2010 – What’s Next?

Last year the ARRA caught most of us by surprise by imposing tax credit requirements that differed greatly from those that we knew about from the DOE’s Energy Star Program. We all worked hard to quickly align our engineering strategies, obtain simulations and eventually approvals for these products.

Now the Energy Star Phase 1 is here. It's time to start figuring out what will come next.

This is a difficult time to predict what Phase 2 will look like as the EPA has taken over the role of the DOE in administering the Energy Star Program. We now have all heard of two different levels of Energy Star compliance with the addition of the Super Star category which only adds to the questions.

And how will the R-5 program affect those decisions? While none of us believe that the Energy Star slate is completely wiped clean from an engineering view the question remains where will the U and SHGC numbers go.

I attended a presentation by Mark LaFrance from the DOE’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy in January 2010. If I had to sum it up in three words they would be triples, triples and triples. They have a stated goal of Net-Zero Energy Homes by 2020 and have awarded grant money to develop technologies that increase the productivity and therefore reduce the price of R-5 windows. The U values he discussed were .20 to .24 with no SHGC requirements.

While none of us currently knows what the EPA will do with the Energy Star program or what may be legislated for future tax incentives one thing is certain. The next bar will be much harder meet. INTIGRAL will continue to be actively following these changes and keep our valued customers appraised as they occur.

We remain ready to discuss your strategies and assist in simulations for design concepts to keep you ahead of the pack. If you would like us to work with your design teams please contact Mark Hutchinson, INTIGRAL’s Technical and Sales Support Manager.

What’s your 30/30? 

Prior to February 17th, the window and door industry was working to meet Department of Energy preliminary guidelines for Energy Star qualification of their products.

Since then, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 has window companies across the country looking at their “30/30”—a U-value of 0.30 or less and a Solar Heat Gain Coefficient of 0.30 or less.

The good news? INTIGRAL can help you on your way to meeting both these criteria. We carry high performance glass products and warm edge spacers that can improve your overall window performance.

According to Mark Hutchinson, INTIGRAL’s Technical and Sales Support Manager, the ARRA caught everyone within the industry by surprise.

“Fortunately most companies were close enough in either U factor or SHGC that with a few modifications, their existing systems were able to work. The issue was getting these changes through formal simulation and NFRC approval. Most organizations are now reaping the sales benefits of the Stimulus Plan.”

We continue to work closely with our customers to help them understand options for meeting the ARRA criteria. For those that were able to provide their drawing files, we performed preliminary simulations to prove out options before they were formally submitted. There are also new glass products becoming available and changes in thermal performance of spacer systems that were not being accounted for in design by either engineers or simulators.

INTIGRAL continues to help partner with our customers to sort out the Energy Star requirements for both Phase 1 and Phase 2 criteria through presentations and engineering support. For more information, contact Mark or your INTIGRAL representative.