Lets talk green

Following are a number of green terms that will give you further understanding of what it means to "go green".

Biomass - plant material such as trees, grasses and crops that can be converted to heat energy to produce electricity.

carbon footprint - a measure of the your impact on the environment in terms of the amount of greenhouse gases produced - measured in units of carbon dioxide (CO2e).

Carbon neutral - a company, person or action either not producing any carbon emissions or if it does have been offsett elsewhere.

CO2e - (Carbon Dioxide Equivalence) is a quantity that describes, for a given Greenhouse Gas, the amount of CO2 that would have the same global warming potential, when measured over a specified timescale (usually, 100yrs).

Carbon sink - carbon dioxide is naturally absorbed by things such as oceans, forests and peat bogs. These are called carbon sinks.

Climate change - a change in temperature and weather patterns due to human activity like burning fossil fuels.

Energy efficiency - ways and technology that can reduce the amount of electricity or fuel used to do the same work. Such as keeping a house warm using less energy.

Energy saving lightbulbs - lightbulbs which use far less energy than conventional bulbs.

Fossil fuel - coal, oil and natural gas. A fuel that’s been made by the decomposition of fossilised plants and animals.

Geothermal energy - heat that comes from the earth.

Global warming - an increase in the average temperature of the earth, attributed to the burning of fossil fuels.

Greywater - waste water that does not contain sewage or fecal contamination, and can be reused for irrigation after filtration.

Life cycle assessment - methodology developed to assess a product’s full environmental costs, from raw material to final disposal.

Non-renewable resources - Resources that are in limited supply, such as oil, coal, and natural gas.

Offsetting - the process of reducing carbon emissions by ‘offsetting’ it. An example is by taking a flight and in compensation paying a company to plant trees to equal the carbon use out

Post consumer waste - waste collected after the consumer has used and disposed of it.

Recycling - the process of collecting, sorting, and reprocessing old material into usable raw materials.

Reduce - not using or buying products in the forst place so less waste, less recycling and less reusing.

Renewable energy - alternative energy sources such as wind power or solar energy that can keep producing energy indefinitely without being used up.

Renewable resources - Like renewable energy, resources such as wind, sunlight and trees that regenerate. See Non-renewable resources.

Reuse - before throwing away or recycling, a product that can be reused until its time to recycle.

Solar energy - energy from the sun.

Solar heating - heat from the sun is absorbed by collectors and transferred by pumps or fans to a storage unit for later use or to the house interior directly. Controls regulating the operation are needed. Or the heat can be transferred to water pumps for hot water.

Windpower - energy derived from the wind.

* majority of meanings were sourced from "life googles - green reviews, news and interviews".