Planning Department
SECAP: Library
Glossary of Sustainability Terms:
Adaptation:
Adaptation refers to adjustments in natural or human systems to reduce vulnerability to climate change and global warming.
Baseline:
The first year a greenhouse gas inventory is completed; a calculated level of emissions against which future inventories can be compared.
Composting:
A process by which organic materials such as yard waste, grass, tree trimmings, fruit, and sometimes meat products and sewage sludge are converted to fertilizer through controlled decomposition.
Density:
The number of people within one unit of land, often expressed in the number of dwelling units per acre.
Greywater or Gray Water: Greywater is wastewater generated from domestic activities such as laundry, dishwashing, and bathing which can be recycled on-site for uses such as landscape irrigation, and constructed wetlands.
Light-emitting Diode (LED):
LEDs are a semi-conductor light source that use less energy and have a longer life than incandescent light bulbs.
Land use:
The manner in which a parcel of land is used or occupied.
Metric Ton:
A metric ton is slightly smaller than a short ton, equal to about 1.1 short tons of 2205 pounds.
Mixed-use:
Development that includes a mix of uses in one area within close proximity, such as residential, commercial, and/or business.
Open space:
Open space includes land that is used for recreation, farm land, and land that is not developed.
Transit-oriented development (TOD):
The development of housing, commercial space, services and job opportunities in close proximity to public transit nodes.
Transportation demand management (TDM):
Transportation demand management or travel demand management (both TDM) is the application of strategies and policies to reduce travel demand (specifically that of single-occupancy private vehicles), or to redistribute this demand in space or in time.
Renewable Energy:
Energy from non-fossil fuel sources like solar, wind, tidal, and biogas.
Zoning:
Zoning is a device of land use regulation used by local governments in most developed countries. The word is derived from the practice of designating permitted uses of land based on mapped zones which separate one set of land uses from another.
The City’s action to reduce GHG emissions from municipal operations and the community.
Greenhouse gases are gases in the atmosphere that absorb and emit radiation within the thermal infrared range. (Source: Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenhouse_gas)
Requires the California Air Resources Board (CARB) to develop regulations to reduce California’s greenhouse gas emissions by 25 percent by 2020.
Requires the California Air Resources Board (CARB) to develop regional greenhouse gas emission reduction targets to be achieved from the automobile and light truck sectors for 2020 and 2035.
A Climate Action Plan (CAP) is a city planning document that identifies ways in which the community and city can reduce greenhouse gas emissions.