The opening session during the National Fenestration Rating Council’s (NFRC) annual Committee Week Meeting in Annapolis included a panel discussion on the future of Net Zero energy.

The distinguished panelists included Daniel Huard, from USGBC Nevada and founding partner of Humann Building Solutions.

During his presentation, Huard pointed out that Net Zero energy is quickly becoming a sought after goal for many buildings around the globe, each relying on exceptional energy conservation and on-site renewables to meet all of its heating, cooling, and electricity needs.

He added that the true performance of many homes and buildings is overstated and that actual Net Zero Energy structures are still rare -- but only for the time being.

Huard and fellow panelists Ellen Vaughan, Policy Director for High Performance Green Buildings, with the Environmental and Energy Study Institute in Washington, D.C. and Kiere DeGrandchamp, President of High Performance Homes, in Gettysburg, PA also explained that the industry is poised for considerable growth.  

If you're attending the International Builders' Show in Las Vegas, be sure to visit NFRC at booth 2649 in the South Hall.

The exhibit hall is open from 9:00 a.m until 5:00 p.m. (PT) on Wednesday, January 21 and Thursday, January 22.

The National Fenestration Rating Council (NFRC) empowers consumers who are in the market for energy efficient windows, doors, and skylights.

NFRC is an independent, third-party certification organization. Its ratings represent the only way consumers can be sure these products will perform as advertised.

Under its Retailer Program, NFRC helps window, door, and skylight retailers educate their customers at the point of purchase. It does this by providing free fact sheets retailers can use to explain the energy performance numbers found on the NFRC label.

NFRC created its Retailer Program after noticing an increase in the number of calls from consumers inquiring about how to make the best purchasing decision for themselves.

NFRC has received positive feedback from many of its nearly 250 participating retailers.

It’s easy to get involved. Retailers simply need to contact NFRC. It will ship fact sheets to retailers at  no cost and re-stock supplies as needed.

"Everybody wins," says Tom Herron, NFRC’s Director, Communications and Marketing.  "Consumers get the information they need at the point-of-purchase, retailers improve the likelihood of making sales rather than having their customers go home to think about it, and NFRC gets some recognition.”

Retailers can learn more about the program by contacting NFRC’s Communications Manager, Robin Merrifield.

High-performance windows, doors, and skylights can make our homes and buildings more comfortable and energy efficient, but maximizing their contribution depends on occupant behavior.

It’s easy to overlook the role people play in contributing to green building and sustainability. When we think about high-performance structures, we often focus on design, construction, and technology. With Americans spending 90 percent of their time indoors, however, the way people interact with these structures is also important for improving overall building performance.

In hot sunny climates, for example, measures that reduce energy consumption yet sacrifice comfort are unlikely to achieve their intended results. This is because occupants generally act to override their discomfort. For example, they may draw the curtains across high-performance windows on a sunny day and turn on the lights to avoid glare.

Considering the building’s orientation during the integrated design process, however, can lead to better solutions. For instance, planting deciduous trees or shrubs near windows and installing canopies or awnings helps harvest (free) daylight while controlling solar heat gain and glare.

Similarly, installing windows with Low-e coating can improve occupant comfort and energy efficiency. These are ideal for heat-dominated climates because they preserve visible transmittance. They also reduce solar heat gain and glare. If you need a solution for an existing home or building, window films are a good option.

Another example of building occupants acting to override their discomfort occurs during the winter. People sometimes raise the thermostat and open multiple windows so they can enjoy fresh air without getting cold. Although rare in hot climates, this may present a challenge between December and February, when nighttime temperatures dip below 40 degrees.

A more effective solution is installing operable windows, which allow natural ventilation and prevent Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) from accumulating. Operable windows also provide an important psychological benefit – the feeling of control over one’s environment.

The bulk of our energy consumption comes from seeking the balance among comfort, energy efficiency, and good indoor air quality. Encouraging more interaction between occupants and the built environment helps them better understand how their actions affect their surroundings and their utility bills.

In the future, the highest-performing buildings may not be those that initially exceed code. Instead, they may be the ones that provide an engaging environment where occupants share responsibility for managing energy consumption.

In fact, making buildings perform better depends on educated and committed occupants who proactively interact directly with the buildings they inhabit. While ever-expanding technology will continue providing new ideas, tools, and equipment for making improvements, our actions are what ultimately get the job done.

As Kathryn Janda of the Environmental Change Institute at Oxford University said in her paper of the same title, “Buildings don’t use energy – people do.”

High-performance windows protect the air-conditioned space inside your home or building from the hot, dry climate and provide several important benefits.

In addition to lowering equipment and utility costs by allowing you to opt for a smaller HVAC system, high-performance windows help utility companies reduce peak cooling loads. These two benefits working in tandem reduce energy consumption while maintaining a comfortable indoor environment and minimizing greenhouse gas emissions.

In hot climates, the peak cooling load refers to how much air conditioning capacity is needed to maintain a comfortable indoor temperature, typically 75 degrees Fahrenheit on especially hot days. Meeting peak demand, however, isn’t necessary most of the time. In fact, it varies with the time of day and the time of year, and it seldom occurs for more than several hours per month.

Nevertheless, peak demand presents a dilemma for utility companies. They must maintain adequate capacity to meet customer demand – even during the hottest summer days when many people run their air conditioners constantly.

Remaining poised to meet peak cooling demand can create additional expenses for consumers. Some utility companies implement demand charges to cover the high costs they pay for their generating and transmitting capacity even though it sits idle most of the time.

By minimizing peak cooling loads, utility companies bypass the need for additional generating capacity. This allows them to circumvent the expense of building new power plants. It also benefits their customers by keeping rates down.

Windows are typically the largest source of unwanted heat gain in homes and buildings. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), even the best-performing windows provide less insulation than the worst walls or roofs. Windows are also a common source of air leakage.

Furthermore, windows that allow high solar gain create additional heat into your home or building, where it’s already being generated by people, lights, equipment, and appliances. Eliminating windows is normally impractical and undesirable, yet replacing them is often economically feasible, particularly when part of an extensive renovation.

In fact, the windows and glazing systems in homes and buildings constructed during the 1970s and earlier are beginning to fail. These systems are often comprised of single-pane glass. A home or building with windows that need replacing offers an opportunity to make upgrades that contribute to reducing peak cooling loads.