The Debate

Back from Boston, where I had the opportunity to debate Jim Benney, the Executive Director of the NFRC. Jim is a good, friendly guy, which made it more of a challenge to go after the things that are wrong with that group.
But I did, and for the most part I think the debate went well. The NFRC Board is the "be all-end all" and Jim admitted that. The NFRC is not a member driven group, so why we all try to develop a consensus and work to put "fair"programs in place is kind of odd considering at the end of the day it truly does not matter.
In the debate a few things fleshed out. I noted that a whole system calculation would be good for our industry, good for designers etc. However what is not needed is the additional validation and on site inspections that the NFRC wants. The NFRC feels like all of that is neccesary while most sane humans, and pretty much the entire audience at the debate did not.
In laymans terms, the industry would submit material to an NFRC certified "calculation agency" for performance numbers. But that would not be enough as the NFRC would want those numbers validated (EXTRA STEP= EXTRA COSTS) and a review either on site or at the glaziers office that the proper products were installed (EXTRA STEP=EXTRA COSTS).
Am I crazy?
Commercial building has steps already in place, legally binding contracts that ensure that the proper products are used. But hand it to the NFRC Board they created a perfect mouse trap here. They will ignore the simplicity and the advantages to go forward with their plan because they need the "validation" yet that whole philosophy is skewed too.
It comes down to the Board of the NFRC and a handful of members who really control the action and will make every effort to make these programs go. Why? Because those folks have a monetary stake in these processes. They have built businesses off of the sole existence of the NFRC and the programs that are created there. Every new rating system means more money for them.
As anyone who follows this debate knows, the NFRC is an IRS 501C3 organization. Somehow that designation makes them more powerful than anyone on the earth. They are a charity, Jim even compared them to the United Way. Yes the NFRC and the United Way are in the same classification for the most part. I wonder do board members at United Way create programs and have ultimate input to create programs within United Way to benefit themselves financially?

I can and will go on and on. I can not stand still and watch this industry get hammered by a group like this.