Passing the BPI Exam With Energy Auditor Training

STUDY GUIDES

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PRACTICE EXAMS

With so many BPI Training Courses, it can be hard to know which one is best. Here are the BEST practice exams you can find that I've personally used and recommend to anyone.

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BPI Written Exam - Section 1 Building Science Fundamentals

20. Understand Input / Output Capacity

Definition of efficiency: input over output capacity.  How much useful energy do we get back that we put into a system.  How many miles per gallon do we get on a car engine?  How much heat is delivered to our homes from every therm that we put in?  How much light can we get from a light bulb for every kWh we put in?

I remember when I just got my BPI Certification thinking, "when am I ever going to use the First Law of Thermodynamics (energy can never be created or destroyed) during an energy audit?"  Well here is a great application of the First Law of Thermodynamics in understanding input / output capacity, aka efficiency.  

We never get 100% efficiency out of out appliances, cars, heating and cooling system or any mechanical system for that matter.  Only half of power created at a power generating facility actually gets delivered to our homes, so there is a lot of wasted energy that gets unused, but where does it go?  The First Law says that energy is never created or destroyed, only transformed.  The answer is that all the unused energy gets turned into heat... which means we end up paying for something we are not getting.  Enter energy efficiency and input over output capacity.


Naturally, we want the highest efficient heating and cooling system we can afford and good gas mileage for our cars.  How do we find the efficiency of our appliances or major home systems?  It is by a simple formula, input / output.  How much energy do we get back, that we put into our appliance.


Common ways to express input energy are below:


  1. Water heaters - EF (Energy Factor).  Usually 90% for electric water heaters (the heating element is surrounded by water so little is lost) or 50% for gas water heaters.
  2. Furnaces - AFUE (Annual Fuel Utilization Efficiency). 90% for newer furnaces.


More on equipment efficiency terms.
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1a. Basic terms and definitions
  1. Understand airflow in buildings / ducts: CFM, CFM50, CFM25, ACHn, ACH50, FPM
  2. Understand equipment efficiencies: AFUE, SSE, SEER, EER, HSPF
  3. Understand power and energy: watts, BTU/hr, ton of refrigeration  watt-hours, BTU, therm, decatherm
  4. Understand effective leakage area
  5. Understand area weighted R-Value
  6. Understand baseload / seasonal energy use
  7. Understand driving forces (including natural and mechanical: Pressure, temperature, moisture differential
  8. Understand behavior of radiation: emissivity, reflectivity, absorbtivity
  9. Understand thermal resistance / transmittance: R and U Values; including conversions
  10. Understand latent / sensible heat: evaporation, condensation / specific heat, heat capacity
  11. Understand total equivalent length
  12. Understand basics of dehumidification / Humidification as well as measurement equipment
  13. Understand and convert pressure units: Inches of Water Column (iwc), Pascal (Pa)
  14. Understand, identify thermal bridges
  15. Understand pressure boundary
  16. Understand/define stack effect
  17. Understand and define exfiltration and infiltration
  18. Natural / mechanical ventilation
  19. Understand net free area
  20. Understand input / output capacity
  21. Understand peak electrical demand
  22. Understand permeability and perm rating
  23. Understand standby loss
  24. IAQ (indoor air quality): moisture, CO, dust
1b. Principals of energy, air & moisture
  1. Thermodynamics: conduction, convection, radiation, ΔT including air movement due to temperature gradients
  2. Factors that affect insulation performance: density, installation, moisture
  3. House pressurization/depressurization by various forces
  4. Heat gain / loss: internal, solar, heat transmission, air leakage 
  5. Power and energy: BTU content of fuels, capacity of combustion appliances and electrical appliances 
  6. Moisture transport mechanisms: bulk water, air leakage, diffusion, capillary action 
  7. Identify areas of highest relative humidity 
  8. Principles of combustion: combustion analysis, CO 
1c. Combustion science
  1. Combustion analysis: oxygen, flue-gas temperature, carbon monoxide
  2. Carbon Monoxide (CO) testing of combustion appliances
  3. Basics of: Combustion appliance venting, draft, and combustion air including identification of proper sizing/vent tables
  4. Understand combustion safety issues: Combustion air, draft, worst case / baseline depressurization, spillage, backdrafting, unvented combustion appliances
Quick Links

1. BPI Written Exam
2. BPI Field Exam
3. Blower Door Test 
4. BPI Standards
The main topics of the BPI BA exam are listed out below.  Click on a link that interests you, or you need some brushing up on to learn more on each subject.

1. Building Science Fundamentals
1a. Basic terms and definitions
1b. Principals of energy, air & moisture
1c. Combustion science

2. Buildings and Their Systems
2a. Building components
2b. Conservation strategies
2c. Comprehensive building assessment process
2d. Design considerations

3. Measurement and Verification of Building Performance
3a. Applied diagnostics and troubleshooting

4. BPI National Standards and Project Specifications
4a. Comprehensive building assessment

5. Analyzing Buildings Systems
5a. Comprehensive building assessment
5b. Appliances and lighting

6. Conduct and communications
6a. Conservation strategies