Joe Biden Is Coming for Your Gas Furnace

President Joe Biden continues his tightening of appliance regulations with new standards that will require homeowners to install more energy-efficient gas furnaces.

The new proposed rule, announced by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) yesterday, would require that gas-burning residential furnaces achieve 95 percent energy efficiency by 2029. The stated goal is to lower consumers’ energy bills in the long run and limit harmful emissions.

“By updating energy standards for many carbon-emitting appliances, such as home furnaces, the Biden Administration is working to save consumers money,” said U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer M. Granholm in a Monday press release. The new standards will allegedly save Americans $30 billion over 30 years.

Critics of the new rule say that consumers already have the option of purchasing more energy-efficient gas furnaces. The fact that they don’t suggests it’s not cost-effective for them.

“The only thing these standards do is force the ultraefficient choice on everyone, even though one size does not fit all,” says Ben Lieberman, a senior fellow at the Competitive Enterprise Institute. “These efficiency standards tend to raise the upfront costs of an appliance, and you may or may not earn it back in energy savings.”

The DOE press release says that homeowners would be able to meet their proposed energy efficiency standards by installing condensing gas furnaces, which reuse gas and water vapor that normal noncondensing furnaces vent into the atmosphere.

The flip side is that condensing furnaces require more parts