Glossary
Air Quality Testing – Third party testing programs for low emitting products and materials. Testing certifies that chemical and particle emissions meet acceptable Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) pollutant guidelines and standards. Greenguard certification programs and Scientific Certification Systems (SCS) Indoor Advantage program are examples of air quality testing certifications.
CO2 – Carbon Dioxide, a chemical compound composed of one carbon and two oxygen atoms. Carbon dioxide absorbs many infrared wavelengths of the sun's light.
CO2e – CO2 equivalent; the quantity of a given greenhouse gas (GHG) multiplied by its global warming potential. Carbon dioxide equivalents are computed by multiplying the weight of the gas being measured (for example, methane) by its estimated global warming potential (which is 21 for methane). This is the standard unit for comparing the degree of harm that can be caused by emissions of different GHGs.
Cradle-to-Cradle – A design protocol that advocates the elimination of waste by recycling a material or product into a new or similar product at the end of its intended life, rather than disposing of it. At the end of their useful life, all materials become either a biological or technical nutrient.
DfE – Design for Environment, efforts to assess, and through informal design minimize, a product's negative human and environmental health impacts.
Ecosystem – The interacting system of a biological community and its non-living environmental surroundings.
Environmental Impact – Any change to the environment, good or bad, that wholly or partially results from industrial/manufacturing activities, products or services.
EPA – United States Environmental Protection Agency, the Federal regulatory body charges with protecting human health and with safeguarding the natural environment.
GHG – Greenhouse Gas; gaseous components of the atmosphere that contribute to the “greenhouse effect” i.e. absorbs infra red radiation in the atmosphere.
Green Power (a.k.a. Renewable Energy) – Energy derived from natural sources that replenish themselves over short periods of time. These resources include the sun, wind, moving water, organic plant and waste material (biomass), and the earth’s heat (geothermal).
Greenhouse Effect – Atmospheric heating caused by solar radiation being readily transmitted inward through the earth’s atmosphere but long wave radiation less readily transmitted outward, due to absorption by certain gases in the atmosphere.
GREENGUARD® – The GREENGUARD Certification ProgramSM is an independent, third-party testing program for low-emitting products and materials. To qualify for certification, products and materials are regularly tested to ensure that their chemical and particle emissions meet acceptable indoor air quality (IAQ) pollutant guidelines and standards.
GREENGUARD Certification is a voluntary program available to all manufacturers and their suppliers.
Source: www.greenguard.org. Haworth certified products are listed on this site.
GRI – Global Reporting Initiative; a multi-stakeholder process and independent institution whose mission is to develop and disseminate globally applicable Sustainability Reporting Guidelines. These Guidelines are for voluntary use to report on the economic, environmental, and social dimensions of an organization’s activities, products and services.
Source: www.globalreporting.org.
ISO 14001 – The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) specifies the international requirements for an environmental management system.
LEED® – Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design; a certification program administered by the U.S. Green Building Council to recognize leadership in environmental design for commercial and residential construction and renovation.
Source: www.usgbc.org.
MBDC – McDonough Braungart Design Chemistry; environmental consultants that developed the Cradle-to-Cradle protocol to assess human and ecological impacts of chemicals and materials.
Source: www.mbdc.com.
USGBC – U.S. Green Building Council; the nation’s foremost coalition of leaders from across the building industry working to promote buildings that are environmentally responsible and profitable, and healthy places to live and work. The USGBC administers the LEED® Green Building Rating System™.
Source: www.usgbc.org.
VOC – Volatile Organic Compounds; encompass a variety of chemicals, some of which may have short- and long-term adverse health effects. Concentrations of many VOCs are consistently higher indoors (up to ten times) than outdoors because they are found in materials commonly used indoors such as paints, cleaning supplies, building materials and office equipment including copiers, printers, correction fluids and permanent markers.
Source: www.epa.gov.