From Skeptic to Task Group Chair, Best finds Value in NFRC Membership Meeting

Catherine Best (Benson Industries) was initially skeptical about getting involved with NFRC.

She soon found, however, she could offer the membership valuable insight on the process NFRC uses to create testing guidelines for the certification of commercial products.

“At first, I wasn’t sure how I could make in impact,” Best said. “But once I started coming to the meetings, I found it was much easier than I thought because the group encouraged me to come forward with my thoughts and ideas.”

Best soon overcame her skepticism, and today she serves as the Chair of the CMA Technical Task Group. Her efforts in this Task Group have resulted in some key recommendations for improving CMAST.

Best says she’s become a better listener from being involved with NFRC, a newfound skill she finds useful in many aspects of her career.

“By listening to the wide range of views on the issues NFRC deals with, I’ve learned to truly understand someone else’s point of view even though I may not necessarily agree with it,” she said, “In the end, this makes consensus easier to reach, and that creates greater benefit for everyone.”

Based on her positive experience with NFRC, Best hopes to become a member during 2012.

“Now I can see the strong impact even one person can have on the ballots being presented through the committees and subcommittees,” Best concluded. “I look forward to staying involved.”

Please offer Catherine your well wishes by responding to this posting.

BOD Discussion Concludes Fall Membership Meeting

NFRC’s Board of Directors heard a number of committee reports and approved 12 motions during this morning’s final day of the fall membership meeting.

Accreditation Policy Committee Report

Chair: John McFee

Motion to approve and to implement upon publication NFRC 701-2011 as revised and approved by APC, regarding NFRC Partner Country language, clarification of sub-contractor services, and responsibilities of non-laboratory certified simulators carried.

Other Reports:

Lab Inspections are up-to-date.

The 2008 and 2009 ILC Thermal Test Laboratory Reports were sent to labs on March 17 and September 19, respectively.

2010 Simulation and Thermal Test ILC to be published by Spring 2012.

2011 Simulation and Testing ILC is currently underway

W6/T6 training for complex glazings to be conducted in January and February for all certified simulators.

Entry door spreadsheet approval process is underway with review of revised NFRC 701 documents by APC, as well as all accredited simulation laboratories.  Hope to finalize by Spring of 2012.

Technical Interpretations Policy Committee Report

A motion to approve Technical Interpretation and Revision to NFRC 601: TI-2011-11carried

Certification Policy Committee Report

A motion to approve and to implement upon publication NFRC 702-2012 as revised and approved by CPC, regarding clarification of sub-contractor services and timeframe for online workshop carried.

Other Reports:

Inspections for 2011 will be completed by the end of the year.

Staff provided a status on the NFRC 702 language that was revised during the year.

Staff and the CPC will look at revising the NFRC 702 and IA OPs Manual regarding the fee.

Schedule requirements, workshop, and other outdated issues.

Staff provided an update on the NFRC 706 language revisions implemented recently.

Regulatory Affairs and Marketing Committee Report

Chair: Garrett Stone

The RAM Committee provided an update on international outreach, saying NFRC has made considerable progress in Canada while exploring several viable opportunities in Australia. Stone added that much of funding for this program is provided by the DOE and has been recently reduced. Finally, Stone suggested there may be a need to explore options to maintain the aggressiveness of the international program.

Research and Technology Committee Report

Chair: Dave De Block

Research Subcommittee:

A motion to extend the Window 6-Therm 6 Validation Research Project completion deadline to the Spring 12 Committee Week carried.

A motion to approve now completed CMA CR Research Project for final payment was also approved.

Other Reports:

The Spandrel Validation Research RFP was not approved due to substantive negatives finding spandrels outside NFRC’s scope.  The Research and Technology Committee requests guidance on the existence of spandrels in NFRC 100 with limited information on actual simulation instruction.

Work continues on the TDD VT Research (at LBNL), CMA Improved Algorithm Research, and Gas Permeability Research (at IGMA).

Thermophysical Properties of Materials Subcommittee

A motion to approve a WESTLab negative deleting the retesting provision in the NFRC 101 ballot carried.

Other Reports:

The NFRC 101 ballot was returned to task group with substantive negatives providing guidance on continued changes.

One new lab successfully completed the NFRC 101 ILC test and was added to the NFRC accepted testing lab list.

Please offer your thoughts on today's BOD meeting by responding to this posting.

Chair Volunteer Appreciation Dinner Builds Relationships, Creates Synergy

Last night's Chair Volunteer Appreciation Dinner was more than just a great dining experience for the guests. It was an opportunity for them to get to know each other in a more informal atmosphere and to share ideas.

Skoglund Says First Face-to-Face Meeting Offered Practical Knowledge, Won't Be Her Last

Stephanie Skoglund (Stork Twin City) is finding value in her first face-to-face NFRC meeting, acquiring unique knowledge and making new contacts.

