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Environmental issues glossary

A glossary of words and phrases used in green construction and sustainable development.

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Natural Capital

The renewable and non-renewable resources that enter the production process and satisfy consumption needs, as well as environmental assets that have amenity and productive use, and natural features, such as the ozone layer that are essential for supporting life.

Natural cooling

The use of passive methods; ground cooling, night time radiation loss, cross ventilation and Evaporative cooling, to reduce internal temperatures or improve thermal comfort.

Natural Monopoly

A monopoly where the market can be served most cheaply by a single firm, rather than by a number of competitors. The most notable examples with regard to electricity are transmission and distribution networks.

Natural resource

Naturally occurring substances that are considered valuable in their relatively unmodified form. A commodity is generally considered a natural resource when the primary activities associated with it are extraction and purification, as opposed to creation.

Natural ventilation

Natural air flow through fixed ventilators, doors or operable windows and louvres, due to differences in thermal and pressure gradients.

Negative correlation

Describing a pattern: when two sets of statistics are compared, as one statistic or parameter increases, the other decreases.

Negative impact of cities

Cities can offer great advantages in for example employment and opportunities, but their very size and functions can produce effects not desired. Pollution, overcrowding, and anti-social behaviour are a few of their negative effects.

Net metering

See - Distributed generation

New urbanism

A city planning movement that focuses on revitalising the inner city and reforming the suburbs within an integrated regional structure. New Urbanists strive for a built environment that must be diverse in use and population, must be scaled for pedestrian use without entirely eliminating automobile access, and must have a well defined public realm supported by vernacular architecture.

Night-time ventilation

Passive building strategy of flushing building structures with cool, night-time air to minimise the next day’s cooling load: works best in conjunction with massive building envelopes.

Nitrogen oxides (NOx)

Gases consisting of one molecule of nitrogen and varying numbers of oxygen molecules. Nitrogen oxides are produced in the emissions of vehicle exhausts and from power stations. In the atmosphere, nitrogen oxides can contribute to the formation of photochemical Ozone (smog), can impair visibility, and have health consequences; they are thus considered pollutants.

Non-renewable resource

A resource that is not replaced or only replaced very slowly by natural processes.

Non-use value

The value to humans derived purely from the fact that an environmental or cultural asset exists, even if they never intend to use it or see it in person. It is can be further sub-divided into existence value and bequest value.

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