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Residential Gas Furnaces

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Work Products

UES Measures Standard protocols list Demand Response Technologies Supporting Documents Propose a measure or standard protocol Proposed measures and status Whole Building Efforts

Subcommittees

  • Commercial HVAC
  • Connected Thermostats
  • Demand Response
  • Duct Sealing
  • Guidelines
  • Heat Pump Water Heaters
  • Implementers Group
  • Modeling
  • Natural Gas
  • New Homes
  • Non-Residential Lighting
  • Operations
  • Refrigeration
  • Research and Evaluation
  • Residential HVAC
  • RTF Policy Advisory Committee
  • Small and Rural Utilities
  • Weatherization
  • Whole Building
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UES Measure

  • Residential Gas Furnaces

Residential Gas Furnaces

At a Glance

Category 
planning
Status 
active
Fuel type 
gas
Sector 
residential
Applications 
HVAC
Sunset date 
Nov 30, 2028

The primary measure of efficiency for gas furnaces is the Annual Fuel Utilization Efficiency (AFUE), which is a measure of the percentage of heat produced for every unit volume of fuel consumed per year. Energy efficiencies for gas furnaces can be gained through: 

  • Condensing (multiple heat exchangers) to capture waste heat
  • Heat exchanger improvements
  • Two-stage and modulating combustion (to reduce cycling) 
  • Low nitrogen oxide premix burners
  • Insulation improvements
  • Direct and/or concentric venting
  • Off-cycle dampers
  • More efficient blower motors

The RTF's measure applies to ENERGY STAR or CEE Tier 2 furnaces with an AFUE of 0.95+ or CEE Tier 3 furnaces with an AFUE of 0.97+. Applicable furnaces are in existing single family or manufactured homes with a heating output of less than 225,000 BTU per hour. 

The savings analysis uses SEEM runs of RBSA homes with gas furnaces to estimate gas heating consumption for homes by type and heating zone. These values are then adjusted to target AFUEs of interest for the measure (Current Practice baseline AFUE by heating zone and AFUE for each efficiency tier) using the ratio of target AFUE to average AFUE.

 

Workbook

Latest Version

Residential ENERGYSTAR Gas Furnaces v3.1

File Residential ENERGYSTAR Gas Furnaces v3.1
Approved at Nov 2024 RTF meeting. QA Complete.
Date 
Feb 18, 2025
Version number 
3.1

Past Versions

version date document
3.0
Dec 11, 2024
File Residential ENERGYSTAR Gas Furnaces v3.0
Approved by RTF at Nov 2024 meeting. Undergoing QA.
2.1
Jul 14, 2023
File Residential ENERGYSTAR Gas Furnaces v2.1
Updated cost effectiveness using procost version 5.08
2.0
Apr 18, 2022
File Residential ENERGYSTAR Gas Furnaces v2.0
Updated with 2021 Plan cost effectiveness methodology
1.2
Sep 20, 2021
File Residential ENERGYSTAR Gas Furnaces v1.2
Approved at the July 2021 RTF meeting. QC complete.
1.1
Jul 20, 2021
File Residential Gas Furnaces v1.1
New measure approved at the July 2021 RTF meeting. Currently undergoing QC.

Research Strategy

Latest Version

Research Strategy for Residential Gas Furnaces in Existing Homes v1.0

File Research Strategy for Residential Gas Furnaces in Existing Homes v1.0
RTF approved Nov 20, 2024
Date 
Nov 26, 2024
Version number 
1.0
Supporting Documents
File SEEM Runs-Residential Gas Furnaces (September 2021)
Sep 20, 2021
SEEM run workbook associated with version 1 of the measure.
File SEEM Runs-Residential Gas Furnaces (November 2024)

Decisions

Expand All Decisions

Latest decision

Decision details

Decided 
November 19, 2024
RTF Meeting

Approve Measure Updates

Decision Details

Approve the Residential Gas Furnaces measure as presented, and:
• Change the Category to Planning
• Keep the Status at Active
• Set the sunset date to November 30, 2028 

Decided 
July 23, 2024
RTF Meeting

Approve Sunset Date Extensions

Decision Details

Approve the sunset date extensions to November 30, 2024 for Strip Curtains UES and Residential Gas Furnaces UES

Decided 
July 20, 2021
RTF Meeting: July 20, 2021

Adopt New Measure

Decision Details

Adopt the High Efficiency Residential Gas Furnace UES measure as proposed and: 

  • Set the Category to Proven 
  • Set the Status to Active
  • Set the Sunset date to July 31, 2024
Decided 
May 11, 2021
RTF Meeting: May 11-12, 2021

Approve New Measure

Decision Details

Adopt the High Efficiency Residential Gas UES measure as proposed and, Set the Category to Planning, Set the Status to Active, and Set the Sunset date to May 31, 2024; Updated Electric UES as neeeded to account for fan efficiency of Federal standard gas furnace. 

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