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Change. In other words, CO2 is the

base unit of equivalence or one (for

one metric ton). So over 100 years,

one ton of methane is equal to 34

tons of CO2.

As the earth continues to heat

up, more permafrost, methane clath-

rates under the ocean floors and the

Antarctic Ice Sheet continue to melt,

adding CO2 at an accelerating rate.

Montebello Agreement

(see REACH)

The Security and Prosperity Part-

nership (SPP) also is known as the

Montebello Agreement, so named for

the city in Quebec where the summit

was held. The SPP Web site states

that this is a Bush Administration,

White House-led initiative to increase

security and economic prosperity in

North America. Part of this voluntary

framework is to establish risk char-

acterization by 2012 of over 9,000

chemical substances produced in

the U.S. in quantities over 25,000

pounds per year. By 2020, Canada,

Mexico and the U.S. will “strive to

achieve…inventories of all chemi-

cal substances in c

ommerce.” Many

view the Montebello Agreement as a

North American reaction to REACH,

the European Union’s Registration,

Evaluation, Authorization and Restric-

tion of Chemicals, which went into EU

law last June.

National Resources

Defense Council (NRDC)

A not-for-profit 501(c)(3), the

NRDC is an international environmen-

tal advocacy group based in New York

City. Membership tops more than

1.3 million people, with an operating

budget exceeding $120 million and

employing more than 400 people

including attorneys, policy experts

and scientists. The NRDC policy focus

is on climate change, clean air, clean

water, nuclear proliferation, urban

quality-of-life, habitat preservation

and a host of related sustainable de-

velopment (see Sustainable Develop-

ment) concerns. Robert F. Kennedy,

Jr., is a Senior Attorney at NRDC.

www.nrdc.org

Net Zero Building (NZB)

The National Renewable Energy

Laboratory’s Paul Torcellini, et al, de-

fine a net zero building as “…a build-

ing with greatly reduced energy needs

through efficiency gains such that the

balance of the energy needs can be

supplied by renewable technologies.”

Torcellini, et al point out there is no

commonly understood definition or

understanding of NZB. Factors such as

net-zero site energy, net-zero source

energy, net-zero energy costs and

net-zero energy emissions shape the

evolving definition of this building con-

cept. A working definition of NZB is

building construction designs that pro-

duces zero annual carbon emissions or

nearly zero energy consumption. Net

zero building is also referred to as, net

zero energy building, zero net building

and zero net energy building.

Non-Renewable Energy

Non-renewable energy is an energy

source that cannot renew itself at a

rate commensurate with economic

demands within human lifetimes. Fos-

sil fuels such as petroleum, coal and

natural gas are not renewable as the

timeframe to renew what has been

consumed takes hundreds of millions of

years. Such is the case with petroleum

where plant matter undergoes catagen-

esis on its way to becoming fossil fuels.

Uranium, aluminum, gold and other

elements or compounds extracted from

the earth are also non-renewable. Ura-

nium, a non-renewable fuel for nuclear

power generation, according to OECD’s

Robert Vance, reached its Hubbert

Peak (i.e. peak uranium – similar to

peak oil) in the 1980s.

Oeko-Tex

International Association for Re-

search and Testing in the Field of Tex-

tile Ecology or Oeko-Tex, was estab-

lished in 1993 by the Austrian Textile

Research Institute, the German Ho-

henstein Research Institute and the

Swiss Textile Testing Institute Testex.

Today it has evolved into a group of

14 test institutes throughout Europe

and Japan. Its certification programs,

Oeko-Tex 100, Oeko-Tex 100plus and

Oeko-Tex 1000 focuses on what they

term the four parts of textile ecology:

production, human, performance and

disposal ecology. Verification of Oeko-

Tex 100, 100plus and 1000 submis-

sions are achieved through the ISO

14000 suite of environmental proto-

cols, ISO laboratory testing protocols,

DIN EN, and IEC standards. Oeko-

Tex’s standards also exceed the cur-

rent best practices as defined by the

EU’s REACH (see REACH). The testing

institutes forward their results to the

Oeko-Tex Secretariat, which evaluates

the applications, issues certificates

to passing applications and tests for

compliance during the issued period.

Organic

In textile technology, organic

refers to standards ensuring sustain-

able practices during all phases of

fiber production. Beginning with

every aspe

ct of cultivatio

n under the

National Organic Program (NOP)

guidelines, post-harvest wet pro-

cesses such as dying and bleaching,

textile fabrication, manufacturing of

goods, transportation, worker envi-

ronment, labeling/compliance, pack-

aging, exportation and importation

are comprehensively addressed.

Presently, there are no processing

standards for organic fibers from the

U.S. federal government beyond culti-

vation ending with the consumer.

For standards related to organic

food, please see:

http://www.ams

usda.gov/nop/indexIE.htm.

Oxo-biodegradation

A two-step process that begins

with degradation by oxidation, fol-

lowed by biodegradation.

A variation of this developed for

polymers, such as polyethylene, add

a degradability component during

e material’s manufacturing.

The

ded component allows the

poly-

mer to thermo- (heat), photo- (light)

or hydro- (water) degrade within 90

days in a commercial composting en-

vironment.

It is purported that in non-com-

mercial composting environments,

the biodegradation will take place but

at a much slower rate.

Data

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