Carbon Jargon: A glossary of carbon and energy related terms for the house-building community

The language of carbon and energy can be extremely complicated, and different people can use the same phrase to mean different things.  

What is the difference between zero carbon, net zero carbon, carbon-neutral and zero carbon ‘ready’? These are just a few examples of some of the terms and words housebuilders are encountering.  

Discussions with members of the house-building community have made it clear that there is a need for a straightforward, simple set of explanations and definitions which house builders, designers, architects, planners, the Government and other built environment professionals can all use.   

Carbon Jargon: A glossary of carbon and energy related terms relevant to the house building community (NF92) is a clear glossary of carbon and energy related terms that aims to provide a concise and common vocabulary for the house-building sector.  

The report considers and provides a comprehensive list of the main terms in use, showing what they mean and how similar sounding terms may differ. It does not attempt to resolve all of the conflicting definitions of some terms, but it does aim to provide a concise, common vocabulary and ensure consistency with official definitions including those used by the Government.   

That’s why we want the glossary to be used by the whole house-building community so that we all start to communicate in a common language.