 
Code Group Denies Industry Proposal to Allow
AAMA 507 as NFRC Alternative
November 3, 2010
The efforts of some commercial glazing industry groups were defeated
during the recent International Code Council hearings when EC172
was again disapproved. The proposal, which was submitted by
a number of industry trade organizations, including the American
Architectural Manufacturers Association, the Glass Association of
North America and the Insulating Glass Manufacturers Alliance, among
others, would have allowed AAMA 507 to be used for code compliance,
in addition to NFRC.
The proposal would have allowed U-factors and SHGC for storefront
and curtainwall in commercial buildings to be determined in accordance
with AAMA 507. As the proposal stated, "when AAMA 507 is used, the
product performance shall be documented by a certificate of compliance,
as described in AAMA 507, that is signed and submitted to the code
official by a registered design professional. The product line testing
and simulation, as described in AAMA 507, shall be conducted in
accordance with NFRC 100 and NFRC 200 by an approved, accredited,
independent laboratory."
Another proposal supported by some industry groups was EC165, which
was submitted by the New Building Institute and the American Institute
of Architects. The proposal was approved by public comment and revises
the prescriptive fenestration criteria, including U-factor and SHGC.
It includes an option for 40 percent window-to-wall ratio, increased
skylight area and U-factors that increase energy efficiency. Based
on the addition of another public comment, though, the nonmetal
framing window category was removed, and the U-factors for metal
framed products were further lowered to match the values recently
overturned in ASHRAE
90.1's addendum "bb."
Likewise, proposal EC173, submitted by the U.S. Department of Energy
was also approved. This code change requires a minimum amount of
skylights in certain building types, such as big box stores, warehouses,
etc.
On the residential side, proposals EC140 and EC141, both of which
were disapproved, called for restoring the ability to take credit
for installing high efficiency HVAC equipment, which would increase
the flexibility for trade-offs in other envelope components, such
as doors and windows.
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