The annual meeting of the Reflective Roof Coatings Institute (RRCI) was held at Harrah’s Resort in Las Vegas. In this photo are (from left) Kathy Diehl, Regional ENERGY STAR Program Manager for U.S. Environmental Protection Agency; Peter Turnbull, Principal Commercial Buildings Zero Net Zero Program at PG&E; Penny Gift, President of RRCI, and Greg Bergtold, Director of Governmental Affairs for Dow Building Solutions. Photo by Tom Watts.
LAS VEGAS - Are reflective coatings sustainable in today’s world? The annual meeting of the Reflective Roof Coatings Institute (RRCI) held at Harrah’s Resort in Las Vegas supplied the answers during a one-day meeting designed to provide government, technical and business issues facing the reflective coatings industry.
Penny Gift of Republic Powdered Metals of Medina, Ohio, and President of RRCI, moderated the meeting, which was designed to help companies and RRCI members stay up business practices that directly impact the industry.
Topics discussed at the meeting included the current U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s ENERGY STAR program, energy efficiency in buildings, industry news, energy savings and effective lobbying.
Speakers at the meeting included Kathy Diehl, Regional ENERGY STAR Program Manager for U.S. Environmental Protection Agency; Peter Turnbull, Principal Commercial Buildings Zero Net Zero Program at PG&E; and Greg Bergtold, Director of Governmental Affairs for Dow Building Solutions.
Diehl’s presentation addressed the current EPA ENERGY STAR program requirements for roof products. She told RRCI members to promote ENERGY STAR programs and to join “green power partnerships.”
“Two EPA programs address roofing products,” Diehl said. “They are Urban Heat Island Reduction Initiatives and ENERGY STAR.”
Diehl’s presentation covered the terms of the ENERGY STAR Partner Agreement as it pertains to the manufacturing of ENERGY STAR qualified products and the Version 2.1 product specifications for ENERGY STAR qualified roof products.
Turnbull’s presentation explained energy efficiency in buildings. He discussed efforts towards consumer energy demand and what PG&E’s plans are for future efforts in this area.
“Efficiency and renewable efforts,” Turnbull said. “It’s a big national movement.”
Turnbull said Zero Net Energy is “a building that produces as much energy with renewable as it consumes.”
He said all new residential construction in California will be “zero net energy by 2020.”
“And all new commercial construction in California will be net zero by 2030,” Turnbull said.
Bergtold addressed effective lobbying, government grants as it applied to the reflective roof coatings. He also discussed his knowledge of grants that are applicable to roof coating manufacturers.
“The U.S. has the largest energy consumption in the world,” Bergtold said. “More energy is wasted in the U.S. than two-thirds of the world’s consumption. That’s because two-thirds of U.S. homes were built before modern energy codes.”
Bergtold said “effective strategies” are the key to the future. “Energy efficiency appears to have bi-partisan support,” he said. “Now we need to take energy programs and tie them to job creation.”
The second-half of the meeting, meanwhile, was reserved for discussion on RRCI Committee Reports. The committees included: Government Affairs, Education and Marketing, and Program and Membership.
Officers were named at the meeting. They are Craig Smith, Superior Products, named Secretary/Treasurer for a 1-year term; and John Linnell, Bay Systems North America, was named to the Board of Directors for a 2-year term.
A networking reception was held following Committee Reports, which provided the opportunity for raw material suppliers to set up a tabletop display to present their product lines. For more information or membership inquires, call 816-221-1297 or visitwww.therrci.org.
