HVAC groups back compliance-date change for regional efficiency standards

A quartet of HVAC associations — ACCA, AHRI, HARDI, and PHCC — is backing a bill introduced in late June by Iowa Senator Joni Ernst that would rework compliance for future regional energy-efficiency standards, aiming to nix “unnecessary complexity throughout the HVAC supply chain.”

The backdrop: Under current law, regional energy-efficiency standards for furnaces, air conditioners, and heat pumps are enforced based on the date of installation. “Every other [Department of Energy] standard,” per ACCA, is based on the date of manufacture. 

Case in point: SEER2. 

• In the Northern half of the U.S., when SEER2 standards took effect on Jan. 1, 2023, compliance ran on the date of manufacture: From that day on, OEMs could no longer produce or import equipment built to the old standards, but anything manufactured before then could be installed indefinitely.
• In the Southeast and Southwest, however, SEER2 arrived as a regional standard for central air conditioners, enforced by the date of installation: Pre-SEER2 units bought in November 2022, for instance, were illegal to install come New Year’s Day. 

What’s happening: The HVAC groups this week sent a letter supporting Ernst’s bill, which would amend the Energy Policy and Conservation Act (EPCA) — the primary law governing U.S. energy efficiency standards — by changing the compliance date for regional HVAC efficiency standards from installation to manufacture. 

• “This approach places compliance responsibility where it belongs — with the manufacturer — and ensures that every product entering the distribution chain complies with applicable Department of Energy requirements,” the letter states. 
• “A date-of-manufacture compliance process also allows products already in the distribution pipeline to continue to be sold and installed, preventing legally manufactured and purchased equipment from becoming stranded inventory,” it adds. 

Zoom out: “When Congress amended [EPCA] in 2007, they established that all energy efficiency and water conservation standards use date of manufacture for compliance, with the exception of regional energy efficiency standards for air conditioners, heat pumps, and furnaces,” Alex Ayers, vice president of government affairs at HARDI, told Homepros in an email. 

• “[B]ut no one knows for sure why,” he said, adding that it could have been a “drafting error that wasn’t fixed before leaving committee” or an “intentional choice.” 
• The Department of Energy didn’t return a request for comment. 

What they’re saying: “The House has already passed this commonsense reform,” Senator Ernst told Homepros in a statement, referring to a broader bill that cleared the chamber in February with the date-of-manufacture tweak included. “I’m working to get this done in the Senate.”

What’s next: Ernst’s bill sits in the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, with no hearing scheduled yet.