SPOTLIGHT: Annual Energy Performance Subcommittee

History
The Annual Energy Performance (AEP) Subcommittee has been in existence for nearly 15 years. It came about as a result of NFRC’s desire to provide consumers with a simple, overall rating of the energy performance of the window in a home.

Leadership
Tom Culp, of Birch Point Consulting LLC, currently serves as the AEP chair, and Jim Larsen of Cardinal Glass is the vice chair. Scott Hanlon is the NFRC staff liaison.

Scope
The AEP Subcommittee’s mission is to develop procedures to rate the annual energy performance of fenestration products and attachments in homes taking into account the variability of housing characteristics and operation. It reports to the Technical Committee.

Status
At the most recent NFRC membership meeting, the AEP successfully approved the publication of the NFRC 901 “Guidelines to Estimate the Effects of Fenestration on Heating and Cooling Energy Consumption in Single Family Residences.”

The Board approved the document and it will be implemented upon publication. The subcommittee is continually working on the methodology for the reference house language, which will be balloted and reinserted when ready.

Next Steps
The recently approved NFRC 901 document describes a standard method for calculating and comparing the heating and cooling energy performance of different windows in a specific home. Although some basic parameters are fixed, this would require the homeowner or window salesperson to input several characteristics to describe the specific home and its energy use, and then the effect of different windows on the heating and cooling load to be compared. The actual calculation could be done by a Web or software tool, in accordance with these guidelines.

This step forward could form the basis for an actual NFRC annual energy performance rating that could potentially go on a label. The U.S. Department of Energy continues to encourage us to finish the job, as other countries such as Australia, Canada, and Britain already have their own AEP-type systems in place. NFRC hopes to finalize these final issues and develop something that is truly beneficial to both the consumer and industry.