Four Action Items Move Forward for Board Approval; CMA Work Continues Today

by Ellen Giard

After a long day yesterday of NFRC task group, subcommittee and committee meetings, Stan Smith, GANA executive vice president, was the big winner. Smith took home the top prize last night for winning the most funny money during the evening's casino night event.

Stan Smith, executive vice president of the Glass Association of North America, was the big winner during last night’s casino night event following the NFRC’s summer meeting.

While Smith may have been the funny money winner last night, the big prize--how NFRC's CMA program will ultimately be structured--is still up for grabs, as subcommittee work and committee work is continuing this afternoon in Denver.

Much was also accomplished yesterday during the various meetings. In the research and technology committee meeting four action items were discussed and moved forward to the board for approval. Those items include revisions to the NFRC Research Manual; two bid document request for proposals, one in regards to complex product visible transmittance and one for non-standard products for CMA; and the revised NFRC glossary. The NFRC board of directors will discuss these items during tomorrow morning's board meeting.

During the regulatory affairs and marketing committee meeting Rich Karney with the Department of Energy (DOE) gave an update on some Energy Star windows.

"We're looking at changing the requirements for Energy Star windows," said Karney. "And the reason is that in many cases Energy Star barely, if at all, meets the codes, especially in the north." He said right now 53 percent of the market for windows is Energy Star, which means the Energy Star label is loosing its meaning to consumers.

The NFRC Summer meeting continues through tomorrow.

Karney said formal research on the revisions has been done and the formal process is likely to begin this fall with the earliest effective date being January 1, 2009. He said they are looking at six guiding principles:

1. There must be significant energy savings;
2. It must be cost effective for the consumer;
3. Energy savings must be measurable;
4. Functionality and performance cannot be compromised;
5. Proprietary technologies cannot be included to ensure consumers have multiple choices; and
6. The Energy Star label must provide meaningful differentiation to the consumer.

Meetings are ongoing today with a number of subcommittees convening, including the CMA (technical) subcommittee. Tune in to USGNN tomorrow for more updates from the NFRC Summer meeting.

Ellen Giard is editor of USGlass Magazine