Twelve AGs Filed Petition for Review of Energy Department’s Efficiency Carve-Out for Non-Condensing Furnaces and Water Heaters

MARCH 16, 2021

New York Attorney General Letitia James led a coalition of 12 attorneys general in filing a petition for review of two rules issued by the Department of Energy during the final week of the Trump administration that allow inefficient gas-fired residential furnaces and commercial water heaters to remain on the market. The rules improperly found that “non-condensing combustion technology” is a performance-related “feature” and thus cannot be phased out through an efficiency standard under the Energy Policy and Conservation Act. Together, the rules perpetuate the use of inefficient product designs, delaying the transition to widely available, efficient condensing technology that captures additional heat from flue gases and reroutes it back to the appliance.