Alexander Kaufman is a senior reporter at HuffPost, based in New York. He covers energy and climate change. A two-time winner of the SEAL Environmental Journalism Award, he has filed stories from the Arctic and the Amazon, Europe and East Asia.
The Senate is set to vote this week on whether to repeal the first major update to national standards for gas furnaces in four decades in a move experts say would save real estate developers and landlords a few hundred dollars but cost ratepayers and renters thousands in heating bills for wasted energy.
The regulation in question does almost nothing to nudge homeowners toward replacing fuel furnaces with electric heat pumps. Instead, the rule requires that gas furnaces sold after 2028 convert at least 95% of fuel into heat, up from 80% under the previous regulation. The mandate effectively banned what are called “non-condensing” or non-weatherized gas furnaces that, as a result of relying on just one heat exchanger instead of two, waste more energy.
The regulation certainly benefits the worldwide effort to cut planet-heating emissions. The Energy Department’s analysis found that, as of 2022, gas furnaces in homes accounted for nearly one-fifth of all residential energy usage. By updating the standards, the agency estimated that U.S. emissions would drop by 332 million metric tons — equal to the annual carbon pollution from 42 million homes, or roughly 34% of households in the U.S. — over the next 30 years.
In response, more than half of U.S. states ultimately passed laws preempting the local prohibitions — essentially banning the bans. Industry groups, meanwhile, filed suit with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit Our journalists will continue to cover the twists and turns during this historic presidential election. With your help, we'll bring you hard-hitting investigations, well-researched analysis and timely takes you can't find elsewhere. Reporting in this current political climate is a responsibility we do not take lightly, and we thank you for your support.The 2024 election is heating up, and women's rights, health care, voting rights, and the very future of democracy are all at stake.
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