Building Science Trivia Time – GreenBuildingAdvisor – GWC Mag

For the past few years, Huber Engineered Wood has held a building science trivia game in their booth at the annual International Builders’ Show. It’s played with a mobile app; contestants answer questions, and their score is based on whether they are right and how quickly they answer. The game is just for fun, though there are some bragging rights if you can beat the onstage contestants. This year, they were Jake Bruton, Steven Baczek, Peter Yost, and Ben Bogie with Tate Hudson from Huber asking the questions. (Jake has this year’s bragging rights.)

I thought it would be fun to play some building science trivia here on Green Building Advisor. Some of these questions are from Huber’s game, others are from a recent BS* + Beer, Northern Minnesota meeting (quick aside: if you want to learn about setting up a local chapter, watch this epsisode of The BS* + Beer Show). Keep track of your answers. The test answers—along with some explanatory information—will follow the quiz. OK, here we go.

1. The climate zone map in the 2021 International Residential Code Book, Chapter 11 (Energy Efficiency) contains how many different climate zones?
   1. 8
   2. 9
   3. 14
   4. 19

2. What is the average value of carbon dioxide in outdoor air?
   1. 250 ppm
   2. 425 ppm
   3. 675 ppm
   4. 1000 ppm

3. Changing 1 lb. of water from a liquid to a solid requires how many British Thermal Units (Btu) be removed?
   1. 970 Btu
   2. 32 Btu
   3. 144 Btu
   4. 1 Btu

4. When calculating the volume of a house for a blower door test using the ANSI/RESNET/ICC 380 standard, which area is not included in the conditioned space volume calculation?
   1. A conditioned basement
   2. A conditioned attic
   3. The space between interior partition walls
   4. An attached, conditioned garage

5.  A vapor diffusion port is