ARLINGTON, Va. - The Air-Conditioning, Heating, and Refrigeration Institute (AHRI) filed comments in response to the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) making publicly available its analysis of potential energy savings that would result from the amended energy efficiency standards for certain types of commercial equipment covered by American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) Standard 90.1-2007.

In its comments, AHRI asked DOE to establish a separate product class for commercial three-phase, through-the-wall air-cooled air conditioners and heat pumps and adopt the efficiency standards in ASHRAE 90.1-2007 for commercial boilers.

AHRI said in its comments that it believes DOE has the authority to establish a separate product class for commercial through-the-wall products because it did so in the past for residential through-the-wall products, which have the same unique space-constrained challenges that warranted a lower minimum efficiency standard than conventional systems. AHRI also pointed out to DOE that the efficiency standards for boilers in ASHRAE 90.1-2007 resulted from a consensus agreement between the AHRI boiler manufacturer members, the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE) and several other energy-conservation advocacy organizations.

Publication date: 09/22/2008