The Biden administration is adopting new standards to require natuarl gas furnaces to be more efficient.
WASHINGTON - Americans will soon need to switch to more efficient furnaces if they use natural gas for heating, the Department of Energy announced Monday.
Under new standards set to take effect in 2029, gas furnaces will need to operate at 95 percent efficiency, compared to the 80 percent efficiency standard of present-day furnaces.
Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm described the benefit as both reducing emissions from burning gas while also saving American households $1.9 billion a year in energy bills.
“These efficiency measures not only reduce carbon and methane emissions,” she said, “but also provide huge material benefits to American households in the form of cleaner air, modernized technology, and cheaper energy.”
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It’s unclear what impact the new standard will have on demand for natural gas, of which Texas is a major supplier. But 15 percent of the natural gas consumed in the United States goes to residential homes, to heat homes and water as well as fuel appliances including stoves and dryers.
To achieve the higher efficiency rating, traditional gas furnaces would need to replaced with so-called condensing furnaces, which not only capture heat from burning natural gas but from the furnace’s exhaust.
The natural gas industry is fighting the new standard. Karen Harbert, president of the American Gas Association, which represents gas utilities and suppliers, questioned whether it was, “another attempt to put the natural gas industry out of business.”
“At this moment,” she said, “when natural gas is imperative for our country's and the world's stability, placing enormous costs on everyday Americans is wrong-headed at best.”
The new standard is likely to drive up costs on furnaces. But how much is unclear, said Francis Dietz, vice president of public affairs at the trade group Air-Conditioning, Heating, and Refrigeration Institute.
“We’re just starting to study (the rule) and looking at (the Energy Department’s) analysis,” he said. “Anytime you increase the efficiency on a technology, like on an air conditioner or a water heater, it’s going to be more expensive because it’s a newer technology and requires more raw materials.”
The Biden administration has made reducing the use of fossil fuels a priority in its fight against climate change and estimates the new standard would reduce U.S. carbon emissions by more than 12 million metric tons per year — about .2 percent of total U.S. emissions.
Increasingly, they are looking to shift Americans towards electricity to power their cars and homes — while also increasing the amount of wind and solar power on the grid.
Last week President Joe Biden ordered increased domestic production of equipment including electric-powered heat pumps — a competing technology to gas furnaces — under his authority to protect the U.S. economy through the Defense Production Act.
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James Osborne covers the intersection of energy and politics from the Houston Chronicle's bureau in Washington D.C.
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