Last October, the Department of Energy finalized new energy conservation standards for gas furnaces that will make it illegal to install equipment if it does not meet the new minimum standards for its region.. These rules for furnaces take effect on May 1, 2013, and rules for central air conditioners and heat pumps that take effect on January 1, 2015. In the Northern Region (which includes the Pacific Northwest), a new minimum standard of 90% efficiency for furnaces will require more expensive condensing furnaces.
While BelRed encourages consumers to install the most energy efficiency system possible, we, and others in the industry, have raised concerns about mandating this. We believe this mandate will be problematic for homes where installing the specialized venting required by these furnaces is difficult, impossible, or cost-prohibitive due to application and structural issues in the home. This could also lead to gas water heaters that were vented with the furnace being “orphaned”, or left with venting that is too large for the water heater alone, requiring new venting or even a new water heater to be installed. Finally, some homeowners simply will not be able to afford the higher efficiency systems, and will instead choose to repair their older, and even less efficient systems, rather than repalce them at all.
Over the next year, the rulemaking under consideration from the DOE and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) would create an enforcement process for these new regional standards. We are hopeful that some common sense exemption, or waiver processes, will be introduced to address the concerns that have been raised. Meanwhile the FTC rulemaking on new energy labeling requirements for residential furnaces, central air conditioners, and heat pumps, is designed to help consumers and businesses install equipment appropriate for their location under the new regional efficiency standards. (The FTC’s Appliance Labeling Rule currently requires yellow EnergyGuide labels for heating and cooling equipment that only discloses the product’s efficiency rating and a comparison of the highest and lowest ratings for all similar models.)
These two federal agencies have begun rule-making on the enforcement of the pending energy conservation standards that include regional standards. The new standards and the subsequent enforcement rules will have lasting effects on manufacturers, distributors, contractors, and consumers. A copy of the final rule can be found here, and more information is available from ACCA. We will continue to monitor this situation, and will post updates as they become available.
