The court granted an emergency motion filed by the Air-Conditioning, Heating, and Refrigeration Institute (AHRI) to stay the standards which would’ve required residential nonweatherized natural gas furnaces installed in 30 Northern states to have an AFUE rating of at least 90 percent.
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) issued a request for information to assess whether the existing energy-conservation standards for commercial warm-air furnaces should be amended.
Several working groups of the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) Technical Committee (TC) 72 recently met at Honeywell Intl.’s Morristown, N.J., location.
Though the bill has broad support in both the House and Senate, as well as from numerous organizations nationwide, it still faces many hurdles before it reaches President Obama’s desk.
In the ongoing regional standards lawsuit, the American Public Gas Association (APGA) has filed a motion with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit asking that it reconsider its May 1 order, which stayed enforcement of the regional furnace standards rule, but also asked the parties to re-brief all of the main issues.
The Sheet Metal and Air Conditioning Contractors’ National Association is actively supporting bipartisan Senate legislation introduced by Sens. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., and Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., to deter metal theft.
While some industry leaders and organizations are cooperating with the DOE to develop the standards, others claim fan and blower regulation is unnecessary, redundant, and could negatively impact the industry.
Representatives from many of the industry’s manufacturers recently congregated in Washington, D.C., for two days of networking, lobbying, and discussing industry issues at this year’s annual Air-Conditioning, Heating & Refrigeration Institute (AHRI) Public Policy Symposium.