The Department of Energy (DOE) has made major changes that will go into effect at the beginning of the year that will raise heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) prices by nearly 30%, along with changing regulations.
The changes stem from an initiative to reduce the overall energy consumption in the United States. As of January 1, the new regulations will change existing minimum efficiency standards in HVAC equipment. The DOE identified inefficiencies in commercial and residential units were a prime contributor to the climate crisis. In response, a multi-phase standards policy was developed to require production of higher-efficiency cooling units.
Minimum efficiencies for central air conditioners and heat pumps have been pushed up to 30% which will result in a lower amount of electricity used for the same amount of cooling.
Because central air and heating use a significant amount of energy, the DOE first started using season energy efficiency ratio (SEER) ratings in 1987. Since then the DOE has analyzed HVAC energy consumption and efficiency across the country by dividing it into regions.
In the South region, which includes Arkansas, the new minimum efficiency regulations for 2023 will increase from 14.0 to 15.0 for both air conditioner units and heat pumps.
In addition, the new standards will require increased heating efficiency of air-source heat pumps as measured by the equipment’s heating seasonal performance factor (HSPF) from 8.2 to 8.8.
