Sustainable Construction, 5th Edition

Glossary

Agrifiber building products 

are manufactured from agricultural fiber. Examples include particleboard, medium-density fiberboard, plywood, oriented strand board, wheatboard, and strawboard.

Air economizer 

is a system found in heating, ventilation, and air conditioning air-handling systems that takes advantage of favorable weather conditions to reduce mechanical cooling by introducing cooler outdoor air into the building.

Albedo, or solar reflectance, 

is a measure of the ability of a surface material to reflect sunlight on a scale of 0 to 1. Solar reflectance is also called albedo. Black paint has a solar reflectance of 0; white paint (titanium dioxide) has a solar reflectance of 1.

Baseline building energy performance 

is the annual energy cost for a building design intended for use as a baseline for rating above standard design, as defined in a given version of ANSI/ASHRAE/IESNA 90.1, Appendix G.

Biobased product 

is a commercial or industrial product using at least 50 percent (by weight) biologically generated substances, including but not limited to cellulosic materials (e.g., wood, straw, and natural fibers) and products derived from crops (e.g., soy-based and corn-based).

Biobased product content 

is that portion of a material or product derived from plants and other renewable agricultural, marine, and forestry resources.

Biodiversity 

is the variety of life in all forms, levels, and combinations, including ecosystem diversity, species diversity, and ...