GANAPerspectives

Zeroing In
Energy Division Working to Meet Several Needs
by Helen Sanders and Mark Silverberg

Energy management is one of the biggest global mega-trends that society will face for the next 20 years. The challenges of energy conservation, sustainable design and their associated policies and regulations are already impacting the glass and glazing industry. The significance and complexity of these energy-related issues demand a more elevated and coordinated focus within the fenestration industry. For this very reason, the Glass Association of North America (GANA) created its energy division 18 months ago.

Regulatory Efforts
The purpose of the energy division is to provide advocacy on critical regulatory and standards issues, and education on the role that glass can play in achieving high-performance buildings from both an energy and human comfort perspective. Our advocacy efforts have been focused on three key areas: building energy standards (e.g. ASHRAE 90.1), life cycle assessment (LCA)—eco-labeling—and government and regulatory affairs.

Led by Rob Joyce of Guardian Industries Corp., GANA’s government and regulatory affairs subcommittee is focused on raising the level of industry coordination and education about important national legislative and trade issues. Updates on these topics are being provided to members quarterly in GANA’s Glass Reflections newsletter. Currently we are tracking the S.1000 Energy Savings and Industrial Competitiveness Act. After the presidential election, when things start moving in Congress again, we are planning to organize coordinated fly-ins for our members to advocate, and garner support for important industry positions with legislators.

Eco-labeling and LCA are hot topics. More architects are designing green buildings and are asking for the embodied energy or full LCAs of construction products. Doing an LCA currently earns a credit in the International Green Construction Code, and may be required in the next version. The USGBC implemented a pilot credit for LCA in LEED in 2010 and federal agencies are moving toward using LCAs for government building projects. Trends suggest that LCAs will be mandatory for sustainably designed buildings soon. Today the ability to provide an LCA for your product is a differentiator, but soon it may be a ticket required to play. An energy division task group has been collaborating with the Insulating Glass Manufacturers Alliance (IGMA), Window and Door Manufacturers Association (WDMA) and American Architectural Manufacturers Association (AAMA) to provide coordinated input into development of the rules for doing LCAs for glazing products.

LEEDing the Way
On the subject of green buildings, we’re forming a task group led by Marc Deschamps of Walker Glass to review and comment on the new LEED version 4 draft which is currently out for public comment. LEED has a number of credits, such as Energy and Daylight and Views, to which the use of glass and glazing can contribute when used appropriately. If you are interested, please contact Ashley Charest at ashley@glasswebsite.com.

One of our most active areas is in building standards, monitoring and participating in the development of ASHRAE 90.1. While we previously succeeded in defending the reduction in window-to-wall ratio (WWR) in the 2010 revision, WWR remains under pressure. GANA’s consultant, Tom Culp, and our technical director, Urmilla Sowell, with other team members, are doing an excellent job advocating for industry positions and collaborating with the ASHRAE envelope subcommittee to develop sound proposals for the 2013 revision.

The Authors: Helen Sanders is the chair of the GANA energy division and vice president, technical business development at SAGE Electrochromics Inc. Mark Silverberg is the vice-chair of the GANA energy division and the president of Technoform North America Inc.

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