Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Rating Committee Concludes Second Day of Virtual Meeting

The meeting concluded with the Ratings Committee discussing the full CPD number on labels requirement and decided to distribute a questionnaire amongst members.

Please note: Wednesday's schedule has changed. The meeting will continue tomorrow at 11 a.m. (EDT) with the CMA Subcommittee (Technical), followed by the full Technical Committee.

The NFRC Board Meeting will begin after the Technical Committee concludes its business.

Labeling Subcommittee Ballots Return to Task Group

John McFee, of the Window & Door Manufacturers Association (WDMA), opened the Labeling Subcommittee meeting this afternoon. The subcommittee discussed two ballots at length.

The NFRC 700-2010 Fenestration Manufacturers Certificate (FMC) Ballot will be returning to task group for revisions after the subcommittee found some negative comments to be persuasive/substantive.

Later, the subcommittee reviewed the comments on the NFRC 700 Tubular Daylighting Device (TDD) ballot. This ballot will also go back to task group.

Virtual Meeting Continues with Certification Subcommittee Business

The Ratings Committee Block continued with the Certification Subcommittee meeting. Its task groups provided updates to the subcommittee, including one from the Attachment Product Certification Program Task Group. Mike Cienian, of Hunter Douglas, reported that the task group will be meeting in August, and that it's been reviewing the consumer research results presented at the Spring 2010 Membership Meeting in New Orleans.

The subcommittee meeting concluded with a discussion about restructuring subcommittees and task groups under the Ratings Committee.

Ratings Committee Block Begins with CMA Ratings Subcommittee

After the Attachment Subcommittee concluded its business, the virtual meeting continued with the CMA Subcommittee (Ratings) meeting. The CMA Subcommittee (Technical) and the full Technical Committee will be convening tomorrow morning to finish their business.

Sneh Kumar, of TRACO, who chairs the CMA Subcommittee (Ratings), called the meeting to order. After hearing updates from the subcommittee’s work and task groups, John Lewis, NFRC’s director of new business, provided an update on the roll-out of the Component Modeling Approach program.


NFRC has released 10 CMA Label Certificates; two ACE organizations are up and running (WESTLab and Efco); and Heschong Mahone Group, which is performing CMA outreach to the building code community for NFRC, is close to completing its activities (a summary report is expected in the next month or so). “Things are progressing, and we see some activity that is encouraging,” noted Lewis.

Don't Be a Stranger


While virtual meetings are convenient and reduce costs, we like to see you in person, too. Stop by the NFRC exhibit booth this summer or fall if you’re attending any of the following conferences:

Green Building Focus Conference & Expo, Aug. 25-26, in Birmingham, AL
GlassBuild America, Sept. 14-17, in Las Vegas
Greenbuild 2010, Nov. 16-19, in Chicago

And, don’t miss the (in-person) NFRC Fall 2010 Membership Meeting in San Francisco, scheduled for November 8-11.

Considerable Discussion Regarding NFRC 100A and NFRC 200A During Technical Committee Block

A number of proposed changes to both the NFRC 100A and the NFRC 200A resulted in considerable discussion during this afternoon’s Technical Committee block.

After lengthy discussion on the NFRC 100A ballot, "Procedure for Determining Fenestration Attachment Product U-factors," the Attachment Subcommittee sent the ballot back to task group with nearly a dozen persuasive and substantive negatives to address.

The Attachment Subcommittee then turned its attention to the NFRC 200A ballot, "Procedure for Determining Fenestration Attachment Product Solar Heat Gain Coefficient and Visible Transmittance at Normal Incidence." After reviewing the ballot comments, the subcommittee sent it back to task group.

Schedule Adjustment for Virtual Meeting

Please note: There is a small schedule change to the NFRC virtual meeting. The Ratings Committee will meet at 4 p.m. EDT today. Fifteen minutes after the Ratings block is over, the Technical Committee will re-convene to finish its business.

Day 2 of Virtual Meeting Starts with Software Subcommittee Meeting

The second day of NFRC’s Summer 2010 Virtual Committee Week kicked off with the Software Subcommittee meeting under the Technical Committee Block.

After Subcommittee Chair Brian Crooks, of Cardinal Glass Industries, Inc., welcomed participants, Joe Hayden, of Pella Corp., presented a motion on behalf of the WINDOW 6/THERM 6 Approval Task Group for an interim, partial approval of W6/T6.


The subcommittee passed a motion to approve the task group’s recommendation, as indicated in a June 1, 2010, letter to the NFRC membership. The letter noted that the “primary reason for this proposal is compatibility with the Component Modeling Approach (CMA) Software Tool, to avoid maintaining two different version of the WINDOW/THERM software.”


The task group’s proposal to partially implement W6/T6, and subsequently sunset W5/T5 on December 31, 2010, applies to simulation of only those products that can currently be simulated with W5/T5, in accordance with current NFRC procedures. The task group’s proposal also requires web-based training for certified simulators and IAs in August and September 2010 (and that no simulator shall use W6/T6 for NFRC certification services until they have successfully completed the training).


The motion, which applies to version 6.3 for both software programs, now moves forward to the Technical Committee for further consideration.