Vehicle occupation ("Besetzungsgrad")
Number of persons traveling in the vehicle at the same time. When
averaged values are used, non-even numbers are possible - the average
occupation of cars is 1.3 - 1.5 persons.
CO2 equivalent
CO2-Equivalents
are the result of aggregating greenhouse gas
emissions according to their global warming
potential and serve as an indicator for the climate impact.
ECOCLASS
ECOCLASS is short for "ECOlogical and CLimatic ASsessment of product
systemS". It is a software to calculate ecologically and
climatologically relevant emissions of product
systems. Currently, this is limited to urban transport systems.
GEMIS
GEMIS is
short for "Global Model of Emissions of Integrates Systems" ("Globales Emissions-Modell Integrierter Systeme")
and has been developed by the German Öko-Institut e.V.. GEMIS is a database
and offers the possibility to do product life-cycle analyses. The
GEMIS database (version 4.2) covers more than 7000 processes and more
than 1000 materials.
Input
Used to indicate materials and energy types that are necessary for a
process to generate its output. The value shown is the amount of input units (i.e.
pieces, kilograms or Megajoule) necessary to produce one unit of output.
Navigator
Part of the ECOCLASS workbench, where projects and product system
editors are managed. Its function is similar to that of a file manager.
Utilization process
Process that describes the utilization of a vehicle. Together with the
inputs of material and energy, these parameters
define the emissions per kilometer. Each ECOCLASS process chain has
exactly one utilization process.
Ozone
Ozone (O3) is a reactive molecule of oxygen and - when found near
earth's surface (tropospheric ozone) is considered to be a
pollutant which is one of the major components of summer's
smog. In the higher atmosphere, ozone absorbs ultraviolet radiation
from the sun (ozone layer). Ozone is also a (minor) greenhouse gas. Ozone depletion in the higher
atmosphere, causes e.g. by halocarbons, is a global environmental
problem, whereas high tropospheric ozone concentrations are a
local/regional problem with direct impact on human health.
Ozone formation potential
Ozone formation potential in GEMIS is the mass-related equivalent of
forming tropospheric ozone from precursor molecules, which thereby lead
to summer's smog.It is expressed in tropospheric ozone precursor
potential equivalents (TOPP).
Output
Product or Service, which is generated by a process. Each process
generates exactly one unit of output.
Palette
Part of the product system editor where elements to
build product systems are collected, e.g. flows, reference flows, utilization
processes, etc. These elements are activated by dragging &
dropping onto the product system editor.
Person kilometer (Pkm)
Unit in personal transport indicating that one person travels one
kilometer. Vehicle occupation is essential when
comparing to the distance: 4 Pkm can be achieved by a car with four
passengers that drives 1 km. If the car is occupied by only one
person, it is necessary to go 4 km to get the same 4 Pkm. Emissions
are 4 times higher in the second case.
"Personentransport-Dienstleistung"
Translates as "personnel transport service" and is used to
describe the outputs of utilization processes and
the inputs of reference flows. It is directly
taken from the GEM'S database and used there to
indicate quantities that have the unit person kilometer.
Product system
The combination of one or more process chains
within a product system editor. Since each process chain describes the utilization of one
vehicle, this allows to construct ways where several vehicles are
used one after another. The sum of person
kilometers in all reference flows indicates
the total travel distance of one person.
Product system editor (PSE)
Part of the ECOCLASS workbench where product systems are edited. Each PSE contains a product system. All opened PSEs (i.e. those visible
with a tab in the workbench) are considered when emissions are
calculated. Sometimes, a product system editor is also called a model
(e.g. in the Navigator).
Project
Administrative unit for product system editors
(models) in the Navigator. Each product system editor is part of a project, although
product system editors of different projects can
be opened simultaneously and thus be compared in the workbench.
Process
A process combines inputs (upstream products and energy) in a defined
relation to produce one unit of a product (output). There are two kinds of processes in ECOCLASS: utilization
processes allow the user to modify the combination of inputs by
the way the process is utilized, while upstream
processes have a fixed combination of inputs determined by the GEMIS database.
Process chain
A chain of processes representing the
conversion steps of upstream products and
energy into a final product or service. Currently, the final service
in ECOCLASS is always one kilometer distance
traveled by one person using a vehicle that is represented as a utilization process. The upstream processes which produce the inputs of the utilization process, can be displayed and partly
also be altered.
Reference flow
Defines the type and amount of the final product or service produced
by a process chain. In ECOCLASS is always one kilometer distance traveled
by one person using a vehicle that is represented as a utilization process (cf. Person
kilometer).
Sulfur dioxide (SO2)
Sulfur dioxide is an acidifying gas that also irritates the airways
and etches surfaces.
SO2 equivalent
The quantitative expression of the acidification potential related to
the main gas SO2. Among the substances contributing to the SO2 equivalents
are the pollutants NOx, HCl, HF, NH3, and H2S.
Greenhouse gas (GHG)
Greenhouse gases are gaseous emissions that contribute to the
greenhouse effect. These belong to the relevant environmental
indicators and may be aggregated to the global warming
potential. Important GHG are CO2, CH4, N2O as well as SF6, PFC, and HFC
(so called Kyoto gases).
Greenhouse factor
Factor representing the contribution of a greenhouse
gas to the global greenhouse effect. It addresses the differing
impact characteristics of the various GHGs when calculating the global warming potential.
Global warming potential (GWP)
The global warming potential is the mass-related equivalent of the
contribution of a greenhouse gas to the greenhouse effect, relative to
CO2 and thus expressed as CO2 equivalents. Due
to the impact characteristics and the different atmospheric residence
times of the various GHGs, the GWP is calculated as a time integral.
TOPP
TOPP is short for "tropospheric ozone precursor potential",
and a quantitative expression of the tropospheric ozone formation potential. It is calculated from
the relative ozone formation rate of the atmospheric pollutants CO,
NMVOC, NOx, and CH4 (which is also a greenhouse
gas). The higher the amount of tropospheric ozone precursor
equivalents, the greater the possibility for summer's smog.
Acidification potential
Aggregation of acidifying atmospheric pollutants, expressed in
mass-related SO2 equivalents. This is one of the
most important environmental indicators.
upstream process chain, upstream product
The upstream process chain of a process is the process chain which produces the inputs of that process. The upstream process chain
consists of upstream processes, while the intermediate products are
called upstream products.