NFRC issues first CMA label certificate to Efco

Officials at the National Fenestration Rating Council, Greenbelt, Md.,and Efco Corp. announced that NFRC has issued the first label certificate under the new Component Modeling Approach program to the Monett, Mo.-based commercial window and door company, according to an April 14 release.Efco, a Pella company, pulled the first certificate in March for 5600 2¼ Curtain Wall supplied to the Life Sciences Research Center under construction by the Utah Science Technology and Research Initiative. The building, on the campus of Utah State University in Logan, will serve as an industry “magnet” designed to draw all-star research teams. Efco’s sales rep is ASC Inc. and its customer is LCG Facades.“We’ve been working on the CMA program for several years, and after all the hard work and contentious debate it’s very satisfying to have the first ratings in the field,” said Jim Benney , NFRC CEO, at the organization’s Spring Membership Meeting, April 12-14, New Orleans.“Because it’s designed to inspire and promote innovation, the new building in Utah was the perfect project to inaugurate NFRC’s new CMA program,” said Joseph Holmes, Efco’s Approved Calculation Entity, in the release. “Even though we were the first and there are some small bugs yet to work out, the process went as smooth as possible.”Efco served as the Manufacturer ACE Organization. Manufacturer ACEs employ individuals who are trained and certified by NFRC, which allows manufacturers to serve their own needs more efficiently than contracting with an outside organization. Keystone Certifications Inc. provided Inspection Agency services.The CMA Product Certification Program, which NFRC launched in January, enables whole-product energy performance ratings for commercial fenestration projects using data from the three primary components of fenestration: frames, spacers, and glazing. The CMA calculates the energy performance ratings according to NFRC 100 and 200, which are required by Utah’s state energy code (IECC 2006).In addition to providing a new way to generate certified performance ratings for fenestration products in commercial applications, architects, specifiers, and others can download the CMA Software Tool (CMAST) and generate non-certified ratings in order to model different fenestration choices. “CMA is a powerful tool that everyone involved in creating the built environment can use to make their jobs a little easier and simpler,” Benney said, in the release. “We expect many companies to follow Efco’s lead and realize the benefits of the new approach in the months and years to come.”