TIPC Adds One to Roster

The NFRC Policy Committee block convened Monday afternoon with the Accreditation, Technical Interpretations, and Certification Policy Committee.

An announcement was made during the Technical Interpretations Policy Committee (TIPC) that Brad Schultz of Associated Laboratories, Inc. has joined the group.

The Board of Directors recently changed TIPC’s mission, adding to their scope the role of technical arbitration.

“We felt we needed the viewpoint of an IA,” said TIPC Chair Tom Culp of Birch Point Consulting. “TIPC decisions are binding, so we needed to ensure that the IAs view was represented on the committee.”

The other TIPC members include:

• Randal Van Voorst, Quality Testing, Inc. (vice chair)
• Jeff Baker, WESTLab
• Charlie Curcija, Carli, Inc.
• Joe Jonely, AMSCO Windows
• Steve Strawn, Jeld-Wen
• Michael J. Thoman, Architectural Testing, Inc.
  

NFRC Members Elect Five to Board of Directors

NFRC announced the election results for its 2008-2009 Board of Directors during the Opening Session of the Fall Membership Meeting today.

This month, the following members will assume or continue their positions on the Board of Directors

• Jim Larsen, Cardinal Glass Industries, Inc. – Fenestration Industry Category
• Steve Strawn, Jeld-Wen, Inc. – Fenestration Industry Category
• Tony Rygg, independent consultant – General Interest Category
• Nelson Peña, California Energy Commission – General Interest Category
• Nils Petermann, Alliance to Save Energy – General Interest Category

"We are pleased to see a greater participation rate for this year's election, which demonstrates our members' dedication to supporting the mission of the NFRC," said Jim Benney, NFRC's executive director.

According to Survey & Ballot Systems, an independent firm that managed the voting process, the annual election had a participation rate of just over 54 percent, an increase from last year's rate of 51 percent. Voting took place online from September 29, 2008, through October 24, 2008.

Larsen, Strawn, Rygg, and Peña will serve three-year terms. Petermann, who is filling a vacated seat, will serve one year (the remainder of the term).

These members will join Joe Hayden, chair; Kerry Haglund, treasurer; Steve Farrar; Mike Manteghi; Steve Rosenstock; Steve Selkowitz; and Michael Thoman on the Board of Directors.

BIM Discussed During Opening Session

Deke Smith, executive director of the buildingSMART alliance, addressed the NFRC membership during the Opening Session today.

The buildingSMART alliance is a council of the National Institute of Building Science and was originally started by the federal government.

Smith spoke about Building Information Modeling (BIM), a digital representation of physical and functional characteristics of a facility. BIM serves as a shared knowledge resource for information about a facility forming a reliable basis for decisions during its lifecycle – from inception onward. In short, it involves building something electronically before it is built physically.

Anyone can purchase BIM software and probably be reasonably successful, but Smith believes the true key to success is learning more about what NFRC does and then implementing that into BIM.

According to Smith, there is 57 percent waste in the current construction industry – amounting to nearly $400 billion annually. This is the result of people doing things that simply don’t need to be done.

BIM software can find potential conflicts before any building actually starts, saving time and money. The alliance’s goal is to get the businesses processes in place to support this software. Smith noted a situation where a project was slated to take 15 months but was completed in as few as seven months using BIM.

“We just need to get smarter so we can hold on to all the information we collect and best use it to our advantage,” said Smith. “The key element to solving this problem is entering data once. So much waste in our industry comes from people having to go out and collect the same information multiple times,”

For more information on Deke Smith and the buildingSMART alliance visit www.buildingsmartalliance.org.

Task Groups Get to Work

A series of task group meetings kicked off day one of the Fall Membership Meeting. Some groups resolved ballot issues and others got together to map out their course of action. 

The Interior Attachments and Exterior Attachments task groups joined combined forces to accomplish two shared goals. Specifically, the groups are working together to establish the base case window and to get the NFRC 100 and NFRC 200 language written. To accomplish these goals, task group members have been meeting every two weeks via conference call.

According to NFRC's Laboratory Accreditation Program Associate Dennis Anderson, the interior and exterior attachment groups hope to have a ballot out for the next membership meeting in March 2009. 

Additionally, the Garage/Rolling Door Task Group met and addressed the negatives received from the ballots distributed to the membership. The NFRC 100 - Garage Door ballot is a rewritten version of the garage door provisions currently in the NFRC 100 and also includes proposed rolling door provisions. 

Secondly, the NFRC 102 - Garage Door ballot proposes changes to clarify the provisions applying to sectional garage doors and rolling steel doors. The next step is to bring it to the U-Factor Subcommittee and move on in hopes of obtaining a product rating.

The Product Line ID Task Group led by John McFee of the Window and Door Manufacturers Association also met this morning. The group is drafting language for the PCP to allow for manufacturers to obtain their product identification number in NFRC's Certified Products Directory (CPD) prior to the release of the Certification Authorization Report (CAR) report. According to McFee, manufacturers will benefit from receiving the CPD number early in the process in terms of logistics, producing labels and marketing materials. 

Member of the Year Announced

NFRC Chair Joe Hayden awarded the first-ever NFRC Member of the Year Award during the Opening Session of the Fall Membership Meeting this afternoon to long-time member Roland Temple.

Watch now!

New Members Recognized at Opening Session

NFRC Chair Joe Hayden of Pella Corp. began the Opening Session this afternoon by welcoming new members. 

In 2008, 12 new companies joined NFRC:

• Cascade Windows
• Enclade, Inc.
• Glen Raven, Inc.
• MariTech Windows
• National Glass Association
• Professional Awning Manufacturers Association
• Regal Windows & Door Systems Inc.
• Royal Window and Door Profiles
• Springs Window Fashions, LLC
• Superior Window Systems
• Viracon, Inc.
• Westech Building Products

NFRC Supports HabiJax for Fall Meeting

A new tradition has been born. For the Fall Membership Meeting, NFRC is offering lapel pins for purchase. All proceeds are going directly to HabiJax, the local Habitat for Humanity chapter in Jacksonville, to support sustainability and energy efficiency efforts.

The NFRC lapel pin features the NFRC logo and the meeting location and date, along with an image that represents Jacksonville - a palm tree. NFRC will carry on this tradition in future meetings and work with other efficiency organizations.

HabiJax has been providing affordable housing for the citizens of Jacksonville since 1988. They have built more than 1,500 homes, surpassing any other local affordable housing provider and any Habitat for Humanity affiliate in the U.S. HabiJax is committed to building sustainable housing and taking on energy efficiency projects. 

NFRC suggests a $10 donation for any attendees interested in supporting HabiJax. 

For more information on Habijax, visit www.HabiJax.org.

By the Numbers

It's going to be another busy meeting for NFRC members and participants. For the Fall Meeting, we have:

• 99 registered attendees

• 8 first-time participants

• 12 new member companies (year-to-date)

• 5 newly-elected Board members

• 1 U.S. presidential election 

Fall Meeting Underway

Welcome to Jacksonville! 

The NFRC Fall Meeting officially kicks off this morning with a series of task group meetings. On schedule are the following:

• CMA Technical 
• NFRC 300-301
• Storm Window
• Solar Optical Properties of Non Planar Transparent Systems
• Interior Attachments
• Tubular Daylighting Devices
• Exterior Attachments
• Validation Testing
• Applied Films
• Product Line ID
• PCP
• Garage/Rolling Door

We'll be back with the task group reports this afternoon!

Check back soon for more NFRC News.