Certified Energy Auditor Certification Certified Energy Auditor Building Envelope and Lighting 1

Question 1

What does a lower U-factor value indicate about a window assembly's thermal performance?

Accepted Answer

Higher resistance to non-solar heat flow

Answer

U-factor measures the rate of non-solar heat transfer through a fenestration assembly; a lower U-factor means less heat flows through the assembly per unit area per degree of temperature difference, indicating better insulating performance.

Question 2

A building's south-facing windows have a Solar Heat Gain Coefficient (SHGC) of 0.25. What does this value indicate?

Accepted Answer

25% of incident solar radiation is transmitted into the building as heat

Answer

SHGC represents the fraction of incident solar radiation — both directly transmitted and absorbed then re-radiated inward — that enters the building. An SHGC of 0.25 means 25% of solar energy striking the window becomes heat gain inside the building.

Question 3

Which lighting control strategy automatically dims or switches off electric lights in response to available natural light levels?

Accepted Answer

Daylight harvesting with photosensors

Answer

Daylight harvesting uses photosensors to continuously measure ambient light levels and dim or turn off electric lighting when daylighting provides sufficient illuminance, reducing energy consumption while maintaining target light levels.

Question 4

An auditor recommends replacing cavity-only batt insulation with a wall assembly that adds a continuous layer of rigid foam insulation on the exterior. What is the primary thermal benefit of this change?

Accepted Answer

It eliminates thermal bridging through structural framing members

Answer

Continuous exterior insulation wraps the entire wall surface — including studs — in an unbroken thermal layer, eliminating the conductive pathway that wood or metal framing creates through cavity insulation. This directly addresses thermal bridging, which can reduce effective wall R-value by 30–50% in stud-framed assemblies.

Question 5

A Color Rendering Index (CRI) of 90 for a lamp indicates that:

Accepted Answer

The lamp accurately renders object colors relative to a reference illuminant at that value on a 100-point scale

Answer

CRI is a 100-point scale measuring how faithfully a light source renders colors compared to a reference illuminant of the same color temperature. A CRI of 90 is considered high-fidelity color rendering, making it suitable for retail, healthcare, and art spaces where accurate color perception matters.

Certified Energy Auditor Certification Practice Test

Certified Energy Auditor Certification Practice Test

Certified Energy Auditor Certification Certified Energy Auditor Building Envelope and Lighting 1