WINCOVER READY FOR SOFT LAUNCH

The announcement was made during the AGM at the BMAA super expo, which included the first glimpse of the muchanticipated star rating chart.

The WincovER program (formerly referred to as the Blind Energy Rating Scheme BERS) has been in development since 2004 and is the fruit of thousands of hours of work by committee members.

Mayer says the next steps in the process will be to complete WincovER’s full technical documentation, and to continue liaising with stakeholders such as BMAA members, suppliers and consumers.

During his presentation at the recent BMAA Super Expo, Mayer unveiled the first WincovER Star Ratings of a number of products, in draft form.

“BMAA was fortunate to have Dr Peter Lyons, who has been the BMAA’s technical consultant on the WincovER project for more than a decade, in attendance,” Mayer said.

“Peter maintains a very close working relationship with leading national and international scientific research organisations including the CSIRO, the International Energy Agency and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratories in the USA where he is a permanent guest scientist.”

“Dr Lyons’ contacts, including his involvement with the Federal government’s Nationwide House Energy Rating Scheme (NatHERS), the Window Energy Rating Scheme (WERS) and the Australian Fenestration Rating Council (AFRC), have been of great value to our WincovER project.”

Currently Dr Lyons has been contracted to finalise the technical update of WincovER and the preparation of the necessary protocols and documentation for the inclusion in the AFRC data library.

The Wincover committee will also develop marketing and communication tools and to prepare lobbying plans though the appropriate channels including the AFRC, which it will present as part of its soft-launch program for the BMAA’s August strategy meeting.

The BMAA has also completed the production of two videos on the energy saving potentials of blinds shutters and awnings which are now available to view on the BMAA website.