| national home energy rating (nher) | this is an energy rating based on sap. it has a scale of 1 to 10 and goes further than the sap by incorporating factors such as location, lighting and appliances to predict running costs. the higher the score, the more energy efficient the building |
| natural cooling | the use of passive methods; ground cooling, night time radiation loss, cross ventilation and evaporative cooling, to reduce internal temperatures or improve thermal comfort. |
| natural heat | whilst it may be difficult to provide all of a building's heating requirements through passive solar design in the english climate, a combination of passive solar and energy conservation measures can reduce a new building's conventional heating requirements by 50% to 80%, while saving the home-buyer money in the long term. (centre for alternative technology) |
| natural light | natural daylighting is the controlled entry of natural light into a building through windows, skylights, atria, and other building envelope components. a properly designed daylighting system should achieve good daylighting factors by distributing it evenly and by avoiding glare and overheating. not only does this significantly reduce overall energy consumption but natural light also offers occupants a pleasant living and working environment. |
| natural resource | naturally occurring substances that are considered valuable in their relatively unmodified form. a commodity is generally considered a natural resource when the primary activities associated with it are extraction and purification, as opposed to creation. |
| natural ventilation and cooling | natural ventilation can aid in both cooling a building and minimising heat loss. |
| natural ventilation | natural air flow through fixed ventilators, doors or operable windows and louvres, due to differences in thermal and pressure gradients. |
| night-time ventilation | passive building strategy of flushing building structures with cool, night-time air to minimise the next day's cooling load: works best in conjunction with massive building envelopes. |
| nitrogen oxides (nox) | gases consisting of one molecule of nitrogen and varying numbers of oxygen molecules. nitrogen oxides are produced in the emissions of vehicle exhausts and from power stations. in the atmosphere, nitrogen oxides can contribute to the formation of photochemical ozone (smog), can impair visibility, and have health consequences; they are thus considered pollutants. |
| non-potable water | this is the term for water that is used for irrigation, cooling towers, toilet flushing, and related uses. |
| non-renewable resource | a resource that is not replaced or only replaced very slowly by natural processes. |
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