Definitions - h

A Passive House is a house designed to use Passive Solar Design principals to drastically reduce its energy demands by making full use of the energy supplied by the Sun, this thereby reduces ecological footprint of the building.

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.

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

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 Passive House is a house designed to use Passive Solar Design principals to drastically reduce its energy demands by making full use of the energy supplied by the Sun, this thereby reduces ecological footprint of the building.

A Passive House is a house designed to use Passive Solar Design principals to drastically reduce its energy demands by making full use of the energy supplied by the Sun, this thereby reduces ecological footprint of the building.

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

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

Manufacturing activities engaged in the conversion of large volumes of raw materials and partially processed materials into products of higher value; hallmarks of this form of industry are considerable capital investment in large machinery, heavy energy consumption, and final products of relatively low value per unit weight (see Light Industry).

A Passive House is a house designed to use Passive Solar Design principals to drastically reduce its energy demands by making full use of the energy supplied by the Sun, this thereby reduces ecological footprint of the building.

A chemical pesticide designed to control or destroy plants, weeds, or grasses.

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

Climategate refers to release/leak/stealing of emails, data and programs related to research into global warming by UEA's Climate Research Unit (CRU); that occurred in 2009 before the Copenhagen Climate Conference (and was therefore probably contributory to its failure). The information obtained was made publicly available for all to see and read through.

It indicates that there good reason to conclude:

• Problems with data retention and archiving;
• Weakly documented data processing both in terms of process and actions undertaken.
• A 'closed ranks' mindset to external criticism and freedom of information
• Close interdependent relationships between a small set of international researchers leading to peer review and career advancement support occurring within the group.

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.

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

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

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.

A Passive House is a house designed to use Passive Solar Design principals to drastically reduce its energy demands by making full use of the energy supplied by the Sun, this thereby reduces ecological footprint of the building.

The science dealing with the properties, distribution, and circulation of water.

A Passive House is a house designed to use Passive Solar Design principals to drastically reduce its energy demands by making full use of the energy supplied by the Sun, this thereby reduces ecological footprint of the building.

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 totality of water encompassing the Earth, comprising all the bodies of water; ice, and water vapor in the atmosphere.

A Passive House is a house designed to use Passive Solar Design principals to drastically reduce its energy demands by making full use of the energy supplied by the Sun, this thereby reduces ecological footprint of the building.