E
E
Earth Resources Technology Satellite
See: ERTS.
Ecological audits
European Community ecological audit (environment audit), i.e. decree (EEC) No. 1836/93 from June 29, 1993 pertaining to voluntary participation of businesses in a joint environmental management system and environmental auditing procedures. The goal is creating a system for evaluation and continual improvement of company environmental protection and suitable forms of informing the public.
Ecological balance
The fragile balance in the relationship between the animate and inanimate environments. It is subject to a particular dynamism and has an uncertain outcome.
Ecological balance sheet
Methods of ecological balance observation to record the impact on the environment caused by manufacturing a product. This takes into account the entire process, from acquiring the raw materials to manufacturing the finished product. An ecological balance sheet contains entries pertaining to consumption of raw materials, energy consumption, pollution of air and water due to emitted pollutants and the solid wastes created.
Ecological cell
Small ecological reservoir with relatively untouched flora and fauna within man-made landscapes, e.g. boundary ridges, fallows and hedges.
Ecological niche
Term for the specific environmental conditions to which a species is adapted within an ecosystem and in which this species is an integral part of the ecology. If an ecological niche is vacated, then it will usually be inhabited by other organisms.
Ecological reserve
The variation range in the biological balance, which represents a buffer or compensation possibility.
Ecology
Biology: analyses the relationship between living organisms and their animate and inanimate environment, primarily concerned with various different biotopes and microbiota and analyzing the life functions in their natural surroundings or on location.
Economic injury level
Damage limit that exists if the damage expected to be caused by a harmful element is equal in cost to the defence against this element, i.e. damage is felt economically only if it exceeds the costs for combating the damage. Making use of the economic injury level is an important characteristic of integrated pest management. The economic injury level of parasites, diseases and weeds are only known for very few agricultural and gardening cultures.
Ecosystem
Ecological term that comprises biotope and the accompanying biocoenosis.
EIA
See: Environmental impact assessment.
EINECS
Abbreviation for European Inventory of Existing Chemical Substances. Index, published by the EC Commission, of approx. 98,000 substances used commercially in the European Community before 18.09.1981. The so-called old substances listed in EINECS do not need to be tested or registered in the member states. For a large number of these substances, there are already findings, in particular toxicological data.
Electrostatic cleaning
A method of removing suspended particles from gases by means of electrostatic fields.
Emission measurements
For the qualitative and quantitative determination of Emissions. They are not only important for obtaining an overview of various types of emissions, but also for monitoring production in the various facilities. The measuring instruments, e.g. which continuously check the waste gas concentrations in the air above a factory and report any deviations to a central office, are state of the art (e.g. incorporating laser technology).
Emissions
Gaseous, liquid or solid substances entering the atmosphere from a facility or a technical process; noise, vibrations, light beams, heat and radioactivity, and also liquid and solid substances that do not enter the atmosphere but other ecological systems. Emissions from a causative source result in pollution (See: Immission) in the adjacent environment which decreases with increasing distance.
Emitter
The cause of Emissions.
Emulsifiers
Surface-active substances for emulsifying fats and oil in water.
Emulsion
System of two immiscible liquids, in which one liquid (the dispersed phase) is finely distributed in another (disperser or dispersing medium) in the form of tiny droplets (disperse system). Milk is the most common example of an emulsion. Washing is an emulsion process in which fat and dirt are emulsified in water by the detergent and can then be rinsed out. Everyday emulsions include cosmetic creams.
Endothermic process
Chemical processes requiring the input of heat.
Energy
The ability of a system to perform work. According to the law of conservation of energy, there is a fixed relationship - termed energy equivalent - between interconvertible forms of energy.
Like raw materials, energy is also at the heart of discussions on environmental issues. It is often overlooked that, according to the conservation law, energy can neither be created nor destroyed. It can only be converted from one form into another. In addition to the energy sources comprising crude oil, natural gas, coal, water power and nuclear power, there are increasing discussions today on alternative energy sources, i.e. environmentally friendly or "mild" energy, which also includes the use of renewable energy (meaning energy which can be recycled to a certain extent following dissipation of primary energy). Among the most environmentally friendly energy sources are tidal, wind, geothermal and solar, all constituting non-fossil and non-nuclear primary energy sources: bioenergy, geothermal power stations, tidal power plants, solar energy systems, heat pumps, heat recovery, wind turbines.
Entrained dust
This term is used to describe the dust transported by gases emitted from power stations or heaters for example. See: Filter.
Environment
The inanimate and animate surroundings affecting an organism, to which it adapts within the capacity of its inherited form, function and behavioral characteristics.
Environmental analysis
All analytical methods used for objective determination of all types of environmental pollution.
Environmental chemicals
Substances that are added to the environment by human activity and can exist in quantities or concentrations that could endanger living organisms. These include chemical compounds of organic or inorganic nature, from synthetic or natural sources. The human activity can be directly or indirectly related and can be intended or unintended.
Environmental crime
Comprehensive term that describes criminal offenses against the environment which are punishable with fines and imprisonment and which are entered in the criminal records. The punishments for these crimes were originally contained in the individual environmental protection acts and were transferred into the German penal code in 1980.
Environmental economy
Economics that includes environmentally relevant parameters in theories, analyses, and cost accounting.
