All businesses in The SALA Group of companies have two definite major purposes:
- To establish and maintain a highly profitable business that assists all employees to achieve their financial and life goals while also delivering shareholders an above average return on their investment.
- To share the knowledge that is accumulating within the businesses so that others may build on what we have learned in order to make their homes, their businesses and their lives more sustainable.
If we are to achieve the second part of this goal we need ensure that our customers, suppliers and staff understand what we are talking about. The Habitat Glossary helps to explain our understanding of what sustainable hardware means.
Please note that these definitions are most likely not our own. If definitions have been obtained from external sources these references will be noted, allowing you to do further research on the term if desire.
If you find a word, or term, that we have used on the site that doesn't make sense please let us know and we will add it to the Glossary, so that our message becomes clearer for all.
Bright Green – a Bright Green business is a business that society needs to change to reduce its burden on the environment. However, unlike the Dark Greens, they believe that better designs, better technologies and more widely distributed social and business innovations will bring about this change. Bright Greens do not believe that we can neither protest (Dark Greens) or buy (Light Greens) our way to change. Bright Green businesses with Bright Green hardware and building products are the businesses that Habitat Hardware is most likely to engage with.
Dark Green - Dark Green Businesses are more radical that Light Green businesses believe in an inherent weakness or corruption within the current industrialist structure of society which results in environmental problems. Often these businesses try to protest their way to change. They often have wonderful products but they can have difficulties getting them to market. Habitat Hardware aims to partner with Dark Green and Bright Green businesses to help them create a market for their building and hardware products
Embodied Energy refers to the quantity of energy required to manufacture, and supply to the point of use, a product, material or service. As an analog of embodied water, embodied energy might also be called "virtual energy", "embedded energy" or "hidden energy"). Refer to Wikipedia for a detailed definition and discussion about embodied energy
Embodied Water (also known as embedded water or virtual water) refers to the water used in the production of a good or service. As with embodied energy this is a term that hardware product manufacturers rarely address. In a water constrained country such as Australia, the amount of water used to produce goods and services should be addressed. Habitat Hardware requests this information from our suppliers and we urge others to request the same information from suppliers of products that they purchase. More information on embodied water can be found on Wikipedia.
Good Neighbour Rebate - The Good Neighbour Rebate rewards Habitat customers who successfully encourage their neighbours to purchase and install a Habitat Hardware photovoltaic system at the same time as their own. This reduces install and freight costs and environmental impacts. The rebate is aimed to motivate customers to encourage their neighbours to reduce their reliance on dirty energy. For more details go to the Good Neighbour Rebate page
Greenwash - is a term that is used to describe the act of misleading consumers regarding the environmental practices of a company or the environmental benefits of a product or service. According to Wikipedia the term is most commonly used when significantly more money or time has been spent advertising being green rather than spending resources on environmentally sound practices. At Habitat Hardware we sometimes refer to organisations guilty of Greenwashing as being Light Green. Businesses who seriously consider the environment in the running of their business are referred to as Dark Green or Bright Green businesses – these are the businesses that Habitat Hardware wishes to engage with.
Locally Produced Products – For the purposes of Habitat Hardware, locally produced products are building products and hardware that are produced as close to the geographical location where the products will be used as possible. Choosing locally produced products assists in the reduction of transport costs, transport related energy use and green house gas emissions. Making this choice also assists in the provision of local economic activity which assists local businesses and generates jobs.
However, sometime local products are more expensive, of inferior quality, or in some cases are simply not available. Habitat Hardware considers the benefits of buying local when assessing each hardware product. If you know of a local alternative to any product that we stock please let us know and if it meets our other Product Selection Criteria we will make the make the change to this product.
For more information on the benefits of buying locally visit the BALLE web site which is a Business Alliance for Local Living Communities.
Light Green – Light Green Businesses feel that protecting the environment is their responsibility, but they do not seek fundamental change within their business or with their products. They see being green as being a business choice – perhaps a marketing choice. Wikipedia says that the motto "Green is the new black" sums up this way of thinking, for many. Alternatives to having a Light Green business or product are Dark Green. and Bright Green. Dark and Bright Green businesses are the businesses that Habitat Hardware particularly wish to partner with.
Life Cycle – refers to the notion that a fair, holistic assessment requires the assessment of raw material production, manufacture, distribution, use and disposal including all intervening transportation steps necessary or caused by the product's existence. The sum of all these steps - or phases - is the life cycle of the product. A Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) aims to quantify the environmental impacts of a particular product based on its entire life cycle. This is a difficult and sometimes contentious topic, but some basic decision making about the environment impacts of a specific product can be made by considering its life cycle. Wikipedia has a detailed discussion about Life Cycle Analysis’.
MSDS Sheets – Material Safety Data Sheets - A Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS) is designed to provide both workers and emergency personnel with the proper procedures for handling or working with a particular substance. MSDS's include information such as physical data (melting point, boiling point, flash point etc.), toxicity, health effects, first aid, reactivity, storage, disposal, protective equipment, and spill/leak procedures.
A MSDS helps determine what the potential hazards might be in working with a particular product. You can also glean information about the potential hazards that might result from using a particular product in your home.
Retailers are not required to make MSDS sheets available to customers which means that many customers could be unaware of the hazards associated with particular products. Habitat Hardware obtains MSDS's for every product that is stocked and makes these available to every customer.
Recyclability – is Habitat Hardware’s term for a hardware product’s ability to be recycled or reusedafter its useful life. Recyclability should not just be considered for the finished products and the packaging in which it is delivered to someone’s home, it should also be considered for the waste produced during manufacture and construction. In choosing products tostock we consider how the manufacturer manages their waste and the builder’s ability to reuse or sell any construction waste.
Photovoltaic Systems – a system which uses silicon solar cells to convert light into electricity. A photovoltaic system consists of several components, including cells, mechanical and electrical connections and mountings and a means of regulating and/or modifying the electrical output. A photovoltaic system can either be grid connected or stand-alone. The Australian Government’s Your Home Guide provides an excellent overview of photovoltaic systems along with some of the things to consider when choosing to install a system. For information on the Habitat range of photovoltaic systems go to the solar electricity page.
