Gas Associations Challenge Energy Department Furnace Rule

The American Gas Association, other trade associations, and a manufacturer have sued to block the Energy Department’s latest rule establishing a new energy conservation standard for consumer furnaces.

The AGA has tried to work with the department on the rule’s effect on energy conservation while ensuring the “continued availability of low-cost, low-emission natural gas furnaces,” AGA President and CEO Karen Harbert said in a statement. “Unfortunately, our 114 pages of comments have been summarily ignored.”

In the most recent rule, which was published Monday and goes into effect Feb. 16, 2024, the department adopted amended energy conservation standards ...