GANA Conference Opens in Sarasota, Fla.

The Glass Association of North America (GANA) opened its annual conference this morning at the Hyatt Regency Sarasota in Sarasota, Fla.

An energy division session featured three speakers who addressed areas related to dynamic and solar glazing, along with vacuum insulating glass (VIG). Timothy Snow and Robert Tenent of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in Golden, Colo., spoke about the requirements and potential for windows and concentrating solar power. Specifically, Tenent discussed his work on the "Dynamic Windows Research Program."

Tenent explained that while electrochromic windows are the most-often-discussed type of dynamic glazing, there are other types, including photochromic and thermochromic. Much of Tenent's own research focuses on cost analysis.

"We'd love to put [the necessary items for dynamic glazing] into a float glass line--in fact, that's what we're trying to do," said Tenent. " ... If we can make the chemistry work, the price point will be there." (

There may be other potential as well, according to Tenent. "We hope there are multiple paths to get to a lower price point," said Tenent.

NREL officials also hope to get industry representatives further involved in their work. "I'm really interested in working with industry," said Tenent. "I'm not interested in going out on my own on this."

NREL also has spent a good deal of time researching insulating glass (IG) unit failure, and also is looking at

"We're starting to work on methods to determine causes for argon failure without destroying the evidence," Tenent said.

Patrick Sargent, president of the Corona Group, followed with a look at the growing solar industry. "There are a lot of new things going on in the photovoltaics industry, and a lot of things that could be going on that are not going on," said Sargent.

Sargent said currently the Italian and German markets make up 80 percent of the entire solar market, though the United States has great potential. "Everywhere in the United States is better for the solar market," he said. "North America does not have a national energy policy to speak of--they're letting the states control it here." (

Lucas Turner also spoke about the effects of the newest ASCE 7 release--and compared 7-10 with the previous version, 7-05, and the wind map changes made within.

In addition to these sessions, several GANA divisions and groups have held meetings throughout the day, including the Laminating Division's task groups and subcommittees, the Protective Glazing committee, the Energy Division and the Laminating Division.

The Energy Division was busy at work with several updates, including a code update from code consultant Tom Culp of Birchpoint Consulting, who posed a question to the group. "Where do we want to go from here?" he asked. "Are we willing to go to triple glazing as a requirement in the energy code? It's more glass, but it's also more expensive.

"These are the kinds of questions we're going to need to answer in the coming months," he said.

Rob Joyce of Guardian Industries also provided an update on the Energy Division's Governmental and Regulatory Affairs subcommittee. The group intends to begin providing quarterly public policy updates, and is proposing that the division organize a Washington, D.C., fly-in. "The objective is to broadly educate Congress members on our issues," he said.

In conjunction with this effort, the group also is aiming to develop a website with advocacy tools for members to communicate with their congressional members. "The issues we'll focus on will be from a policy standpoint," Joyce said.

Helen Sanders of Sage Electrochromics provided an update on the Life Cycle Analysis Task Group. "Most of the activity in this group has been focused on product category rules," she said.

The group currently is working on developing these rules in conjunction with the Department of Energy, through NREL. "We're getting close to having a draft of the rules [complete]," she said.

In closing, Sanders encouraged all in the standing-room-only crowd to get involved with the Division's efforts. "We need active engagement in these strategic initiatives for our industry," she said.

The annual conference continues through Friday, February 24. Stay tuned to www.USGNN.com(tm) for the latest updates from the event throughout the week.