Green Glossary – O
- Occupational Safety and Health Administration or OSHA
- An organization that operates under the US Department of Labor whose focus is to ensure safe, healthy working conditions by setting and enforcing standards applied to working environments.
- Ocean Wave Energy
- A form or renewable energy that is currently in development, ocean wave energy will create clean electricity harnessed form tide and wave movement. The consistent movement of the sea would also ensure that energies that were generated would be reliable and not dependent on favorable conditions.
- Octane Rating
- Octane rating is used to represent the "antiknock" properties of fuel.
- Off-site Transfers
- In waste management, this refers to chemicals that are transported off the grounds of a waste facility--to be sent to other locations that are appropriately equipped to handle hazardous waste.
- Office Paper
- High grade papers such as copier paper, computer printout, and stationary almost entirely made of uncoated chemical pulp, although some ground wood is used. Such waste is also generated in homes, schools, and elsewhere.
- Offsets
- A concept whereby emissions from proposed new or modified stationary sources are balanced by reductions from existing sources to stabilize total emissions.
- Offshore Drilling
- The practice of discovering, tapping and developing oil and gas resources from land under the sea or other bodies of water.
- Offshore Fish Farms
- Aquaculture operations located beyond three miles of a coastline, often involving submerged netcages anchored to the seafloor.
- Oil Plumes
- Underwater globules of oil that do not float to the surface of the ocean. Scientists say microscopic oil droplets are forming these deep water oil bubbles.
- Oil Pollution Act of 1990 or OPA
- US legislation designed to prevent oil spills, ensure cleanup if they happen, and restore natural resources injured by these spills.
- Oil Refineries
- An installation that manufactures finished petroleum products from crude oil, natural gas, unfinished oils, other hydrocarbons and alcohol.
- Oil Seep
- Crude oil and natural gas seeps naturally out of fissures in the ocean seabed and eroding sedimentary rock. Oil seeps can be a significant source of pollution.
- Oil Separation Equipment
- Implements used onboard ships to separate oil from water in bilge water in order to reduce the concentrations of oil in the waters, so that bilge water can be discharged into the sea in accordance with international environmental standards.
- Oil Spill
- A form of pollution resulting from the accidental leak of liquid petroleum, usually occurring as marine oil spills--when oil is released into the ocean or coastal waters.
- Oil Spill Hair Booms
- Recycled hair, fur and wool clippings stuffed into recycled nylon hosiery covered in mesh and made into booms for soaking up coastal oil spills. Hair is an abundant material usually sourced from salon clippings of human hair, farm clippings of animal wool or pet clippings.
- Open Sources
- Pollution sources that emit air contaminants over large geographical areas, primarily in a stationary but non-point source manner.
- Organic
- Produce grown without the use of synthetic chemicals or materials. Foods claiming to be organic must be free of artificial food additives, and processed with fewer artificial methods, materials and conditions, such as chemical ripening, food irradiation, and genetically modified ingredients.
- Organic Fertilizers
- Naturally-occuring nutrients that improve soil quality without the mix of synthetic chemicals. Peat moss or green manure are examples of naturally-occuring fertilizers.
- Organic Mulch
- Natural materials such as fallen twigs, bark, flowers, leaves or applied plant materials such as grass clippings, hay and straw that go on top of soil surfaces and in the process help protect soil quality. Yard trash or clippings can be recycled as mulch.
- Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development or OECD
- A Paris-based organization with 31 member countries, which provides a forum for governments to develop common, cooperative solutions to various social problems--among them environmental and public health issues.
- Overfishing
- Catching too many fish or fishing so much that certain fish species cannot sustain their population.
- Overpopulation
- One of the most serious environmental concerns faced today, overpopulation is a condition when the number of living organisms exceed the resource capacity of their habitat.
- Oxy-fuel Combustion Carbon Capture
- A method of collecting carbon dioxide emissions with the use of oxygen. When a power plant burns fossil fuel in oxygen, the result is a gas mixture comprising mostly steam and CO2. The steam and carbon dioxide are separated by cooling and compressing the gas stream.
- Oxygen
- The gaseous chemical element with symbol O that is essential in the respiratory processes of most living cells and in combustion processes.
- Oxygen Depletion
- A type of water pollution, oxygen depletion destroys the natural balance of water and makes bacteria thrive and in the process kill fish and other wildlife. Oxygen depletion is caused by the release of biodegradable matter into the water, such as sewage.
- Ozone
- Also known as O3, ozone is a triatomic oxygen molecule that is made of 3 oxygen atoms.
- Ozone Depletion
- The phenomena which shows a steady decline in the total volume of ozone in the Earth's protective stratosphere or ozone layer, which filters the sun's harmful UVB rays.
- Ozone Layer
- A very diluted atmospheric concentration of ozone found at an altitude of 10 to 50 kilometers above the Earth's surface, which acts as a protective layer from the sun's radioactive rays.
