• Energy Research

In 1975 the U.S. federal government established its role in improving appliance and lighting energy efficiency by setting voluntary labeling and efficiency guidelines for residential appliances and lighting products under the Energy Policy and Conservation Act (EPCA, P.L. 94-163). In 1987 EPCA and subsequent legislation was amended and updated by the National Appliance Energy Conservation Act (NAECA, P.L. 100-12). NAECA superceded requirements established by some individual states and set the first national energy efficiency standards for home appliances. A schedule for regular updates, currently specified to 2012, was also established. NAECA standards now influence appliances and equipment comprising about 80% of the source energy in the U.S. residential sector.

In March 1987, President Reagan signed into law the National Appliance Energy Conservation Act (1). The Act contains minimum efficiency standards for new residential appliances, heating, and air conditioning equipment (hereafter referred to as appliances). The standards legislation was supported by a coalition of over 40 national organizations in the U.S. including organizations representing appliance manufacturers, environmental and conservation groups, and the electric utility industry.

The results presented here were obtained during Phase 4 of the first CRADA, which had the specific objective of determining the lifetime of superinsulations when installed in simulated refrigerator doors. The second CRADA was established to evaluate and test design concepts proposed to significantly reduce energy consumption in a refrigerator-freezer that is representative of approximately 60% of the US market. The stated goal of this CRADA is to demonstrate advanced technologies which reduce, by 50%, the 1993 National Appliance Energy Conservation Act (NAECA) standard energy consumption for a 20 ft{sup 3} (570 L) top-mount, automatic-defrost, refrigerator-freezer. For a unit this size, the goal translates to an energy consumption of 1.003 kWh/d. The general objective of the research is to facilitate the introduction of efficient appliances by demonstrating design changes that can be effectively incorporated into new products. In previous work on this project, a Phase 1 prototype refrigerator-freezer achieved an energy consumption of 1.413 kWh/d [Vineyard, et al., 1995]. Following discussions with an advisory group comprised of all the major refrigerator-freezer manufacturers, several options were considered for the Phase 2 effort, one of which was cabinet heat load reductions.

Within the 50 states some form of federal code or standard for energy conservation in new building construction is typically incorporated into state and local codes. Two of these codes, the Model Energy Code (MEC) and the proposed ASHRAE standard 90.2P are of special importance to the residential data base developed by the Gas Research Institute (GRI) because they influence thermal requirements and have either been recently updated or will be revised in 1992. In this study, we evaluate the impacts of these two thermal codes on the energy performance and energy consumption of prototypical new single-family buildings. Base case buildings, with characteristics typical of current building practices, are modified to meet the thermal envelope standards and are simulated with the DOE-2.1D building energy simulation program. In addition, we also model the effects of appliance and heating and cooling equipment efficiencies promulgated under the National Appliance Energy Conservation Act (NAECA) of 1987 and of the NAECA Amendments of 1988. We compare heating and cooling loads and energy use for the prototypical house for several cases: the base case, with 1980s vintage thermal envelope and appliance and equipment efficiencies; with ASHRAE 90 thermal requirements; with Model Energy Code thermal requirements; withmore » NAECA appliance and HVAC efficiencies; and with combinations of the ASHRAE 90 Standard or Model Energy Code and the NAECA appliance and equipment efficiency improvements. The results provide a glimpse of how these standards will affect future end-use energy consumption in new single-family buildings.« less

As part of the effort to improve residential energy efficiency and reduce greenhouse emissions from power plants, several design options were investigated for improving the energy efficiency of a conventionally designed domestic refrigerator-freezer. The program goal was to reduce the energy consumption of a 20-ft{sup 3} (570-L) top-mount refrigerator-freeze to 1.00 kWh/d, a 50% reduction from the 1993 National Appliance Energy Conservation Act (NAECA) standard. The options--such as improved cabinet and door insulation, a high-efficiency compressor, a low-wattage fan, a large counterflow evaporator, and adaptive defrost control--were incorporated into prototype refrigerator-freezer cabinets and refrigeration systems. The refrigerant HFC-134a was used as a replacement for CFC-12. The baseline energy performance of the production refrigerator-freezers, along with cabinet heat load and compressor calorimeter test results, were extensively documented to provide a firm basis for experimentally measured energy savings. The project consisted of three main phases: (1) an evaluation of energy-efficient design options using computer simulation models and experimental testing, (2) design and testing of an initial prototype unit, and (3) energy and economic analyses of a final prototype. The final prototype achieved an energy consumption level of 0.93 kWh/d--an improvement of 45% over the baseline unit and 54% over the 1993 NAECAmore » standard for 20-fg{sup 3} (570-L) units. The manufacturer`s cost for those improvements was estimated at $134; assuming that cost is doubled for the consumer, it would take about 11.4 years to pay for the design changes. Since the payback period was thought to be unfeasible, a second, more cost-effective design was also tested. Its energy consumption level was 1.16 kWh/d, a 42% energy savings, at a manufacturer`s cost increase of $53. Again assuming a 100% markup, the payback for this unit would be 6.6 years.« less

Summary NAECA was enacted in 1987 and amended in 1988. Minimum efficiency standards have been established for air conditioners, heat pumps, dishwashers, clothes washers and dryers, furnaces, refrigerators and freezers, water heaters, and gas direct heaters. The DOE has not established minimum efficiency standards for televisions, microwave ovens, ranges and ovens. Appliance manufacturers have reduced energy consumption using improved insulation, more efficient motors, electronic controls, efficient compressors, and non‐continuous burning pilots. Energy efficient appliances can prevent pollution by reducing the demand for electricity. From 1990 to 2015, the cumulative energy impact of the National Appliance Energy Conservation Amendments of 1988 is estimated to be an 0.8 percent savings of all fuels. However, energy efficient residential appliances are only one factor in the total energy consumption equation.

This article presents new models to convert the rated cooling and heating seasonal performance efficiency (i.e., SEER or heating seasonal performance factor) to steady-state efficiency rating (i.e., energy efficiency ratio or coefficient of performance) that do not include supply fan energy to be used in building energy simulations for the units less than 19,000 W (65,000 Btu/hr). A review of the two existing conversion equations found that the existing methods do not adequately reflect the characteristics of the units currently available on the market (i.e., units higher than SEER 13/heating seasonal performance factor 7.7) that comply with the provision of the National Appliance Energy Conservation Act of 2006. This analysis was performed using the two new datasets from the California Energy Commission database and the 2012 AHRI directory as well as the AHRI fan performance data collected from several manufacturers. The developed models were adopted in the new edition of ASHRAE Standard 90.1-2013: Energ...

Abstract Appliance energy efficiency standards have had a large and growing influence on the US appliance industry for the last fifteen years. This article presents the perspectives gained by the two largest US appliance manufacturers as our companies have participated in the process of determining the standard levels and then designed and manufactured improved efficiency products to comply with the new standards.

Two recent actions by the US Congress, passage of the National Appliance Energy Conservation Act (NAECA) and ratification of the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer, have affected several large industries in the United States. Under NAECA, manufacturers of residential appliances must meet minimum energy-efficiency standards by specified dates. According to the Montreal Protocol, producers of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) must reduce the quantities of CFCs that they manufacture. CFCs have been identified as a cause of ozone depletion in the stratosphere. Since CFCs are used to improve the energy-efficiency of several appliance products, there is a potential conflict between the goals of reducing CFC use and improving energy-efficiency. In this article, the authors discuss the issues of CFC use, ozone depletions, energy-efficiency, and global climate change as they relate to residential refrigerators and freezers.