Glossary of Terms

Airtightness testing: A test to determine how airtight the building envelope of a home or building is. Several common units of measurement include air change per hour (ACH), Equivalent Leakage Area (ELA) and Normalized Leakage Area (NLA). 

Blower Door: The equipment used to perform an airtightness test. This includes a fan, door frame, frame cloth and manometer (pressure gauge).

Building Envelope: The components of a home that enclose the conditioned (heated and cooled) space. This includes the foundation/floor, ceiling, walls, windows and doors.

Energy: A quantitative property that describes the capacity of a body, object or system to do work. Common units of energy include gigajoules and kilowatt hour. When we heat our homes, we are converting energy from a fuel source or generation process (think hydro-electric) into heat.

Gigajoules (GJ): A unit of energy, equivalent to one billion joules, or 278 kWh. The NRCan EnerGuide rating system uses the Gigajoule to estimate the energy consumption of a home on an annual basis.

H2K: Abbreviation for HOT2000, the modelling software developed by NRCan used by registered Energy Advisors to calculate the estimated annual energy use of a home.

HVAC: Acronym which stands for Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning.

Kilowatt hour (kWh): A unit of energy, equivalent to 0.0036 GJ. Kilowatt hours are the common billing unit for electrical utilities, which show how much energy a household consumed over a given time period.

NRCan: Abbreviation for Natural Resources Canada, the Government of Canada department which administers and oversees the EnerGuide for new and existing homes labelling program.

Occupant comfort: A subjective experience that describes the level of satisfaction and well-being experienced by someone within a building or space. It encompasses various factors that contribute to a comfortable and healthy environment, including thermal comfort, lighting, air quality, acoustics, and overall spatial arrangement.

Part 9 Construction: That construction which falls under Part 9, Division B of the National Building Code of Canada (referenced by the provinces). This applies to all housing and small buildings that have a footprint less than 600m2 and are 3-storeys or less in height.

Power: the amount of energy expended over a given time period (the rate at which work is done). Common units of power include the watt, BTU/hr.