The Biden administration is facing legal action over regulations that clamp down on home furnaces powered by fossil fuels, with a natural gas industry group alleging that the new rules saddle American families with increased costs but have no meaningful benefit for the environment.
The American Gas Association (AGA) stated on Dec. 18 that it has filed a lawsuit against the Department of Energy’s (DOE) new energy conservation standard for residential furnaces, accusing the Biden administration of adopting rules that make traditional, non-condensing natural gas furnaces unavailable to most Americans.
“This ruling from DOE will push American families with natural gas heat into a corner – when their furnace goes out, they’ll be forced to choose between retrofitting for electric with the increased month-to-month utility bills that entails or engaging in a costly and time-consuming renovation to retrofit their home for a completely different type of natural gas furnace,” AGA President and CEO Karen Harbert said in a statement.
“Either way, American families and businesses will be saddled with increased costs with little environmental gain.”
Gas Furnace Rules in Focus
The DOE’s new energy efficiency standard for residential gas furnaces, finalized at the end of September, targets specifically non-weatherized gas furnaces and those used in mobile homes.The rules require such gas furnaces to achieve an annual fuel utilization efficiency (AFUE) of 95 percent.
The new standards are set to take effect in 2028, at which point manufacturers will only be allowed to sell furnaces that transform at least 95 percent of fuel into heat. Presently, the industry-standard AFUE for home furnaces is 80 percent.
The natural gas industry group that’s suing the Biden administration over the new rules says the standards will make conventional, non-condensing natural gas furnaces unavailable to consumers, forcing them to switch to electric heating or carry out expensive home adaptations to accommodate condensing furnaces.
“Condensing furnaces rely on vastly different venting systems and are often difficult or impossible to substitute in place of the conventional, non-condensing model due to physical limitations, especially in older homes and low-income neighborhoods where homes cannot accommodate the venting and water hookup requirements of a condensing furnace,” AGA said in a statement.
The DOE says the new rules will cut household utility costs by $1.5 billion per year and significantly reduce carbon and methane gas emissions that “fuel the climate crisis.”
The agency estimates that, over the course of 30 years, the new rule will cut carbon emissions by 332 million metric tons and slash methane emissions by 4.3 million tons.
The Biden administration also estimates that, over 30 years, the new rule will lower utility bills by a total of $24.8 billion.
The AGA says the new rules will hit seniors on fixed incomes and lower-income Americans the hardest.
“DOE’s own data shows that 30 percent of senior-only households, 26 percent of low-income households and 27 percent of small business consumers will face higher costs as a result of the new regulation,” the group stated.
More Details
The AGA noted that it has long supported improved building and appliance energy codes and standards that are both technologically feasible and economically justified. It argues that the new rule fails to deliver on both those counts.Also, because cost and installation challenges related to the new rule could lead to stranded equipment or repairs to equipment past its useful life, the AGA says regulations will actually cause energy usage and emissions to go up.
“These challenges are likely to result in consumers being forced to fuel switch,” the group said in a statement. “Fuel switching will lead to reduced energy efficiency and increased greenhouse gas emissions as consumers move to less-efficient electric applications.”
The AGA also stated that it has tried to work with the DOE to address the rule’s “profound” impact on consumers and homeowners but to no avail.
“Unfortunately, our 114 pages of comments have been summarily ignored,” Ms. Harbert said.
Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said in a statement at the end of September that the new rule “underscores President [Joe] Biden’s commitment to save Americans money and deliver healthy communities.”
This year, the DOE announced a range of proposed rules that will make household appliances more expensive and, as some experts contend, are designed to force Americans to give up their current appliances.
For example, under the DOE’s proposed natural gas stove rule, an estimated 90 percent of gas stoves would have to be redesigned, with reduced performance, and the upfront cost of stove products would be raised by about $32 million per year.
A consumer watchdog has estimated that the Biden administration’s war on appliances such as gas stoves, in the name of climate change, would cost the average American household more than $9,100.
