Commercial refrigeration manufacturers and energy-efficiency
advocacy groups recently announced that they reached a consensus agreement on
the first-ever federal energy-efficiency standards for commercial walk-in
freezers and coolers that, if enacted by Congress, will begin affecting the
design of new equipment in 2009.Download
a copy of the agreement.
This agreement, which was negotiated over the last several
months by the Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Institute (ARI) and the
American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy (ACEEE), is the latest in a
series of successful negotiations between industry and energy-efficiency
advocates.
Under this new agreement, the signatories jointly recommend
to Congress prescriptive design requirements to improve the efficiency of this
equipment and direct the U.S. Department of Energy to develop performance
standards by 2012.
The agreement covers coolers and freezers with an enclosed,
walk-in storage space of less than 3,000 ft2that are
refrigerated to temperatures above, at or below 32°F, respectively. The
agreement excludes products that are designed and marketed exclusively for
medical, scientific or research purposes.
In 2005, three similar agreements were signed covering a
number of commercial products, including large-packaged air conditioners and
heat pumps; commercial icemakers; and commercial refrigerators, freezers and
refrigerator-freezers. Those agreements were included in the Energy Policy Act
of 2005.