Green Word A Day » natural resources

Reforestation

admin — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 17:26:12 +0000

Replanting of forests on lands that have recently been harvested.

Bioremediation

admin — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 14:17:13 +0000

The cleanup of a contaminated site using biological methods, i.e., bacteria, fungi, plants, etc.

Organisms are used to either break down contaminants in soil or water, or accumulate the contaminants in their tissue for disposal.

Active solar

admin — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 11:32:49 +0000

A system using mechanical devices such as pumps, fans etc., that transfers collected heat to the storage medium and/or the end-use.

Runoff

admin — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 12:15:43 +0000

The waste water that flows from our gardens, lawns, driveways, and streets into our sewer systems carries various pollutants, including fertilizers and pesticides from our yards that eventually finds its way into our rivers and oceans.

Polylactic Acid (PLA)

admin — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 17:29:23 +0000

A biodegradable, thermoplastic derived from renewable resources, such as corn starch or sugarcanes.

PLA, sometimes referred to as ‘corn plastic’ is used to make biodegradable ‘plastic’ cups and other items.

Daylighting

admin — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 10:33:59 +0000

Letting natural light into a space through glazing with the intent of reducing or eliminating electric lighting, and thereby the energy consumption of a building.

Biodiesel

admin — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 19:04:39 +0000

A cleaner-burning diesel fuel made from natural, renewable sources such as vegetable oils.

Biodiesel is meant to be used in standard diesel engines and is thus distinct from the vegetable oils used to fuel converted diesel engines. Biodiesel can be used alone, or blended with petrodiesel.

Carbon Neutral

admin — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 13:19:14 +0000

Reducing energy use and impact to remove as much carbon dioxide from the environment as we put in.

Further steps to carbon neutrality can also be achieved by use of renewable energy and buying carbon offsets for that which can’t yet be reduced.

Biomimicry

admin — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 18:27:58 +0000

A new discipline that studies nature’s best ideas and then imitates these designs and processes to solve human problems.

FSC

admin — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 18:16:40 +0000

Forest Stewardship Council [FSC] is an international non-profit membership-based organization devoted to encouraging the responsible management of the world’s forests through developing standards.

The FSC provides chain of custody tracking and a certification system.