NFRC Membership Meeting Closes

NFRC’s Spring Membership Meeting drew to a close this morning, but NFRC News Now will continue providing you with valuable information.

Tomorrow, we will post the details of this morning's Board meeting, including summaries of the various motions and reports.

Early next week, we will also post Joe Hayden’s insight regarding the entire meeting and the results of the Board’s Monday night meeting regarding how to simplify NFRC’s certification process. The Board's goal is to make the process work faster without compromising its efficacy.

Be sure to come back over the next few days to get this information.

In the meantime, however, NFRC extends a special word of thanks to its sponsor China Southern Glass Holding(CSG), Co., Ltd.

CSG was established in 1984, and it is one of the leading enterprises in China’s glass industry. The company manufactures and supplies all categories of architectural glass products, and it is the first and largest low-e glass manufacturer in China.

The photo above shows Cheryl Gendron, NFRC's Meetings Manager (far left) and NFRC's Senior Technical Services Manager (far right) with NFRC's sponsors.

Third Day of Meeting Ends with Labeling Committee Business

The Labeling Committee rounded out the third day of the Spring Membership Meeting this afternoon.

The Labeling Subcommittee presented one action item to the Labeling Committee. The committee passed a motion to move the NFRC 700-2010 FMC ballot forward to the Board for approval and to implement upon publication. The Labeling Subcommittee also reported that it formed a task group to address a new label idea for tubular daylighting devices presented to them this afternoon.

Then, the CMA Certification Subcommittee brought forward one action item, the NFRC 705 CMA-PCP ballot. The subcommittee reported that it addressed negative comments concerning the definition of commercial buildings and modified the language to stay with the definitions that are currently in the NFRC 600 Glossary document. The Labeling Committee then passed a motion to move the NFRC 705 CMA-PCP ballot as revised forward to the Board for approval and to implement upon publication.

The subcommittee also reported that it formed a task group to look into the issue of expiration of ratings.

The Labeling Committee then turned its attention to new business on its agenda, forming an Annual Energy Performance Rating Task Group.

Meeting Attendees Hear Latest on ENERGY STAR

Richard Karney, with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), discussed ENERGY STAR program changes during the Regulatory Affairs and Marketing (RAM) Committee meeting.

Last fall, DOE and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) under which EPA takes over management of the ENERGY STAR program, including windows.

Karney said that the MOU calls for all products to provide independent laboratory tests to verify results. However, this does not affect fenestration products because ENERGY STAR-qualified fenestration products have to be NFRC-certified, so they already fulfill the requirement for independent certification.

He noted that there will be some form of fenestration verification (i.e., a blind purchasing testing program), but the government’s goal is to minimize, or not even create, any additional burden for manufacturers. DOE, EPA, and NFRC are in talks about it.

Labeling Subcommittee Proactive Regarding Attachments

The Labeling Subcommittee presented its ideas regarding the proposed attachments label.

In particular, the subcommittee discussed the potential shape, color, and the specific information to be printed on the NFRC attachments label.

Leonard Greenberger of Potomac Communications Group recently conducted several focus groups, where he collected preliminary information from consumers regarding the particulars of the attachments label. The subjects of the focus groups included homeowners who had completed home improvement projects within the past year. Using this as his starting point, Greenberger ultimately shifted the conversation to NFRC and attachment products. Greenberger is still in the process of evaluating and analyzing the results of the focus groups, and he plans to use the information he gathers to guide futher efforts to refine the attachments label.

During its presentation, the Labeling Subcommittee, sought to promote awareness and to seek feedback regarding the shape, color, and specific information to be printed on the attachments label. This discussion triggered considerable dialogue.

The Alliance to Save Energy (ASE) said they disapproved of the triangular shape of the proposed label because it is, at this point, simply a draft and therefore cannot be approved as it is.

The American Architectural Manufacturers Association (AAMA) said the information printed on the proposed attachments label is misleading because the sample values are ambiguous. AAMA also said the attachments label seems to compare attachment products to whole products, which is inconsistent with NFRC’s vision. AMSCO took a similar point of view.

Despite the negatives that arose, the subcommittee reiterated that its intention was merely to create awareness regarding the options being considered for developing the attachments label.

The subcommittee realized prior to the meeting that nothing definitive would be decided during its session. Instead, the subcommittee sought to be proactive and to introduce the proposed attachments label while informing the audience about how development of the attachments label will proceed.

RAM Committee Forms Two Task Groups

The Regulatory Affairs and Marketing Committee formed two new task groups today, per the recommendation of the NFRC Board of Directors. The task groups will explore whether consumers would want NFRC to develop fenestration performance ratings for daylighting and ventilation.

Attendees Hear Latest on Energy Codes

The Regulatory Affairs and Marketing (RAM) Committee kicked off the second half of the day’s business with Committee Chair Garrett Stone, of Brickfield, Burchette, Ritts, & Stone, P.C., making a presentation about energy codes.

He provided a refresher on the importance of energy codes, and said that today there is substantial emphasis on energy codes to achieve national policy objectives.

Stone explained that modern national energy model codes incorporate NFRC procedures as the exclusive method for determining fenestration energy performance (SHGC and U-factor) for residential and non-residential buildings.

Then, he discussed increased residential energy efficiency requirements in the most recent International Energy Conservation Code (IECC), such as lower SHGC and U-factor in the south. The overall changes result in a 10-15 percent more efficient residential code compared to the 2006 IECC. He also noted that there are significant changes in the performance path.

Stone explained that there are increased energy efficiency requirements in current non-residential code, too, and further increases in commercial energy efficiency requirements are expected in the near future.

He also discussed the American Recover and Reinvestment Act of 2009, noting that there is a lot more activity in energy codes at the state level, happening in a lot less time, since the stimulus package took effect.

NFRC Meeting Has a Worldwide Audience

NFRC News Now checked its analytics report this afternoon. Readers from five nations – the United States, Canada, Australia, India, and Sweden – are following the meeting online so far.