Glossary
Carbon Calculator- calculates your carbon footprint
Carbon Footprint- A carbon footprint is a measure of the impact human activities have on the environment in terms of the amount of green house gases produced, measured in units of carbon dioxide. It is meant to be useful for individuals and organizations to conceptualize their personal (or organizational) impact in contributing to global warming. A conceptual tool in response to carbon footprints are carbon offsets, or the mitigation of carbon emissions through the development of alternative projects such as solar or wind energy or reforestation. A carbon footprint can be seen as a subset of earlier uses of the concept of ecological footprints.
Environmental Exposure- Within the context of PEIR it is the interaction or subjection to various things present in the environments in which we pass through. These things can be as microscopic as carbon emissions or macroscopic as fast food establishments.
Environmental Impact- Within the context of PEIR it is the contribution individuals make to the environments in which they pass through. A low impact would mean that as an individual passes through various environments he/she makes very little negative impact on those environments, while a high impact would represent just the opposite of this. Walking, for example, would have a much smaller environmental impact than driving a gasoline fueled car.
Emissions- is the release of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere during fuel combustion (i.e. the exhaust from your car).
Emission Factors Model (EMFAC)- This model, developed by the Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG) uses mathematical formulas and collected data to estimate the emissions from different types of vehicles during different times of day and season. The model estimates emissions for everything from light weight vehicles to heavy duty trucks, to exact car make and model, or even vehicles with or without catalytic converters. This model is the foundation of two of the PEIR models: exposure to particulate matter and particulate matter impact.
Facebook- A social networking site that allows users to have a personal profile page which has the capacity to display information like interests, hobbies, contact information, photo albums, video, and music. Additionally, users have the ability to add applications to their profile such as the Personal Environmental Impact Report. Learn more about Facebook by visiting facebook.com
Privacy- your ability to control what data you share with whom, and for how long you share it. The PEIR system strives to give you total control over your data, so you can make your own decisions about discretion and sharing.
Sharing- Giving personal information to trusted third parties. There are different levels of sharing in PEIR. You can choose to share nothing, viewing your data on your own private website. Or you can choose to share aggregate data – your emissions and exposure impact – with people you know using your Facebook network. Finally, you can share your location data with trusted third parties such as processing systems that will help you interpret your data.
Widget- The defining characteristic of a widget is to provide a single interaction point for the direct manipulation of a given kind of data. Widgets are basic visual building blocks which combined in an application hold all the data processed by the application and the available interactions on this data.
*Some definitions have been taken from online sources
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PEIR has been designed for people who want to be more conscious of their personal impact and exposure on the environment. Currently, PEIR is private beta, but if you'd like to be notified when PEIR is open for new user registration, please sign up for e-mail alerts. We'll never spam. Promise.