Skoglund has been a simulator for six years and was motivated to attend the meeting after being encouraged by her colleagues to get more involved with NFRC’s activities and programs.

Driving Skoglund’s motivation is her desire to learn more about the future of third-party certification in the fenestration industry and in green and sustainable building in general.

Aside from listening to the proceedings and discovering more about how NFRC’s consensus-based process works, she has spent considerable time meeting clients she has worked with in the past and networking with peers.

“I am really enjoying my time here because I’m gaining a lot of practical knowledge from industry experts,” Skoglund said. “It will be great to take this back to my office and start putting it to good use right away.”

Skoglund says the most valuable aspect of the meeting has been building stronger relationships with her clients through one-on-one contact in an environment that is conducive to teamwork.

“This may be my first meeting, but it definitely won’t be my last,” Skoglund concluded.

Please take a moment to introduce yourself to Stephanie and welcome her to NFRC by commenting on this posting.

Criteria for Labeling Attachment Products Figures Prominently in Afternoon Discussions

McFee facilitated discussion on attachments label criteria

NFRC 712, Section Six Ballot

John McFee, Ratings Committee Vice Chair filling in as Attachments Subcommittee Chair, spent most of the afternoon session guiding a discussion regarding the criteria for labeling attachment products.

The discussion focused primarily on Section 6 of the NFRC 712.

The main issue came about when questions formed on the use of currently defined “non-residential” was challenged. The ballot was sent back from the initial substantive negative and the TG is asked to develop new language for the definition of non-residential properties for the use of an Attachment Label Certificate.

One of the key concerns that emerged was whether language in the section 6.6 should give attachment products the option of putting the temporary label on either the product itself or on the packaging.

Those most concerned asserted that requiring both a temporary label and a permanent label to be placed directly on the product is the best practice.

Contact Sherri Wendt at 240-821-9516 with your questions.

Meeting Participants Relax, Network During Southface Reception, Tour LEED-Platinum Facility

Meeting participants took a break from the serious business of discussing NFRC's programs last night and enjoyed a tour of the Southface Energy Institute in downtown Atlanta.

Amid the celebration of Jim Krahn's (Marvin Windows) crowning as NFRC's 2011 Member-of-the-Year, the group enjoyed a tour of the LEED Platinum-Certified facility and enjoyed good food and each others' company in an informal atmosphere.

Southface Executive Director, Jim Creech, welcomes NFRC

NFRC CEO, Jim Benney, Kicks off the festivities

Ballot Regarding VT Testing on Translucent Products to Be Revised, Resubmitted in March

Lisa Winckler presides over today's SHGC discussions

The Solar Heat Gain Subcommittee undertook its work this morning, addressing three ballots with Chair Lisa Winckler (Solution, Inc.) leading the proceedings.

NFRC 202 VT Testing Ballot

This ballot is aimed at making modifications to the NFRC 200 that allows VT testing on translucent panels per the proposed 202 procedure being balloted concurrently as, “NFRC 202 VT Testing Ballot.”

The primary issue involved is for NFRC to accept the ASTM E1084 and E972 combined procedures for rating products and to provide additional details on the method of product translation between repeated measurements to obtain a properly area-weighted average of the VT over the area of the product being tested. This topic arose out of one assertion that NFRC currently publishes incomplete data for translucent products.

Following considerable discussion, the ballot will be revised and resubmitted during NFRC’s spring membership meeting.

NFRC 200 Caming-Divider Ballot

The purpose of this ballot is to revise existing language, removing redundancies regarding caming and dividers. Further revisions would be made to the Frame Group Leaders decisions for determining the frame and divider representative for the SHGC/VT 0&1 Center-of-Glazing value.

One negative asserting that Section 5.2 does not clearly state that the caming needs to be accounted for in the SHGC and VT calculations was found non-persuasive. Another negative asked that the ballot not be approved unless there is no impact on door SHGC caming when compared to clear glass was withdrawn.

A motion to move this ballot forward to the Technical Committee for approval and implementation upon publication passed in a close vote, 13-11.

NFRC 200 CMA Reporting Ballot

This ballot calls for removing the reporting language for CMA SHGC results because all reporting requirements are to be documented in NFRC’s series of 701 publications.
In particular, the NFRC 701.03-2011, Section 1.1.2, outlines the reporting requirements for NFRC 100 and NFRC 200 simulations per the CMA program.

One member commented on the ballots, saying that while he agreed with removing the reporting requirements from the NFRC 200, the verbiage helps describe what is being done. He further suggested removing the table while retaining all the language except for anything that pertains to the table.

The ballot was approved with editorial changes and will move forward to the Technical Committee.

Feel free to offer your thoughts by responding to this posting.