Energy Conservation Program: Energy Conservation Standards for Residential Furnaces

The Energy Policy and Conservation Act of 1975 (EPCA), as amended, prescribes energy conservation standards for various consumer products and certain commercial and industrial equipment, including residential furnaces. EPCA also requires the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to periodically determine whether more-stringent, amended standards would be technologically feasible and economically justified, and would save a significant amount of energy. On March 12, 2015, DOE published in the Federal Register a notice of proposed rulemaking (NOPR), in which DOE proposed amendments to the energy conservation standards for residential non-weatherized gas furnaces and mobile home gas furnaces. In response to the NOPR, DOE received comment expressing concern regarding DOE's proposed approach and encouraging the Department to examine establishing a separate product class for small furnaces. In response, DOE published a notice of data availability (NODA) in the Federal Register on September 14, 2015 that contained an analysis of a potential product class for small non-weatherized gas furnaces. In this supplemental notice of rulemaking (SNOPR), DOE responds to comments received on the NOPR and NODA and is making a modified proposal regarding amended energy conservation standards for the subject residential furnaces (including a separate small furnaces product class), which supersedes DOE's earlier proposal, as set forth in the March 12, 2015 NOPR. The notice also requests comment on the SNOPR's proposed standards and associated analyses and results. The SNOPR also proposes clarifications to the certification and reporting requirements of standby mode and off mode values for non-weatherized oil furnaces (including mobile home oil furnaces) and electric furnaces, to provide direction on the rounding of standby mode and off mode values, generally, and to clarify the level of precision for the furnace and boiler standards.