Apr. 14, 2010 – The National Fenestration Rating Council (NFRC) and EFCO Corporation have announced that NFRC has issued the first Label Certificate under the new Component Modeling Approach (CMA) program.
Apr. 14, 2010 – The National Fenestration Rating Council (NFRC) and EFCO Corporation have announced that NFRC has issued the first Label Certificate under the new Component Modeling Approach (CMA) program.
EFCO, a Pella Company, pulled the first certificate in March for 5600 2¼ Curtain Wall supplied to the Life Sciences Research Center under construction by the Utah Science Technology and Research Initiative (USTAR). The building, on the campus of Utah State University in Logan, will serve as an industry “magnet” designed to draw all-star research teams. EFCO’s sales rep is ASC, Inc. and its customer is LCG Facades.
“We’ve been working on the CMA program for several years, and after all the hard work and contentious debate it’s very satisfying to have the first ratings in the field,” said NFRC CEO Jim Benney at the organization’s Spring Membership Meeting.
“Because it’s designed to inspire and promote innovation, the new building in Utah was the perfect project to inaugurate NFRC’s new CMA program,” said Joseph Holmes, EFCO’s Approved Calculation Entity (ACE). “Even though we were the first and there are some small bugs yet to work out, the process went as smooth as possible.”
EFCO served as the Manufacturer ACE Organization. Manufacturer ACEs employ individuals who are trained and certified by NFRC, which allows manufacturers to serve their own needs more efficiently than contracting with an outside organization. Keystone Certifications, Inc. provided Inspection Agency services.
The Component Modeling Approach (CMA) Product Certification Program, which NFRC launched in January, enables whole-product energy performance ratings for commercial fenestration projects using data from the three primary components of fenestration: frames, spacers, and glazing. The CMA calculates the energy performance ratings according to NFRC 100 and 200, which are required by Utah’s state energy code (IECC 2006).
In addition to providing a new way to generate certified performance ratings for fenestration products in commercial applications, architects, specifiers, and others can download the CMA Software Tool (CMA) and generate non-certified ratings in order to model different fenestration choices.
“CMA is a powerful tool that everyone involved in creating the built environment can use to make their jobs a little easier and simpler,” Benney said. “We expect many companies to follow EFCO’s lead and realize the benefits of the new approach in the months and years to come.”
Interested parties can learn more about CMA on the NFRC Web site at www.nfrc.org .
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