Glossary

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IAQ
See "Indoor Air Quality."

IESNA (Illumination Engineering Society of North America)
The professional society of lighting engineers, including those from manufacturing companies and other professionally involved in lighting. It produces standard practice documents for applying proper lighting techniques to indoor and outdoor spaces.

Impact Analysis
The second stage of life cycle assessment, in which the environmental impacts of a process, product, or facility are determined.

Improvement Analysis
The third stage of life cycle assessment, in which design for environment techniques are used in combination with the results of the first and second LCA stages to improve the environmental plan of a process, product, or facility.

Incineration
The burning of trash and garbage at high temperatures in a large furnace.

Indicator Species
A species in a community or ecosystem that is more susceptible to disturbances than most other species.

Indicators
(1) A measurement or reporting tool used to gauge how well a society is achieving its economic, environmental and societal goals. (2) A species of plant or animal, or a community, whose occurrence serves as evidence that certain environmental conditions exist.

Indigenous Materials
Building with materials that are produced in an area near to where the construction is taking place. This reduces building costs and helps to boost local economies.

Indoor Air Pollution
Chemical, physical, or biological contaminants in indoor air.

Indoor Air Quality (IAQ)
ASHRAE defines acceptable indoor air quality as air in which there are no known contaminants at harmful concentrations as determined by cognizant authorities and with which 80% or more people exposed do not express dissatisfaction

Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ)
LEED Rating System category. Prerequisites and credits in this category focus on the strategies and systems that result in a healthy indoor environment for building occupants.

Innovation & Design Process (ID)
LEED Rating System category. Prerequisites and credits in this category recognize projects for innovative building features and sustainable building knowledge.

Insulating Concrete Form (ICF)
Concrete form-wall constructed of foam insulation that remains in place after the concrete cures.

Integrated Coastal Zone Management
A continuous and dynamic process by which decisions are made for the sustainable use, development and protection of coastal and marine areas and resources. ICM acknowledges the interrelationships that exist among coastal and ocean uses and the environments they potentially affect.

Integrated Design Team
The team of all individuals involved in a project from very early in the design process, including the design professionals, the owner's representatives and the general contractor and subcontractors.

Integrated Pest Management
A cost-effective way to prevent pests by using less invasive techniques to both animal and occupant alike.

Integrated Waste Management
The complementary use of a variety of practices to handle solid waste safely and effectively. Techniques include source reduction, recycling, composting, combustion and landfilling.

Intent
LEED Green Building Rating System component. Identifies the primary goal of each prerequisite or credit.

Inventory Analysis
The first stage of life cycle assessment, in which the inputs and outputs of materials and energy are determined for a process, product, or facility.

Irreversible Disassembly
Disassembly in which brute force is used to recover the bulk of the principal materials from a product, and in which no refurbishment and reuse of components or modules is possible.