Envirology

Acidification refers to acid deposition from the atmosphere, mainly in the form of rain. Emissions of SO2 and NOx can result in strong and damaging acids. Although there is currently no evidence of acid rain in New Zealand (MfE 2001), SO2 and NOx emissions are closely monitored and regarded as an important issue in New Zealand.

Building for Environmental and Economic Sustainability, developed by the NIST (National Institute of Standards and Technology) Building and Fire Research Laboratory, http://www.bfrl.nist.gov/oae/software/bees/bees.html

These emissions are also known as non-anthropogenic emissions. They are not caused by human activity (e.g. the emissions from an erupting volcano or geyser).

Bunker fuels are fuels used in international marine transportation.

Downcycling is the recycling of a material into a material of lesser quality. The terms downcycle and downcycling were first used by Reiner Pilz of Pilz GmbH and Thornton Kay of Salvo Llp in 1993, along with the terms upcycle and upcycling. This term was popularized by William McDonough and Michael Braungart in their 2002 book Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things.

Eutrophication occurs when there is an increase in the concentration of nutrients in a body of water or soil, occurring both naturally and as a result of human activity. It may be caused by the run-off of synthetic fertilisers from agricultural land, or by the input of sewage or animal waste. It leads to a reduction in species diversity as well as changes in species composition, often accompanied by massive growth of dominant species. In addition, the increased production of dead biomass may lead to depletion of oxygen in the water or soil since its degradation consumes oxygen. This contributes to changes in species composition and death of organisms.

The functional unit defines the quantification of the identified functions or performance characteristics of the product. The primary purpose of the functional unit is to provide a reference by which, for a building product or service, the material flows (input and output data) of an LCA and the additional information are normalised. Reference to the functional unit is one of the requirements for the comparability of LCA data. The functional unit, used as the denominator, provides the basis for the addition of material flows and environmental impacts for each of the life cycle stages of the building product or service.

Global Warming Potentials (GWP) are calculated as the ratio of the radiative forcing of one kilogramme of greenhouse gas emitted to the atmosphere to that from one kilogramme of carbon dioxide over a period of time (e.g. 100 years).