Representatives from the National Fenestration Rating Council (NFRC) traveled recently to Beijing, where they educated the Chinese government on developing a roadmap for a national system to test, rate, and certify building products – including windows – for energy efficiency.

Tom Barnett, NFRC’s senior director, programs, and Charlie Curcija, Ph.D., NFRC board member and principal scientist in the windows and daylighting group of the Building Technologies and Urban Systems Division at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratories (LBNL), represented NFRC.

Sha Yu, a scientist with Pacific Northwest National Laboratories (PNNL), also participated in the talks, and together the trio helped Chinese Ministries assess its current system and provided recommendations for improvement.

The two-day-long meeting arose from a joint initiative led by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) in collaboration with China’s National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC). The initiative seeks to implement a national, uniform certification system in China by 2020, subsequently increasing the supply of energy efficient products available in the country’s building market.

“Refining China’s certification system will benefit both the U.S. and Chinese industries by removing market barriers and increasing access to high-quality green products,” says Deb Callahan, NFRC’s CEO. “We are proud to be part of this initiative.”

Discussion topics included product testing and labeling, laboratory accreditation, and options for potential pilot programs to evaluate new concepts related to testing standards for window glass.

Daniel Huard, NFRC’s vice chairman of the board, said the collaboration with China is a big step toward international harmonization.