Q&A with NFRC's Jim Benney

NFRC Executive Director Jim Benney sat down with Sahely Mukerji, news editor and managing editor of Glass Magazine, this afternoon to discuss the CMA program, new product ratings, and NFRC’s decision on IG Certification.

What is the status of outside development support funding for the Component Model Approach program?
We got approval for $200,000 from the Department of Energy. Also got in-kind support from Southern California Edison CTAC. [Edison CTAC, in partnership with NFRC, is hosting a training workshop in Irwindale, Calif., to discuss among other things, the benefits of CMAST, the new CMA software and how the component modeling approach works.]

To access the entire interview, click here.

Air Leakage Fate Discussed

The Technical Committee block meetings began this afternoon, with the Air Leakage Subcommittee convening at 2:30 p.m.

NFRC Board Member and Subcommittee Chair Mike Thoman of Architectural Testing, Inc. picked up where the group left off at the Spring Meeting, where there was a motion to remove the NFRC 400 standard.

Thoman presented three possible courses of action to the group:

1) Maintain the status quo, essentially keeping NFRC 400 in its existing form

2) Use NFRC 400 as a shell document and heavily reference AAMA 101 in the technical spec

3) Revoke NFRC 400 and reference both AAMA 101 and ASTM E283 in the PCP

AAMA’s John Lewis made a motion in support of option #2, which would in the short term use the North American Fenestration Standard and ASTM E283 within NFRC 400, with the long term goal of phasing out NFRC 400. After a hand vote, the motion passed.

To pursue this course of action, Thoman formed a new task group. John Lewis volunteered to serve as chair. Others interested in joining the task group should contact Thoman.

NFRC Member of the Year

NFRC members really know how to work. The level of commitment that our volunteer members put into our organization is incredible, especially considering they all have day jobs! We truly appreciate all of the time our members give.

To formalize our appreciation, NFRC will offer its first-ever Member of the Year award. The NFRC Member of the Year award will recognize the recipient’s talent, achievements, and notable contributions to the fenestration industry that support the NFRC mission.

Additionally, the recipient shall:

- Be a positive advocate for NFRC when addressing code officials, utility companies, governmental agencies, the media, etc.

- Regularly attend NFRC membership meetings and actively engage in critical discussions and decisions

- Exhibit respect for all members, genuinely embracing the philosophy of a consensus process

The award recipient will win a free NFRC meeting registration to be used in the next calendar year, as well as $1,500 for meeting expenses.

If you would like to nominate someone for the Member of the Year award, please visit http://www.nfrc.org/membersonly/MemberoftheYearAward.aspx to download the form.

All submissions must be returned to NFRC by August 31, 2008. Please email membership@nfrc.org with any questions.

Optical Properties Subcommittee Considers Ballots

The NFRC Optical Properties Subcommittee considered two ballots during its meeting Tuesday morning at the NFRC Summer Membership Meeting in Chicago.

The group discussed a number of negatives to the ballots for NFRC 300/301 and NFRC 302, and because several were found to be persuasive and germaine, the subcommittee sent both ballots back to task groups for further review and revision.

Day Two Begins

Day two got an early start this morning. The Research & Technology Committee block kicked off at 7:30 a.m. with the Research Subcommittee meeting.

Subcommittee Chair Bipin Shah of WinBuild, Inc. and NFRC’s Technical Services Manager Ray McGowan began the meeting by providing an overview of NFRC’s research budget and a brief status report of active projects.

Currently, NFRC has six ongoing research projects.

- WINDOW 6/THERM 6 Validation Research
- Non-Standard Products for CMA Methodology
- Complex Product VT Ratings
- Spectral Weighting Function Revision Research
- Condensation Resistance Procedure for CMA
- U-Factor for Tubular Daylighting Devices

Project Monitoring Task Group Chairs for each of the ongoing research projects provided status updates.

Willie duPont of Sunergy Consulting presented a detailed overview of the methodology he will apply to the WINDOW 6/THERM 6 research. He noted that new features will include the ability to calculate the Solar Heat Gain Coefficient and U-Factor of woven shades and venetian blinds.

Charlie Curcija of Carli, Inc. provided a report on the status of the Condensation Resistance Procedure for CMA. According to Curcija, all of the glazing, spacer and frame models are completed, and he is currently plotting the relationship between spacer effective conductivity and center glazing S and SS values. The final report is expected to be submitted by the middle of October.

Finally, the Non-Standard Products for CMA research and Complex Product VT Ratings research are both in the final stages. A motion moved forward to approve the Non-Standard Products research and the Complex Product VT Ratings research is pending final review from the task group. The Board could approve the completed research during its next conference call.

CMA Software Demo Closes Day One

Closing out the day Monday, Charlie Curcija of Carli, Inc. gave a live demonstration of the CMA Software, CMAST.

Curcija, whose firm is developing CMAST, explained that the application on a user’s computer will have its own database that stores all of the client’s data. Components, certified products, and label certificates are then synchronized to the main server database for public view.

Users can also share data with their entire company. “The software allows you a flexible way of sharing different information on the server,” said Curcija.

During the hour-long demonstration, Curcija ran through a number of scenarios and explained in-depth how the software will function.

“This demonstration was extremely informative and gave everyone a real-time view of CMAST,” said NFRC Executive Director Jim Benney. “After all of the hard work that has been put into developing this – and other aspects of the CMA program – it’s really exciting to see the pieces come together.”

NFRC Holds IG Certification Forum

Certification Policy Committee Chair Roland Temple opened up the IG Certification Forum this afternoon at 4:30 p.m. Temple began by explaining the set of criteria that a third-party IG Certification Program shall include.

According to the outline presented, NFRC will maintain a list of third party IG Certification Programs that have submitted a statement to NFRC stating they meet the requirements. This statement is to be provided to NFRC on an annual basis, but will not be independently verified. Rather, it is up to the program participant to verify they are in fact using an NFRC-listed certification program.

Temple opened the floor to debate and discussion ensued about this set of requirements versus the previously issued document.

Rich Biscoe of Architectural Testing, Inc., remarked that NFRC has “swung to the other side of the pendulum.” He added, “I was really hoping that this would be a way to take the IG Programs in the industry and take them a step further. Even the good programs out there today won’t need to be looked at.”

Others in the room were pleased with the new direction. “This is a major improvement,” said John McFee of the Window and Door Manufacturer’s Association. “It catches the original intent form the Board of Directors and membership.”

Moving forward, NFRC Chair Joe Hayden suggested that CPC issue a revised draft program document by the end of next week to distribute to the membership for comment.

Margaret Webb of the Insulating Glass Manufacturers Alliance and Tracy Rodgers of Edgetech I.G. Inc. agreed to present a concept for CPC to bring to the Board of Directors on Thursday.

“Let us provide you with what was approved and what was accepted,” said Rodgers. “We certainly don’t want to go back to the task group level.”

The goal is to finalize the program language by the end of August.