Committee Updates from NGA Glass Conference: Isle of Palms | Charleston

Association News

About 100 glass industry technical leaders gathered in South Carolina in early February for NGA Glass Conference: Isle of Palms | Charleston 2024, hosted by the National Glass Association. Over the course of three days, the conference held meetings of NGA’s Forming, Advocacy and Fabricating Committees.

Read additional news from the event. 

NGA Forming Committee

The Forming Committee gave updates on Federal and State Buy Clean initiatives for public works projects, including global warming potential limits for flat glass set by the General Services Administration (GSA) pilot program for low embodied carbon building materials, the Buy Clean California Act and the Buy Clean Colorado Act. NGA will continue to work with stakeholders on these initiatives. Access NGA resources on Buy Clean programs.

A new funding opportunity from the U.S. Department of Energy Industrial Efficiency and Decarbonization Office (IEDO) will award $83 million for applied research, development and demonstration of next-generation technologies to reduce emissions in hard-to-decarbonize industrial sectors, including flat glass manufacturing. IEDO created a Teaming Partner List for collaboration across industry and academia. Concept papers are due March 19. Learn more and see the key dates for participation at energy.gov.

The committee reviewed updates to ASTM C1036 Standard Specification for Flat Glass. Task groups are finalizing updates to the Coated Glass AIA presentation, a new technical paper on anti-microbial coatings, and industry consensus definitions related to flat glass.

NGA Advocacy Committee

Committee members discussed plans for the third  annual NGA Glass & Glazing Advocacy Days, May 14 - 15, in Washington, D.C. NGA is working with K&L Gates to connect member companies in small groups with members of Congress, as well as representatives from the Department of Energy and  U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, to make a positive connection for glass to legislators. Priority topics at the event are energy efficiency and sustainability, school security glazing, bird friendly glazing and workforce development. Laurie Purpuro of K&L Gates gave guidance on how to advocate on Capitol Hill, with details of bills related to NGA’s priority topics. Committee members formed task groups to refine NGA’s one-pagers on each of the priority topics with specific requests for legislators.

Marc LaFrance from DOE presented an update on DOE decarbonization and energy conservation initiatives, with opportunities for collaboration with the glass and glazing industry. Bill LaRoy of EPA discussed EPA’s Low Embodied Carbon Construction Materials Program, with strategies to reduce embodied carbon, including technical assistance and grants for manufacturing and reuse of building materials.

NGA Fabricating Committee

NGA’s resources on proper cleaning and maintenance of architectural glass have been translated into Spanish, and condensed postcard versions in English and Spanish are available for free download at glass.org/store. These can be added to project documentation and left at the job site for quick reference.

Glass Processing Automation Days (GPAD), March 5-6 in Nashville, is a two-day event for glass fabricators to investigate new and innovative glass fabrication technologies and discover the potential of automation and integration.

Energy Efficiency

  • NGA applied for EPA Grant Funding for tools and resources to help flat glass manufacturers and glass fabricators develop supporting data to inform life cycle assessments and environmental product declarations.
  • NGA continues to work with Building Transparency on the Embodied Carbon in Construction Calculator (EC3) as a tool for benchmarking sustainability data.
  • The Flat Glass Product Category Rule (PCR) is valid through September 30, 2025. The Flat Glass Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) is valid through December 20, 2024. The Processed Glass PCR has been extended to March 2024. NGA, the Fenestration & Glazing Industry Alliance and Window and Door Manufacturers Association worked to expand the scope of the newly published Fenestration PCR, formally the Windows PCR. Access industry PCRs and EPDs here.
  • Task group members completed the new AIA presentation Benefits of Daylighting in Building Design. NGA continues to update the Daylighting webpage, highlighting the health and wellness benefits of daylighting.

Protective Glazing

  • The new Bird-Friendly Glazing AIA presentation is at ballot. The task group will consider standardization of NGA DG01-21 Best Practices for Bird-Friendly Glazing Design Guide to promote uniform implementation of bird-friendly glazing.
  • The School Security task group is finalizing the draft of the new School Security AIA presentation. The group will consider revisions to the School Security Glazing Glass Technical Paper to focus on ASTM F3561 Standard Test Method for Forced-Entry-Resistance of Fenestration Systems After Simulated Active Shooter Attack for active shooter deterrence and to clarify terminology of interlayers.
  • A task group will begin updates to the Protective Glazing Manual.
  • A new ASTM standard is available: F3279 Standard Test Method for Ballistic-Resistant Security Glazing Materials.

Insulating

  • Several ASTM insulating glazing standards will be revised this year.
  • Kayla Natividad of Pilkington | NSG gave an educational presentation on condensation. A task group was formed to develop new resources on condensation.
  • A new AIA presentation on Vacuum Insulating Glazing will be drafted by a task group.

Tempering

  • Recent activity at ASTM Committee C14 on Glass and Glass Products was reviewed.
  • Volunteers have agreed to provide samples for testing and calculations to determine if edge grinding following tempering reduces glass strength. The next step is to secure funding and begin the testing.
  • A task group will develop an ASTM standard for heat soaking of tempered glass.

Recycling/Sustainability

  • The task group is drafting a new Glass Technical Paper on the challenges and opportunities for recycling architectural glass in North America and updating the World of Glass map to include North American recycling facilities.
  • Bertrand Cazes of Glass for Europe presented a Glass for Europe Update, with lessons learned that could help North America in implementing architectural glass recycling that is both environmentally and economically favorable.

Decorative

  • A new NGA Decorative Glazing Reference Manual is in development.
  • Task groups are reviewing ballot comments on Determining an Industry Acceptable Color Variance Glass Technical Paper, and drafting a new Glass Technical Paper, Introduction to Digital Print, with guidelines for the quality of digitally printed glass and best practices for digital printing.

Mirror

  • Recent activity related to ASTM C1503 was reviewed, with a timeline of mirror standards.
  • The new NGA Mirror Reference Manual will cover types of mirrors, fabrication, handling, storage, installing, cleaning, recyclability, sustainability, and the potential for LEED credits. Work on the manual will resume following systematic review of several of the relevant Glass Technical Papers this year.

Fire-Rated Glazing

  • Discussed multi-functionality of fire-rated glazing for building security.
  • A task group is drafting a new Glass Technical Paper on wired glass.

Laminated Glazing

  • A task group is working to update the NGA Laminated Glazing Reference Manual, including updated nomenclature for laminated glass.

NGA Installing Committee

The NGA Installing Committee will meet March 4 at the Building Envelope Contractors (BEC) Conference in Nashville, TN.

Newly Published Materials

NGA’s various task groups have been busy creating resources for the industry. These newly published and materials updated in 2023 are available for download and/or purchase in NGA’s online store.

Glass Technical Papers

Technical Manuals

AIA Presentations

  • New! Benefits of Daylighting in Building Design
  • NGA is an approved AIA Provider and, thanks to the involvement of its volunteer members, has nine approved industry-consensus presentations available. NGA members may use these presentations when reaching out to architects and other interested parties. To become a presenter, contact Sara Neiswanger. See more architect resources on Glass.org.
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