Regulations for gas furnaces are changing under new Biden rule: What to know

Fuel efficiency requirements for home furnaces are set to change under new regulations published by the Biden administration Friday.

The Department of Energy regulations will require non-weatherized gas furnaces and those used in mobile homes to have fuel efficiency of 95%. The change is expected to save household utility costs by $1.5 billion annually while “significantly” reducing greenhouse gas emissions, federal officials said.

The standards will take effect in 2028.

“At the direction of Congress, DOE is continuing to review and finalize energy standards for household appliances, such as residential furnaces, to lower costs for working families by reducing energy use and slashing harmful pollutants in homes across the nation,” U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm said in a statement.

Furnace efficiency standards were last updated in 2007. The change means new furnaces will be required to reduce waste by converting nearly all of the gas used into heat for living space, something that is “readily achievable,” by modern condensing furnaces, the statement noted.

Residential gas furnaces account for about 19% of annual residential energy U.S., according to federal officials. The updated fuel efficiency standards will, over 30 years, cut carbon emissions by about 332 million metric tons, roughly the equivalent to the combined annual emissions of 42 million homes, or approximately 34 percent of homes in the U.S. and cut methane emissions by 4.3 million tons, an amount equivalent to the combined annual emissions of 14 million homes or roughly 29 coal plants.