Glossary
- ASTM - American Society for Testing and Materialsl
- ASTM C1158 - Standard Practice for Installation and Use of Radiant Barrier Systems (RBS) in Building Construction
- ASTM C1313 - Standard Specification for Sheet Radiant Barriers for Building Construction Applications
- ASTM C1321 - Standard Practice for Installation and Use of Interior Radiation Control Coating Systems (IRCCS) in Building Construction
- DOE - U.S. Department of Energy
- Emittance and emissivity - The emittance (sometimes called the emissivity) is the ability of a material to release heat by radiation. Emittance is expressed as a number between 0 and 1, with lower numbers indicating less heat radiation and numbers close to one greater heat radiation. Dull black materials will usually have an emittance close to 1 and shiny materials will usually have a low emittance, but it is not always possible to judge the emittance just by visual appearance.
- FSEC - Florida Solar Energy Center
- gal. - gallon
- KWH - kilowatt-hour (of electricity)
- Present Value - The amount of money it would take today to generate a future series of payments. The present value is determined by the rate-of-return, the number of payments in the series, and the size of each payment. The rate-of-return represents the interest you could earn on an alternative investment over an above the general inflation rate.
- Reflectance and reflectivity - The reflectance (sometimes called the reflectivity) is a measure of how much radiant heat that hits a material is reflected. The reflectance is a number between 0 and 1, but sometimes it is given as a percentage, and then it is between 0 and 100%.
- RIMA - Reflective Insulation Manufacturers Association