The U.S. Department of Energy has
increased the energy efficiency standards for residential boilers and furnaces.
The final rule, published Nov. 19, is effective Jan. 18, 2008. It prescribes
the following standard levels applicable to products manufactured on or after
Nov. 19, 2015:
- Gas boilers — 82 percent AFUE
- Oil-fired
boilers — 83 percent AFUE
- Nonweatherized gas furnaces — 80
percent AFUE
- Weatherized gas furnaces — 81 percent AFUE
- Mobile
home gas furnaces — 80 percent AFUE
- Oil-fired furnaces —
82 percent AFUE
The standard levels in the final rule for
nonweatherized gas furnaces, mobile home gas furnaces, oil-fired furnaces and
oil-fired boilers are the same as the standard levels the DOE proposed in its
Oct. 6, 2006, Notice of Proposed Rulemaking. However, the standard levels in
the final rule for weatherized gas furnaces and gas boilers are less stringent
than what DOE proposed. No changes were made to existing standards for steam
boilers.
The Gas Appliance
Manufacturers’ Association and other industry representatives sent comments to
the Energy Department after the proposed rules were made public. The DOE had
proposed an 83 percent AFUE minimum standard for weatherized gas furnaces and
an 84 percent AFUE minimum standard for gas hot water boilers. GAMA cited
safety issues with the DOE standards on these two types of products.
“Product safety and energy
conservation are both important values for GAMA and the industries we
represent,” GAMA noted in 2006. “However, where higher efficiency could
compromise product safety, product safety must prevail.”
GAMA stated that the
proposed 84 percent AFUE minimum standard for gas-fired boilers “presents
serious consumer safety issues.” The safety issues were similar to those the
group cited for weatherized gas furnaces.
“The lack of a venting
system on weatherized (i.e., outdoor) furnaces does not eliminate all of the
concerns of increased condensation associated with higher efficiencies for
noncondensing furnaces. There is still the concern of heat exchanger failure.”
The DOE concluded that the
health and safety concerns posed by an 83 percent AFUE level for weatherized
furnaces “can be resolved by proper equipment and system design and proper
installation.”
“While proper design
issues are within the manufacturer’s control, DOE has not properly evaluated
what ‘proper equipment and system design’ is required to mitigate the health
and safety concerns,” GAMA stated. “Conversely, proper installation is often
not within the manufacturer’s control.”
2007
Energy Bill: In January 2007, GAMA and the American Council
for an Energy Efficient Economy presented consensus boiler minimum performance
and design requirements to key congressional staff for inclusion in a
comprehensive energy bill in the 110th Congress
to establish new federal minimum efficiency standards for residential gas and
oil boilers.
“The boiler industry
directed GAMA to take this action as an alternative to new residential boiler
standards proposed by the U.S. Department of Energy that would compromise
consumer safety,” said Jack W. Klimp,
president of GAMA.
However, by the end of the
year, there were serious problems with the portions of the energy bill that
concern boiler standards. The House and Senate versions of the bill authorized
the DOE to establish regional efficiency standards, but only for heating and
cooling equipment.
An industry coalition —
including the Plumbing, Heating, Cooling Contractors-National Association; the
Heating, Airconditioning & Refrigeration Distributors International
(HARDI); and the Air Conditioning Contractors of America — has tried since last
May to educate lawmakers about the harm to millions of consumers that will
result from the new regionalization strategy.
Under current law, all
regulated consumer products — including heating and cooling equipment — are
subject to national federal standards. The coalition noted that environmental
advocates lobbied for a new strategy. Under the new law, homeowners who use gas
furnaces, air-conditioning and other heating and cooling systems will face new
regional standards that will result in higher costs and less consumer choice,
the coalition asserted.
“Regionalizing heating and
cooling efficiency standards would eliminate the largest markets for the most
affordable equipment, causing immediate cost increases for those states whose
standards might not even change at all,” according to Talbot Gee, vice president of HARDI.
“Homeowners, increasingly on tight budgets and caught off-guard by sudden
heating or cooling system failures, will have no choice but to repair and
maintain older, less-efficient systems rather than replacing them with
high-efficiency systems that they could no longer afford.”
At press time, the energy
bill had passed the Senate and was on its way to the House; once passed in the
House, the president is expected to sign it.
