Sustainable Building Technical Manual - Etn-presco.net

L o u v e r—A series of baffles used to shield a light source from view atcertain angles or to absorb unwanted light. The baffles are usuallyarranged in a geometric pattern.Lumen (lm)—The luminous flux emitted (within a unit solid angleor one steradian) by a point source having a uniform luminousintensity of one candela.Lumen method (daylighting)—A method of estimating the interiorilluminance from window daylighting at three locationswithin a room, based on empirical studies.L u m i n a i r e—A complete electric lighting unit, including housing,lamp, and focusing and/or diffusing elements; informallyreferred to as fixture.L u m i n a n c e—Luminous intensity of a surface in a given direction.Luminous flux—The rate of flow of light, analogous to the rate offlow of a fluid.Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDSs)—OSHA-required documentssupplied by manufacturers of potentially hazardous products.MSDSs contain information regarding potentially significant airbornecontaminants, precautions, steps for inspection, healtheffects, odor description, volatility, expected contaminants fromcombustion, reactivity, and procedures for cleanup.Matte surface—Surface from which the reflection is predominantlydiffuse, with or without a negligible specular component.Mineral fibers—Very fine insulation fibers made from glassy mineralsthat have been melted and spu and are. hazardous toi n h a l e .Mixed air—The mixture of outdoor air and return air in an HVACsystem. When filtered and conditioned, mixed air becomes supplyair.M o n i t o r—A raised section of roof that includes a vertically (or nearvertically)glazed aperture, for the purpose of daylighti l l u m i n a t i o n .Native vegetation—A plant whose presence and survival in a specificregion is not due to human intervention. Certain expertsargue that plants imported to a region by prehistoric peoplesshould be considered native. The term for plants that areimported and then adapt to survive without human cultivationis n a t u r a l i z e d.Natural cooling—Use of environmental phenomena to cool buildings,e.g., natural ventilation, evaporative cooling, and radiativecooling.Nit (nt)—Unit of luminance equal to one candela per square meter.No-build option—In planning and design, a decision that a site isbest used by not building structures or systems on it. Used as ascenario against which the true environmental cost-effectivenessof building concepts can be evaluated.Noise criteria (NC)—Series of curves of octave-band sound pressurelevels from 63 to 8000 Hertz. They are commonly used in theUnited States to rate interior noise levels.Noise reduction (NR)—The simple loss of sound level that occursin passing through a medium. Most often noise reduction refersto a single octave or one-third octave-band noise.Noise reduction coefficient (NRC)—Average of the sound absorptioncoefficient of the four octave bands 250, 500, 1,000, and2,000 Hertz rounded to the nearest 0.05.Non-point-source pollution—Runoff contamination from an overallsite or land use and not discharged from a single pipe, such assediment from construction sites, oils from parking lots, or fertilizersand pesticides washed from farm fields.Obsolete building—A “Building” that for one reason or anotherhas reached the end of its current useful life. (J.A. Tshudy, PartIV, Section C)Octave band—A group of frequencies whose lower boundary isone-half of the upper boundary. In acoustics, the first nineoctave bands are identified by their center frequencies of 31.5,63, 125, 250, 500, 1,000, 2,000, 4,000, and 8,000 Hertz. The 31.5band is also referred to as the band number 0, and 63 Hertz isband number 1.O f f g a s / o u t g a s—A process of evaporation or chemical decompositionthrough which vapors are released from materials.Open-web wood joists—Wood joists built as flat trusses, usingsmall-dimension lumber for web pieces. These are also availablewith stamped steel webs.O r i e n t a t i o n—The relation of a building and its associated fenestrationand interior surfaces to compass direction and, therefore, tothe location of the sun.Oriented strand board (OSB)—A manufactured wood sheet productmade from large flakes of wood pressed together with glue,usually a dry phenolic type. OSB is used for structural sheathingand subfloors.O x i d i z e r—Any agent or process that receives electrons during achemical reaction.Passive solar design—Designing a building’s architectural elementsto collect, store, and distribute solar resources for heating, cooling,and daylighting.P e r l i t e—A lightweight, expanded mineral bead; highly flame-resistantand with good insulating value.Phenolic laminate—A high-pressure laminated sheet made frompaper and phenol formaldehyde resin, commonly used for furnitureand kitchen cabinet surfaces.P h o t o c e l l s—Light-sensing cells used to activate controllers at dawnor dusk.P h o t o m e t e r—An instrument for measuring photometric quantities,such as luminance, luminous intensity, luminous flux, andilluminance .P h o t o v o l t a i c—Generation of electricity from the energy of sunlight,using photocells.P l a s t i c i z e r s—Chemicals added to soft plastics to preserve their flexibility.These agents offgas slowly, eventually rendering the plasticbrittle.Point method—A method of estimating the illuminance at variouslocations in a building, using photometric data.Polyethylene terepthalate (PET)—A polyester plastic used widelyin soft drink bottles.P o l y m e r s—Any molecule chain made up from repeated elements,for example, plastics and adhesives.P o l y p r o p y l e n e—A common flexible plastic usually spun into fiberfor rope and woven goods.Post-consumer recycled material—A reclaimed waste product thathas already served a purpose to a consumer, such as used newspaper,and has been diverted or separated from waste managementsystems for recycling.Powder coating—A durable finishing method for metals using adry, powdered plastic that is heat-fused onto the surface. No solventis required and practically no waste produced.Pre-consumer recycled material—A material that is removed fromsource gathering or production processes (such as scrap, breakage,or returned inventory) and returned to the original manufacturingprocess or an alternative process. Pre-consumerrecycled materials have not yet reached a consumer for theintended use.Pressure dose—A method of pumping wastewater to subsurfaceleaching fields in which soils or slopes are a limiting factor.Typical leach fields operate with gravity.Primary input—A thing or things that represent the key or fundamentalelements that are operated upon by the process and leadto the “Primary output” of the process. For a specific life cycleanalysis, the “Primary inputs” of each process in the life cyclesequence need to be clearly defined in terms of what, when, andwhere. In general, the “Primary input” of one process will be