Even if you haven’t you can guess that finding one that is right for your home, your bank account and will not be an energy hog is a tricky business.  Especially if it is wintertime in a cold place and you need to get the heat back on NOW.  And while air conditioning can be a luxury for some of us, imagine if you lived in a hot place and you have a family member with a medical condition who really needs cool and filtered air.

These kinds of examples – and the fact that the ability to shop for these large heating and cooling devices is limited, not to mention the fact that they are often installed by landlords, prior owners and others who don’t end up paying the bills of running them.

Driven by the need to improve the basic efficiency of all furnaces and central air conditioners a group led by the Appliance Standards Awareness Project crafted a set of new standards for these vital machines that were acceptable to environmental and efficiency advocates and to industry.  In a press release the good folks at ASAP summed up this development this way:

A diverse coalition of consumer, manufacturing, and environmental groups praised new energy efficiency standards just released by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) establishing the first-ever regional standards for central air conditioners and furnaces, as well as strengthened national standards for heat pumps. The new rules are based on a joint recommendation filed with DOE by the groups in 2009.

“Climates as different as those of Minneapolis and Miami need different furnace and AC standards,” said Andrew deLaski, Executive Director of the Appliance Standards Awareness Project (ASAP). “Until now, we’ve had one-size-fits-all national standards. These new, regional standards are a major breakthrough that will benefit consumers and the environment.”

Once the latest updated standards take effect, a typical new air conditioner in the South will use about 40% less energy, and a typical new furnace in the North will use about 20% less than before national standards were established in the late 1980s. According to DOE’s analysis, the improvements to the air conditioner and heat pump standards announced today will save 156 billion kilowatt hours of electricity over 30 years, or about enough to meet the total electricity needs of all the households in Indiana for three years, while delivering net savings of more than $4.2 billion to U.S. consumers. The new furnace standards will save 31 billion therms of natural gas, or about enough natural gas over 32 years to heat all the homes in New York State for more than 11 years and save consumers $14.5 billion.

While the Federal Government took a ridiculously long time to approve these standards their issuance is still very good news.

For more information check out the ASAP fact sheet on this.  Or if you want the down and dirty details the actual rule is available for light reading.  And if you think this is important then let your voice be heard – the US Department of Energy, in that notice, actively asks for input on the rule saying they may back off from it “if adverse comments are received”.

But hopefully this rule will move forward and the day when all furnaces and central air conditioners are efficient and kind to both our wallets and our environment will arrive sooner than later.

The post Efficiency calling . . . and it is coming from inside the house . . . appeared first on Conservation Law Foundation.

• How many cars can the Green Line Extension to Medford take off the roads?  Would pay per-mile auto insurance help?  Would better bike maps and paths?  How about green zoning ordinances?

• Can greenspace and access to riverfronts make our communities healthier?

• What if Wal-Mart and Lowe’s new stores don’t just use renewable energy, but also design their parking lots to stop runoff from polluting our rivers and streams?

• Can Mayor Menino make the city’s public housing as environmentally sustainable as the Apple store on Boylston St the Macallen Building Condos in South Boston?

Meet, greet and exchange ideas…or just kick back…with environmentalists and urbanists working on these issues and more!  Co-hosted by Boston Urban Exchange and CLF.

Boston-area Urban Development Meet & Greet
Location: Mantra (downstairs), 52 Temple Place, Boston, MA.
Date: Wednesday, March 24, 6-8 pm
Free admission, cash bar.
More info at http://buxmarch2010.eventbrite.com/

Our co-sponsors:  Boston Urban Exchange (BUX) is a gathering of planners, architects, urban designers, developers, ethnologists, technologists, entrepreneurs, policy-makers, artists and others who care about urban development in the Boston/Cambridge region.

The post Stop by the Boston-area Urban Development Meet and Greet, March 24 6-8pm! appeared first on Conservation Law Foundation.