News
Speakers announced for Glass Connections

April 1, 2011 – The Canadian Glass Association has released its list of topics and speakers for Glass Connections, taking place May 3, in Toronto.

"Raise your window performance to meet tomorrow’s new levels"
Speaker: Christopher Barry, director of technical services, Pilkington NA

Minimum performance levels in ER, NFRC, ASHRAE and
LEED rating levels, building codes and consumer performance preferences are all being
raised to new levels. 

We will show how adding a low emissivity coat, or
coatings, always helps window thermal performance making it more
energy efficient. Also how centre-of-glass thermal performance can now be
so much better than the edge that attention must be paid to
edge-of-glass spacers and window-frame thermal properties to achieve
the desired improvements to the complete window.

Solar control requires evaluation to see if free,
passive solar heat gain should be admitted or rejected.  As the thermal
and solar control properties of a window are improved it becomes more
important to check that the resulting thermal stresses are properly
evaluated, using currently available tools, and that appropriate
measures are taken to prevent glass breakage.

"Harvesting sunlight: Using photovoltaics and advanced thermal
glazing units to meet new federal, provincial and municipal green
sustainable design initiatives" (AIA credits)
Speaker: John Carpenter, president, Clearstream International Products / Schott Okalux Architectural Glass

CGA member specialists will receive up-to-date glazing techniques that capture and manage solar energy.

• BIPV glass units – Building integrated photovoltaics, taking advantage of provincial net metering opportunities

• Advanced thermal glazing units – Cooling, heating and illumination controls for occupant comfort and reduced energy loads

• Sophisticated light-directed glazing units – Glass units built according to the building’s latitude and longitude coordinates

• Forward-thinking, digitized glazing – Precise image transfer over large glass surfaces, without silk screening

• New developments – Switchable glass: opaque to
  clear/clear to opaque for privacy controls; invisible, ultraviolet,
  pattern glass to reduce or eliminate bird collisions

"Silicone sealants in construction" (AIA credits)
Speaker: Scott Waechter, Dow Corning

Learn about the differences in sealant technologies available in the
market and why the trend over the past decade is toward the use of more
use of silicone sealants. Scott will also speak about proper building
joint design details as well as the proper procedures for installing
building joint sealants.  Additional topics to be covered include
sealants and LEED, sealant staining, sealant compatibility, low dirt
pick up sealants.

"Glacier discovery walk"   
Speaker: Brock Shroeder, Read Jones Christoffersen

Design and detailing of an exterior structural glass floor and balustrade for a tourist attraction in a northern climate.

"Canada’s two defining influences over the next decade: Commodities and construction"
Alex Carrick, Chief Economist, Reed Construction Data

Commodities play a huge role in the construction industry. First, as
the base material for all building products, they determine costs. 
Second, the demand for and price of commodities drive resource project
investment plans. This is where emerging economies come in.