New standards for efficiency of furnaces issued

WASHINGTON — As families face record-high heating bills, the Energy Department on Monday issued new requirements for residential furnaces — although critics say the new rules will do little to save consumers money or push more efficient equipment onto the market.

The new standard, which would replace 15-year-old regulations, requires all residential gas furnaces to be 80 percent efficient by 2015. Critics argued almost all gas furnaces sold already meet that level, meaning it will do little to spur new technology.

Energy efficiency advocates had argued for a minimum 90 percent efficiency, a level already achieved or exceeded by about a third of the gas furnaces sold, or for regional standards with more stringent requirements in cold-weather areas.

The Energy Department rejected both options, maintaining it has no authority to issue regional standards — a position some energy efficiency advocates dispute. Energy legislation now before Congress would specifically allow regional standards.

The new federal requirements would increase the minimum efficiency standards for residential gas furnaces from 78 percent to 80 percent and oil furnaces from 78 percent to 82 percent, which about a third of oil furnaces already meet. Efficiency levels for oil and gas boilers also would increase.

The percentages reflect the amount of heat put out by a furnace compared with the energy actually produced by the fuel that is being burned. At 80 percent efficiency, one-fifth of the energy produced by the natural gas is lost.

Efficiency advocates said the greatest potential for energy savings and reduction in carbon dioxide, a leading cause of global warming, rests in improvements in natural gas furnace efficiency.

About 3.2 million gas furnaces are sold every year, compared with about 120,000 oil furnaces and about 300,000 oil and gas boilers, according to the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE).

The Energy Department said in a statement that the new requirements would save the same amount of energy over the 24-year life of a typical furnace as the total energy used by 2.5 million households over a single year.

The new standards "will not only cut down on greenhouse gas emissions, but they also allow consumers to make smarter energy choices that will save energy and money," Andy Karsner, the department's assistant secretary for efficiency and renewables, said in a statement.

Consumer and efficiency advocates scoffed at the government energy-saving projections as far less than what is achievable.