The "Other" Codes

In the last several weeks I have been hitting energy codes pretty heavy and below I have more of my interview with Avi Bar on that subject.  But leading off this week is another code angle, and that’s one of safety and security glass.  As we push for energy improvements it really does have to be handled in combination with ensuring that we are not taking our eye off the protective glazing side.  I think catastrophic events can spur to action but sometimes it leads to only answering that specific bell, and leaving so many items open.  So while there’s a major focus on school security (and there needs to be) there still needs to be a sustained focus on the other areas of protective glazing, including fire rated. (One take of mine?  No more wire, please.) I do believe our industry has a great feel on this product segment, but there’s still more education needed.  If we still have people in the field not “getting it” we as an entire industry fail.

That said I thought that the gang over at Glass Magazine hit the issue perfectly this month with their edition on the entire protective glazing field, including the basics of the product all the way up to the advanced.  Really a job well done and a must read issue that doesn’t go maudlin and stays focused with the sort of professionalism and journalistic credibility you come to expect from the team at Glass Magazine. 

Elsewhere…

--  I had the opportunity to listen in to the latest construction industry economic forecast this past week and for the most part the analysts were in very positive moods.  While there are surely bumps in the road, optimism did rule the day.  However one item did come up that bothered me and that was one analyst noting that if you want to build “green” you have to build new.  I disagree, at least from our side of the world, with some of the technology we have out there, we can surely make serious difference in a retrofit application.  Once again we need to educate!

--  As some of my loyal readers know I loved the TV show “24.”  Amazing stuff.  Well news this week is that 24 and Jack Bauer may be coming back.  PLEASE make that happen.  In the meantime, the show “The Americans” is now my favorite- though I am still 5 episodes behind…

--  Last week my interview with Avi Bar, Vice President at Advanced Glazings really got people talking.  This week I wrap up our talk with a look at the architectural side of things.

Max: In your dealings with Architects and Designers are you finding that they are paying attention to the codes or are they more focused on the products they want to use?

Avi: My overall experience is that the Architects and Designers are becoming more aware of energy codes, however it isn’t easy to implement. The prescriptive methods don’t easily translate into their designs, and the modeling methodologies are complex to include in the first pass of designs. Therefore it’s an ongoing iterative process. There is a disconnect in the design community/owner interrelationship as fees for services continue to be tightened whilst the technical competency for designers is increasing. The complexity of the analysis process that the architects are now bound to engage on are a problem for them and perhaps an opportunity for a proactive glass industry. The more stringent the code, the more anxiety I have seen in the designers. This is a call for help to the glass and glazing industry to innovate and support them.

Max: A lot of the economic indicators for construction and architecture are trending upwards, are you seeing the same thing?

Avi: It’s hard for us to tell, as our products are not commodities and have seen overall increase in business even during the recession where billings were down and many glass fabricators have been shutting down. With that said, our current demand is growing at a much higher rate. Is that due to better economic conditions or finally a signal that the market for high performance translucent glass is maturing, we can’t say. Perhaps a mix of both. All in all, were optimistic.

LINKS of the WEEK

--  This piece absolutely pegs it on the dumbest things people are doing with smartphones.

--  Having worked in TV, I have seen this trick done TONS of times.  Funny to see it called out like this and also how poorly executed it was.

--  Great story and I love when people get dressed up to go to ballgames.  The seriously good ole days.

Fascinating Insight

I decided to take a little different of an approach for the blog this week.  Up top I’ll hit a couple of news items but for the 2^nd half I have an extremely interesting interview with a guy who I consider to be one of the most fascinating in our industry today.

Elsewhere….

--  So is it me or did the fact that the General Service Administration noting that they have been looking at LEED for “almost a year and half” just make you sad?   Seriously it should never take that long or am I missing something? Yes they studied 160 tools and standards, (there’s really that many? My goodness) but does it really take that long to eventually decide on the biggest and most prominent one? 

--  A website for you to absolutely visit and bookmark.  The Efficient Window Collaborative has added to their already amazing site and it now is even better.  The new window selection tool is tremendous.  Kudos to Kerry Haglund and her team for once again raising the bar when it comes to educational resources.

--  While we’re in congratulatory mode, we’ll send some congrats out to Alissa Schmidt of Viracon for winning a Distinguished Alumni award from her alma mater Minnesota State- Mankato.  Alissa represents our industry well and it’s great her efforts are being recognized!

--  Ok now on to the interview portion… this week I tracked down Avi Bar, Vice President, Architectural Products, Advanced Glazing (Solera Panels) to get his take on the current code landscape and more.  I met Avi 2 years ago and was extremely impressed by his intelligence and focus.  When the code discussion started to heat up, I thought getting Avi’s opinion would be interesting.  And after getting his answers I have no doubt that this will surely get some people talking. 

Max: The building/energy code process continues to evolve.  As someone that follows it the way you do, what’s your take on where the codes are now and where they are going?

