Building your sustainability vocabulary
When a new field emerges, a new language (or jargon) emerges with it. Knowing the language gives you access to opportunities you might otherwise miss. From time to time, we take a look at some of these words, giving you our interpretation of them.
Sustainability
Leaving the planet in a better condition than we found it – with its environment undamaged and the quality of life of its inhabitants improved.
Factor 10
Reducing use of non-renewable resources by a factor of ten, so that more people can share our quality of life. How can you do what you do now with one tenth of what you use now?
Co-generation
Using the by-products of current processes to generate energy to run the process, selling any excess back to the grid to supply others.
(Originally published in the BCS Update, 2003)
