Contact: Ben Somberg, 202-658-8129, bsomberg@aceee.org
Washington, DC— The U.S. Supreme Court’s order Monday for a lower court to give further consideration of furnace efficiency standards will extend legal proceedings but should not threaten the standards, because the government’s recent opposition to the standards does not affect their legal soundness. The DC Circuit Court of Appeals had upheld the standards in November and will now have the case back in its hands.
The federal standards, which are scheduled to take effect in 2028, will save households replacing an inefficient furnace with a new model an average of $350 over the life of the furnace. Updated standards for commercial water heaters are also at issue in the case.
“The circuit court already found that the standards are legally sound, and there’s no reason that should change now just because the current administration opposes them. The facts of the case are fundamentally unchanged,” said Andrew deLaski, executive director of the Appliance Standards Awareness Project.
The Department of Energy (DOE) finalized updated standards for new furnaces in 2023. Major furnace manufacturers supported the department finalizing the standards at the efficiency levels it adopted.
Gas utility trade associations sued to block the standards. The government defended the standards in a 2024 brief. In 2025, the DC Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the standards. The gas utilities appealed to the Supreme Court in January. In April, the government changed its position and urged the Supreme Court to take the action it did today.
Until 2023, furnace efficiency standards had not previously been meaningfully updated since they were set by Congress in 1987. Federal law requires DOE to periodically review the standards for furnaces and other products. Under a court-approved settlement, DOE was required to finalize the new furnace standards by 2016.
The standards require new furnaces to use about 15% less energy than today’s least efficient models. Canada has required similar efficiency levels since 2010. More information about the standards is available in an ASAP fact sheet.
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