Avi: I think there are two primary shifts now in code. Energy codes getting stricter and becoming mandatory vs. voluntary. The codes are reflecting the rising energy costs and environmental challenges. The codes recognize that the building envelope plays a significant role in addressing these challenges. However most advances have been predominantly incremental as we try to tweak existing technologies and materials. This in turn results in incremental code changes. All the evidence however indicates that we need a more radical change in energy codes. This will be fed by two possible triggers. An event that forces more scarcity of fossil fuels or breakthrough technologies to compete. We hope that the former doesn’t have to occur before the latter. There are materials such as ours that are making that true. In Europe code tends to be more stringent and mandatory as energy costs are substantially higher but the net result is better buildings, and more innovation and greater value in the derived from the glass industry. Another point of interest is that energy metrics for buildings are now factoring quantifiable benefits to the use of daylighting strategically as the primary lighting source during usable hours.

Max: What’s your take on the ASHRAE issue and the on-going discussions/angst that is seemingly pretty active in our industry now?

Avi: Here is the basic premise. ASHRAE standards are driven by two primary conditions.

a) Higher energy costs

b) Environmental stewardess

Both these conditions are important and real and should not be ignored. Asking ASHRAE to relax rules and code will compromise buildings ability to be sustainable from an environmental and financial standpoint.

The codes are not going to get less stringent. The voluntary nature is not going to spread. Instead I predict (as we can see everywhere else in the world), the codes will get more stringent and mandatory. We can sit and cry about it or we can rise to the challenge.

The issue the glass industry is trying to address is that most current glass products are based on a composition that is fundamentally flawed. Glass is a highly conductive material. Air in the units (or gasses, which are highly prone to leakage) are highly convective. Low-e is reaching its maximum value in reducing U Values. Spacers are highly conductive too. Therefore the fundamental construct of glass is challenged as its only potential improvement is incremental. Even with triple glazed units which add cost due to additional material and installation costs. Over and above this, vision glass struggles to deal with the daylighting question appropriately since it introduces heat and glare unless controlled through shading devices, which adds more cost.

So given these constraints it’s obvious that the "Nemesis / Enemy " is the code. If you can't improve then the code is too strict.

But that does not have to be the case. If we look at using innovation and technology to change the construct and paradigms on the glazing, then we could retain our position on buildings. There is much work to be done in this realm but it's not far off. Therefore my recommendation is instead of blaming ASHRAE and seeking lobbying money to fight it, let's invest this money in innovating and lower material costs.

The glass industry in short needs to embrace two fundamental things

a) Innovation

b) Education throughout the value chain

Next week, part 2 with Avi including where the Architectural community weighs in on this.

LINKS of the WEEK

The old “hotmail.com” address is now dead.  Wow.

Big question for business owners, replace the server or go to cloud based computing? 

This is a school that gets it, a “nice weather” day!

VIDEO of the WEEK

Take the next 6 minutes and see why the Portland Timber organization is one to be admired.  An 8-year-old boy with cancer gets his wish, and the Timbers pull out all of the stops.  Really impressive to make the effort and build the memory here. 

Understanding the Codes

The International Code Council committee hearings have been going on for the last week and usually its pretty newsworthy.  The question though for me is... have the moves taking place this week been good or bad for our industry?  So far I honestly haven’t been able to ascertain exactly how we will end up after this latest cycle.  And reading various reports and e-mails from people at the hearings has me even more confused.  So I’ll sit on this one, get more clarity and report in the next week or two.  Needless to say it is VERY important that we ALL get a clear idea of what happened there because it WILL have an effect on our industry.

Elsewhere…

--  Good news/bad news on the latest Architectural Billings Index (ABI) as the number was down, but is still in the positive territory.  Now the key is to watch how this progresses but this gives us a flavor for next year, and the verdict about 2014 has been mixed lately, some expecting growth and others calling for a downturn.

--  I’m a little late on this one, but major congrats to PPG on their new online Education Center.  It’s a treasure trove of great info and the layout is spectacular.  Kudos to Rob Struble, Glenn Miner and the entire team that worked on it.  Well done!!

--  Speaking of education, the Glass Management Institute is now open for registration and I urge you to look at the link and consider taking the course.  Yes I am biased as I am teaching one of the courses, but I truly believe in this effort, and think the other courses and instructors are simply off the hook and worth your attention.  Check it out… and be prepared I’ll be pestering you more about it as we get closer!

--  Anyone have any clue what the whole “Google Glass” adventure is?  Not sure I want my website up in my eyes… what am I missing?

--  Last this week… Blackberry fans (like me) are becoming more and more rare but evidently the new phone (with the physical keyboard) that Blackberry is coming out with could give them momentum.  Last week it got a great review in the Wall Street Journal. I for one remain hopeful because I will stick with that brand til the end.   My fat little fingers need that keyboard!

LINKS of the WEEK

--  Cool piece on using Twitter for the search.

--  Great story on Chinese reporter covering the Earthquake that interrupted her wedding.

--  Up here for the laughs…

VIDEO of the WEEK

Quick thinking TV weather person here when the automated camera goes haywire….

