Pearl Building Rating System - Estidama

Groundwater The water that occurs below the surface of the earth where it occupies spaces in
soils or geological strata.
Habitat A place in which a particular plant or animal lives. Often used in the wider sense
referring to major assemblages of plants and animals found together.
Habitat creation The establishment of an ecosystem on land that did not previously support that
ecosystem, or on severely altered sites.
Hazardous
material/waste
A material that can cause harm to people, other living organisms or the
environment.
Heat rejection The removal of heat from a system, commonly water based.
Heating,
Ventilation and Air
Conditioning
(HVAC) system
High-frequency
electronic ballast
The equipment, distribution systems and terminals that provide heating,
ventilating or air conditioning to a building or portion of a building.
A ballast that operates at a frequency greater than 20 kHz and typically around
30kHz.
Illuminance The total luminous flux incident on a surface, per unit area.
Incandescent lamp A lamp in which light is produced by a filament heated to incandescence by an
electric current.
Indoor
Environmental
Quality (IEQ)
The quality of the internal environment in relation to airborne contaminants,
thermal comfort, lighting, acoustics etc.
Infiltration - air The uncontrolled leakage of air through cracks and gaps in any building element
and around windows and doors of a building. Infiltration is caused by pressure
differences across these elements due to wind, inside and outside temperature
differences and imbalance between supply and exhaust air systems.
Infiltration - water The downward movement of water through soil.
Infiltration rate –
water
The rate of water entry into the soil expressed as a depth of water per unit of
time (mm/hour).
Infrared radiation The energy in the region of the electromagnetic radiation spectrum at
wavelengths longer than those of visible light but shorter than those of radio
waves.
Key Performance
Indicator (KPI)
An indicator set in a key area to measure performance.
Landscaping The planting, configuration and maintenance of trees, ground cover, shrubbery,
decorative natural and structural features (walls, fences, hedges, trellises,
fountains, sculptures), earth patterning and bedding materials, and other similar
site improvements that serve an aesthetic or functional purpose.
Legionnaires
disease
Life Cycle Cost
(LCC) analysis
A respiratory disease caused by inhaling Legionella bacteria either in the form of
contaminated water droplets (aerosols) or in droplet nuclei (after water has
evaporated). Fatal in approximately 12% of reported cases.
An analysis of building impacts covering the consecutive and interlinked stages of
a constructed building, from raw material acquisition to the final disposal.
Life span The length of time an object, material or organism is expected to survive.
Light pollution The adverse effect of artificial light, including sky glow, glare, light trespass, light
clutter, decreased visibility at night and energy waste.
Pearl Building Rating System: Design & Construction, Version 1.0, April 2010 213 of 223