NGA Glass Conference: Milwaukee -Coverage

Did you miss the great feed of Glass Magazine's Norah Dick ? No worries, we have you covered here with her coverage from the recent NGA Glass Conference: Milwaukee.

First up, vacuum insulating glazing, or VIG: where it’s been and where it’s going. Pilkington Architectural Glass's Kyle Sword was one of many panelists that reminded GC participants that VIG is not a new technology; its original concept dates all the way back to 1913.

Panelists from Vitro, NSG/Pilkington, Guardian Glass North America and VacuumGlass discussed existing technologies and future developments and applications of VIG. Variations include the elimination of the visible vacuum port, incorporating it into the edge of the system, as well as non-rectangular shapes. New innovations on the NFRC side also allows VIG manufacturers to keep proprietary technology confidential. Further testing and data is needed on larger VIG sizes, says David Cooper of VacuumGlass.NGA also announced new resources for members and the industry. While many companies right now can use an industry-wide EPD, “it won’t stay that way for long,” says NGA's Thomas Culp p, as requirements for further material transparency accelerate, with officials asking for even facility-specific EPDs. EPA’s $2.1 million grant to NGA will allow the organization to help fund members’ compliance with new requirements, including funding to support glass fabricators’ creation of EPDs.

The Association also officially relaunched its World of Glass map (https://lnkd.in/exKVqksJ). This free resource shows global float glass locations and North American fabricator locations, and will include glass recycling facilities as of October.

The NGA Glass Conference: Milwaukee included a wealth of technical updates as well as a review of advocacy wins for the glass industry. I also got to impersonate a piece of polycarbonate (I will not explain – if you know, you know).

Staff involved in advocacy reviewed the outcomes from NGA’s Glass & Glazing Advocacy Days, which includes an updated bill, co-sponsored by Sen. Markey, to extend the 48C tax credit deadline for projects using electrochromic glass. NGA’s “Ad Hoc Strike Force Team” also reported out on the feedback provided to the General Services Administration and its GSA P100 facilities standards which prescribe mandatory design and performance criteria for GSA-owned buildings. Overall, the new requirements are favorable to glass; the new standard requires stricter energy efficiency and performance, emphasizes daylighting and also includes requirements for blast-resistant glazing.

GSA continues to reference NGA’s Bird-Friendly Design Guide in building. thomas zaremba, code consultant for NGA, gave the Fire and Structural Codes & Standards update, with a major takeaway that the toll of wildfires in the U.S. is increasing interest in code-driven mitigation efforts, including a potentially expanded role of fire-resistant glass.

Next National Glass Association (NGA)'s Glass Conference: Milwaukee featured a special focus on sustainability and material transparency.

The agenda kicked off with a presentation by architect Leonard Sciarra of Farr Associates Architecture & Urban Design who explained the Living Building Challenge through a case study of a recently-built net-zero school in the Chicago area. The LBC performance standard requires a 20% reduction in embodied carbon for building materials as compared to an equivalent baseline. Farr talked through relevant requirements for the glass industry, including the “red list” of banned materials (PVC and formaldehyde are on the list) as well as how to submit information.

Companies do not necessarily have to disclose proprietary materials as part of compliance, said Farr, as long as the materials are not on the red list in a discussion about value-engineering, Farr said that this often depends on the building segment; schools are looking to invest long-term, and so designers are willing to pay for higher-performing materials; other projects may not be concerned with longer-term investment in the building, and so may be more reluctant to invest up-front.

The Forming Committee also convened. The agenda included discussion of concepts that are beginning to be raised by organizations inside and outside the industry related to sustainable building, including embodied and operational carbon, circularity and the social cost of carbon. The last term, according to the Environmental Protection Agency, refers to “a dollar value that measures the long-term damage done by one ton of CO2 emissions in a given year.”The social cost of carbon is designed to provide an estimate of the damage climate change could do in terms of social impact, which can include effects like agricultural productivity. Attendees raised questions about how the term is being used, and how costs are being passed on to the building industry. Some attendees suggested that glass industry members re-emphasize the social benefits of glass as a building material, in terms of daylighting, health and wellness.

Visit GlassMagazine.com for more coverage of this event as well as the next edition of Glass Magazine Weekly.