A rough week indeed

Well last week surely was a tough one, and quite frankly it was hard to focus on work.  The emotions from the Marathon to the catastrophic explosion in Texas to the manhunt and capture at the end of the week really were draining.  People much more brilliant than me will continue to weigh in on what that week meant and will eventually mean to our world and society.  For me, I am just glad its over and hope sincerely for better times ahead.

Elsewhere

--  No doubt that our world is an online one.  Last Friday as the manhunt was going on, I don’t think there were many people not connected to the internet, following by twitter or even listening online to the Boston Police scanners.  In fact I had a client who had to ask their employees to jump off the web because they were using bandwith at insane levels.  We are surely a “now” society when it comes to breaking news.

--  The Mid Atlantic Glass Expo was humungous success from all indicators and reports back to me.  There is no question that region supports that show like no other but again I also feel we are in prime “show time” as I think the timing is truly ripe for events that allow people to network, learn and grow. 

--  The incredible Julie Ruth wrote a must read piece in the last Glass Magazine on codes.  If you are in the business, you really need to read and grasp it.  I also know some folks in our industry have some thoughts on these code movements and I have reached out to them for comment on a future post.  If you have some angles on it, shoot me a note. 

--  The NFRC is still making their type of news on the Energy Star side… while they have softened their language of the need for people to sign up (and how they’ll bust them) they now are invoicing immediately.  That is before the program is really even going.  Gotta love it.  And the program itself is becoming pretty controversial.  I’m still in learning mode with it, but my mind is spinning on this one.

--  Last week on the blog I noted that Winter is still here and sure enough Mother Nature decided to confirm that by dropping a ton of snow on Colorado and Minnesota.  Seriously… enough is enough….

--  Last this week…  a happy birthday to one of the hardest working guys in this business, Scott Goodman of Flat Glass Distributors.  Knowing Scott he probably spent his birthday dropping off orders all over Central Florida!

LINKS of the WEEK

Let’s keep this light this week eh? 

--  Cupcakes… and Gourmet Cupcakes… in trouble.

--  A baseball game is 65-0.. after 3 innings.  I just read this article and have to wonder… how does this happen?  Just a bit mind blowing.

--  Huge solar project in Las Vegas comes online!

VIDEO of the WEEK

Since we were all glued to the news, had to go ahead and breakout the best news bloopers from March.  Some good ones in here.

Bits and Pieces

This past week was pretty quiet in terms of major news so for this post I decided to make it more of a quick hitter piece with notes and follow-ups.  So without further delay, here goes:

--  Last week I noted the great gesture from Bill Evans and his company.  Bill dropped me a line with more detail and kudos for the guys that physically got it done.  So thank you to Joel Poole, Terry Gilley, Fred Rowe, Jay Devers, and Versie Shannon.  It truly was a great thing you did for a family in need!

--  Sad news as yet another long time industry guy, Lester Peacock passed away.  I met Lester in Houston last year at his last professional home Binswanger Glass and he shared with me stories of working with many members of my family in the years past.  Lester was a tremendous man, respected by all,  who knew more about the ins and outs of the industry and its products, than I ever will.  He surely will be missed.

--  Did you get your Glass Magazine Award nominations in yet?  I know many people who were working on this last week, and for good reason, it IS the most prestigious award program in our industry, especially the ones that will be voted on by the public.  So if you haven’t done it- hurry up and do it.  Deadline is April 16^th. 

--  Guardian SunGuard launched a revamped website and I must say it looks tremendous.  I really like the cleaner look and the fact on the front page you have access to everything.  I’m also a fan of the use of “icons” and Guardian really handled that nicely.  Well-done folks!

--  Also on that note… There have been some serious web improvements going on in our world, the last three I have noted Guardian, Viracon, and General Glass (GGI) have really raised the bar out there.

--  Last fall the excellent Dr. Helen Sanders of SAGE gave a speech on Eco Labeling at the Glazing Executives Forum at GlassBuild.  I have to admit, I had no clue what it was and unfortunately did not get to the speech. However since then I had learned more and more, and then this past week I ran into this article that really explained the process nicely and even has a pretty cool experiment going with it.

--  I know it’s a week late, but that college basketball championship game was absolutely fantastic.  Easily one of the best games I have ever seen- with both teams playing at the highest level.  Shame anyone had to lose.  Congrats Louisville fans…

--  Last this week… if was 39 degrees and raining last week in Michigan and 92 and blistering in DC.  Ummmm can someone alert Mother Nature that its Spring…. Not Winter or Summer….

LINKS of the WEEK

--  Want to know why newspapers are cutting back?  This piece helps put into perspective.

--  This is simply an infuriating situation and unacceptable.  Heads should roll at United Airlines for this.  Unreal.

--  Comical piece for those of you who liked “Weekend at Bernie’s”

VIDEO of the WEEK

If you don’t get chills when watching this video, then you are not human.  A little boy, with terminal cancer, getting his dream to come true running a touchdown for Nebraska.  Wow.  Class act folks and keep fighting little guy!