NFRC Fall Meeting Takes Place in Florida

The National Fenestration Rating Council's (NFRC) Fall Meeting began Monday at the Crowne Plaza in Jacksonville, Fla.

Joe Hayden of Pella Corp., who serves as NFRC chair, welcomed everyone in attendance during the general session. As part of the meeting, he also presented the NFRC's first Member of the Year Award. The recognition went to Roland Temple of AZS Consulting Inc. In accepting the award, Temple said with great thanks, "NFRC has been a part of my life since it first began. This is totally unexpected and very appreciated."

Jim Benney, NFRC executive director announced the NFRC board election results. Those elected are: Jim Larsen, Cardinal IG; Steve Strawn, Jeld-Wen; Tony Rygg, California Energy Commission; Nelson Pena, California Energy Commission; and Nils Peterman, Alliance to Save Energy (CLICK HERE to read related press release).

Day two began with subcommittees of the Research & Technology Committee meeting to discuss research projects and ballots.

During the Research Subcommittee meeting the group heard progress reports on a number of activities currently in the works. Willie DuPont of Sunergy Consulting reported on the Window 6 and Therm 6 validation research. He explained that the software programs now have new capabilities for calculating solar heat gain coefficient (SHGC) and U-factor for glazing products that cannot currently be modeled or simulated, including fritted glass. The first part of the research task is to compile and evaluate existing SHGC and U-factor test results and compare physical testing against simulated testing based upon the new software.

During the Optical Properties Subcommittee the group reviewed NFRC 300 and 301 ballot negatives. One negative in particular, which saw a bit of discussion stated that the inclusion of ASTM G197 in Section 7.2.5 represented "the first step in adopting a new spectral weighting function into NFRC's programs that may significantly increase SHGC and VT ratings …"

Hayden spoke up and said, "This is big. If approved is the Department of Energy prepared to adjust Energy Star criteria accordingly?" Hayden made a motion that the negative be found persuasive and substantive and recommended that the implementation of NFRC 300 be delayed until at least April 1, 2009. The ballot will now go back to the task group and will be re-balloted.

Later that day the meeting really heated up during the U-Factor Subcommittee meeting. The discussion centered around NFRC 100 ballot negatives concerning the inclusion of having two rated sizes for each product line.

According to Randy Van Voorst of Quality Testing Inc., having more than one size would "muddy the water," because it would allow every product line to have two different numbers for U-Factor and Solar Heat Gain Coefficient (SHGC).

Tom Culp with Birch Point Consulting LLC spoke in favor of having more than one rated size.

"Many commercial manufacturers feel that being restricted to a standard size does not correlate to their experiences with actual commercial sizes," Culp said.

Ultimately, the subcommittee voted against having more than one size. Mike Thoman, subcommittee chair, pointed out that the issue of rating actual sizes will still need to be covered.

"Disparity in the information we're putting out about products is what caused this …" Thoman said. "The commercial guys have a valid point and we will need to discuss it at some point."

The Technical Committee sessions continued on Wednesday, and included a meeting of the Component Modeling Approach (CMA) - Technical Subcommittee. Much of the time this morning was spent reviewing and discussing a number of ballots. Two ballots, validation testing under NFRC 100 and frame grouping under NFRC 200, were forwarded on to committee for approval. The NFRC 100 and 200 ballots for non-standard products were returned to task group.

The meeting concludes today with the NFRC's board of directors meeting.

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