United States. AHRI has applauded the participation of stakeholders to soon publish the new standards for package commercial air conditioners and heat pumps.
On April 1, DOE (Department of Energy) created a task force to negotiate conservation standards for terminal package air conditioners and heat pumps, as well as standards for commercial hot air furnaces.
After six meetings, the Task Force, comprised of industry, energy efficiency and environmental advocates, contractors and agency representatives, including the American Council for an Efficient Energy Economy (ACEEE), the Air Conditioning, Heating and Refrigeration Institute (AHRI) and the Standards Awareness Standards Project (ASAP), reached consensus and made recommendations for energy conservation standards, test methods and metrics.
The working group was tasked with addressing the rules for the energy efficiency of commercial package type air conditioners and heat pumps (specifically air-cooled equipment of this class , with nominal cooling capacities greater than or equal to 65,000Btu/hr and less than 760,000Btu/hr) and commercial hot air furnaces, as authorized by the Energy Policy and Conservation Act (EPCA) of 1975, as amended.
The scope excluded terminal package air conditioners and heat pumps (PTAC/PTHP), vertical single package units (SPVU), computer room air conditioners (CRAC), and variable refrigerant flow (VRF) systems.
