building certification system developed by the US Green Building Council and administered by the Green Building Certification Institute.
Sixth Extinction
referring to the human species' massive destruction of life and biodiversity on the planet.
ecological footprint
referring to the land area required to support a certain population or activity, could serve as a surrogate measure for total resource consumption, thus allowing a simple comparison of the resource consumption of various lifestyles.
Embodied energy
refers to the total energy consumed in the acquisition and processing of raw materials, including manufacturing, transportation, and final installation.
industrial ecology
studies the physical, chemical, and biological interactions and interrelationships both within and among industrial and ecological systems
concept of NZE
suggests that buildings generate as much energy from renewables as they consume on an annual basis, also supports the goals of the 2030 Challenge.
Building assessment system, building rating systems
system that provides detailed criteria and a grading system for these advanced buildings.
biophilia hypothesis
the concept that humans have an affinity for nature and that they "tend to focus on life and lifelike processes."
ecological rucksack
the material input of a product or service minus the weight of the product itself.