Environmental factors
The biotic and abiotic factors that have an impact on an organism.
Environmental forum
German committee founded to connect people interested in environmental issues; first meeting in November 1973 in Bonn.
Environmental hygiene
Environmental hygiene comprises hygiene of the air, water, sewage, waste products, body maintenance, clothing, home and workplace. It researches the influence of the environment on illnesses and epidemics (parasitology, bacteriology and virology).
Environmental impact assessment
Abbreviation: EIA. The environmental impact assessment is an administrative guideline, and since 1990 in Germany it has to be carried out for a number of investment projects (e.g. industrial plants, waste disposal plants, transport projects, etc.) based on the EC EIA Directive and the EIA act. It requires early and comprehensive determination, description and assessment of the impact that projects could have on the environment. The environmental impact assessment provides better information pertaining to the environmental impact and therefore paves the way for better preparation of administrative decisions.
Environmental law
Term for all legal measures for effective, unified environmental protection. The German Constitution includes no provisions for environmental protection; the Federal, state and communal governments are held accountable for comprehensive legal protection of the environment. It is difficult to obtain an overview due to the confusing and fragmented nature of the present environmental protection laws. The relevant regulations are contained in volumes of laws, decrees and administrative guidelines that are in part not easily accessible. Furthermore, the regulations include certain laws such as those pertaining to emission protection or water protection which differ from one another or are different from state to state.
Environmental planning
All planning activities involved in having a direct impact on the environment, especially in order to lessen or prevent harmful effects of human activities.
Environmental planning information system
Abbreviation: UMPLIS. The Federal environment office in Berlin has developed this system with the aim of collecting information and providing it to those interested. This information is required to work out programs and guidelines for politics, preparing and passing laws, coordination of environmental protection measures between the Federal, state and communal governments and on an international level. Furthermore, the information serves to promote research and development as well as consumer protection public relations, observation of the impact of laws, decrees and administrative instructions, the working out and provision of methods and tools for planning and organizing environment-related activities.
Environmental policy
See: Environmental planning information system.
Environmental pollution
In the most general sense, this refers to the removal of material and energy and the addition of material, energy and stimuli (exhausts, wastes, sound waves, etc.). See: Environmental stress
Environmental protection
All measures involved in safeguarding our environment, maintaining a biological balance in animate and inanimate nature, and in implementing environmental planning to improve the overall quality of the environment. See: EPA.
Environmental quality
See: Environmental protection.
Environmental statistics
Recording and processing of data pertaining to the environment using statistical methods. The objective is to use an environmental statistics law in Germany to create an environmental balance sheet in order to "get a grip" on environmental changes.
Environmental stress
The gradual change or prevention of change in the pattern of environmental factors. The term environmental stress is clearly distinguished from environmental pollution.
Environmentally friendly paints
Paints without solvents or with only a small portion of solvents (high solids, medium solids, water-based paints, waterdilutable paints, powder paints).
Environmentally friendly technology
Technical procedures and products, the application of which causes little or no pollution.
EPA
Abbreviation for Environmental Protection Agency, the US authority for environmental protection, located in Washington, D.C., and responsible for implementing the TSCA.
Equipment safety law
This law specifies the safety requirements for all devices, machines and personal safety equipment in the commercial sector as well as for all technical consumer goods, leisure articles and household appliances.
Equivalent continuous sound pressure level
Because not only the sound pressure level itself is to be taken into account when assessing the effect of noise on humans, but also the duration of exposure, official assessment methods involve converting the usually fluctuating sound pressure level prevailing in a certain place during the day into an assumed, constant sound pressure level, the equivalent continuous sound pressure level. The pollution values recommended in the regulations Noise protection are examples of such equivalent continuous sound pressure levels.
ERTS
Abbreviation Earth Resources Technology Satellite. This refers to a type of American earth resources observation satellite in a polar orbit (approx. 900 kilometers altitude). Its objectives include obtaining information on forestry, agricultural, and water resources, among others, with emphasis on issuing warnings for extensive air and water pollution. It is equipped with cameras, especially used for false color infrared photography.
European clean air charter
Declaration issued by the Council of Europe: Anyone who causes or contributes to air pollution is obliged to limit this pollution to a minimum and disperse any remaining emissions even if no damage can be proven.
European Inventory of Existing Chemical Substances
See: EINECS.
European water charter
Declaration issued by the Council of Europe: The European countries are committed to carrying out all feasible measures required to prevent any form of detrimental pollution in surface water and ground water to such an extent that use of water for public and private purposes is never restricted.
Evaporation
Evaporation is:
1. General: the transition of liquids into vapor form at temperatures that are far below the boiling point.
2. Meteorology: disappearance of natural moisture, of fallen precipitation (evaporation loss or interception) or the groundwater; in addition to water drain-off, evaporation also plays an important role with snow and ice (ablation).
Exothermic
Chemical reactions that generate heat.
Explosive materials
Materials defined in explosives regulations, which are used as rock explosives, safety explosives, fuels, pyrotechnic sets, propellant powders, solid rocket fuels or as agents in chemical product manufacturing or application technology. Explosive materials have to be specially labeled and packaged according to hazard classifications. Transport and distribution of these materials are also subject to special regulations.