Glossary
This page lists some unusual terms found in these pages. They are mostly concerned with solar power and house design.
| Permaculture | Esperanto: daŭrakultivado. French: permaculture (f) ??? |
| System of long-lasting agriculture, of both plants and animals. Permaculture aims at using only the locally-available environment and resources--the earth, water, sunlight, temperature, ground, etc--to support a system of animals and plants that can support humans. It aims at using no non-renewable resources such as oil, because the inflow of such resources must stop at some time. | |
| Thermal energy | Esperanto: termika energio. French: énergie (f) thermique |
| Energy which appears as the movement of atoms or molecules. This energy is sensed as warmth. | |
| Greywater | Esperanto: grizakvo. French: eau (f) gris ??? |
| Wather which carries no human or animal wastes (feces or urine). | |
| Blackwater | Esperanto: nigrakvo. French: eau (f) noir ??? |
| Water which carries human or animal wastes (feces or urine), for example, from a toilet. This water carries microbes from the waste, such as Escherichia coli, which can infect humans. One of the goals of waste systems is to isolate blackwater until it can be purified. | |
| "Earthship" | Esperanto: Terŝipo. French: ??? |
| Commercial name of the original houses which were designed, built, and sold by Michael Reynolds and his people in the USA. Reynolds published books to explain the designs. The Potters built their house according to a modified version of these designs. | |
| Warmth | Esperanto: varmeco. French: chaleur (f) |
| The sense, in the human body and mind, of the motion of atoms and molecules which is caused by thermal energy. | |
| Resource | Esperanto: rimedo. French: ressource (f) |
| A substance or energy in the environment, which cam be used for a goal. Resources are renewable or non-renewable. | |
| Environment | Esperanto: medio. French: environnement (m) |
| The substances, living things, and energies, which surround one. | |
| Renewable | Esperanto: rekreskebla. French: ??? |
Something that can reappear or be replenished in the environment. Typically, renewable resources are created by plants, animals, or the cycles of the environment. In ecosystems, renewable resources are used, the waste of this use are, after other steps, used in the re-creation of the original resource. Every step of this cycle requires energy. Renewable resources can be created at different rates, according to the speed of the system that creates them. If a renewable resource is created much more slowly than it is used, it is effectively non-renewable from the viewopoint of the user, even if it is being created slowly. An example of a renewable resource is wood. |
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| Non-renewable | Esperanto: nerekreskebla. French: ??? |
Something that cannot be replenished or recreated in the environment. An example is oil in today's industrial system. |
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| Ecosystem | Esperanto: ekosistemo. French: ??? |
A group of animals and plants living beside each other, and mutually supporting each other. Each life form eats another and serves as food for yet another. No ecosystem is truly independent. Every system requires substances or energy from outside: the whole ecosystem of the earth requires sunlight; the majority of the smaller ecosystems on the earth require sunlight, water, air, and minerals from the ground. Even at the floor of the ocean, the ecosystems that don't require sunlight need the chemical energy in the hot water that comes from the sea floor. |
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