WASHINGTON — The regional efficiency standards lawsuit, that has spanned more than the past two years, is officially ended. U.S. District Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit has officially accepted the joint settlement agreement filed March 11, 2014. The settlement remands the efficiency standards for gas furnaces, forcing the DOE to begin the process for assessing efficiency standards anew and to do so in a more transparent manner. The increase and regionalization in the standards for central air-conditioners will remain, but the DOE has allowed for a sell through period of 18-months and agreed not to penalize HVACR distributors as part of the enforcement of the Regional Standard. Additionally, the DOE has agreed to engage in a process to review the regulatory processes that established the Regional Efficiency Standards.