While many of us were enjoying the December holidays, the Department of Energy (DOE) was hard at work finalizing a wide variety of appliance standards. These new rules cover equipment ranging from residential ceiling fan light kits and boilers to commercial and industrial pumps and rooftop air conditioners, and will save consumers billions of dollars while preventing several million tons of global-warming pollution.
DOE is required by the National Appliance Energy Conservation Act, a federal statute originally signed into law by President Reagan in 1987, to review and potentially update appliance and equipment energy efficiency standards every six years. The law requires DOE to set the standards at the highest level that is technically feasible and economically justified. With more than 60 product categories covered — representing about 90 percent of home energy use, 60 percent of commercial, and 30 percent of industrial energy consumption — the DOE must periodically review existing standards to determine whether they can be updated in a manner that is cost-effective for both manufacturers and consumers.
