Fact Sheet on Air Conditioner, Furnace, and Heat Pump Efficiency Standards Agreement

The nation’s leading manufacturers of residential central air conditioners, furnaces, and heat pumps today signed an agreement with the nation’s leading energy efficiency advocacy organizations that will establish new federal standards for those products.

The agreement, which involved months of intense negotiations, was signed by executives of the Air-Conditioning, Heating, and Refrigeration Institute (AHRI), American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE), Alliance to Save Energy (Alliance), Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), Northeast Energy Efficiency Partnership (NEEP), Appliance Standards Awareness Project (ASAP), and the California Energy Commission (CEC).

This momentous agreement strikes a balance between the desire for greater state and regional flexibility and the need for a uniform marketplace. It also accounts for the long-term energy future of the nation by allowing for more efficient systems to be installed in new homes, which will last for many decades to come. The parties that reached this consensus agreement recognize that the time has to come to change the status quo with regard to energy efficiency in the residential built environment and believe this proposal represents a tremendous leap forward towards a more energy-efficient future.