GREENWASHING

Here’s a list of some key green terms to know and understand.

Alternative Energy: Energy derived from nontraditional sources (e.g., compressed natural gas, solar, hydroelectric, or wind).

Carbon Footprint: Carbon footprint refers to the overall carbon emissions created by a building, including its construction and operation.

Carbon Neutral: A claim made by some companies and developers to describe a building or product whose net carbon emissions are zero. This is very difficult to achieve and truly possible only if something doesn’t emit any carbon at all or soaks up as much as it emits.

Carbon Offsets: Carbon offsets allow people to pay money to fund a forestry project, renewable energy project, or research into renewable energy technology in order to offset their carbon emissions.

Fossil Fuels: Fuels including coal, natural gas, and oil that are used to generate electricity.

Going Green: Going green can relate to numerous parts of a person’s everyday life. From transportation choices to a home’s design features, going green can mean different things to different people, but its core theme embraces the idea of taking steps to reduce one’s overall impact on the environment. This can occur through reducing energy usage, recycling, utilizing public transportation, buying products locally, or designing or remodeling a home so that it is more energy efficient.

Greenwashing: Greenwashing is the practice of making an unsubstantiated or misleading claim about the environmental benefits of a product, service, technology, or company practice. Essentially, selling something as green when it’s not, i.e., “Come check out our eco-friendly gas station!” Another example is a homeowner/REALTOR® referring to his or her home/listing with a few green features as a “green home.”

Green Enhancements: Green enhancements are changes and improvements made to a home that make it more environmentally friendly.

Photovoltaic (PV) Panels: Panels that can be fitted to a roof or a post in the ground, which convert visible light into direct current (DC). Once connected to the power grid, they can provide no-cost solar energy for decades. While the up-front costs of PV systems are still high, federal, state, and local incentives and rebates, as well as drastically reduced energy prices, help the systems pay for themselves more quickly.

Sustainability: The World Commission on Environment and Development defines sustainability as “Meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs.” In reference to a building or business, it’s an approach that evaluates environmental, social, and financial factors equally.

Volatile Organic Compound (VOC): VOCs are organic chemical compounds that are emitted as gases from certain solids or liquids. They can have short- and long-term adverse health effects. In the home, VOCs are often found in paint, cleaning supplies, building materials, and furnishings.

Zero Energy Home: A zero energy home (ZEH) combines state-of-the-art, energy-efficient construction and appliances with commercially available renewable energy systems, such as solar water heating and solar electricity. The result is a home that produces its own energy—as much as or more than it needs. Alternate definition: Zero net energy homes use energy-efficient construction, equipment, lighting, and appliances with renewable energy systems to return or create as much energy as they take from local electric utilities on an annual basis, by using windmills, solar panels, or generators.

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