Qui Bono? Hmmmm?

Via the EEI newsletter:

Times Union: Why Not Raise Energy Efficiency Standard to 90 Percent?

The Albany Times Union, in an editorial, charged the U.S. Department of Energy with failing taxpayers by not making energy efficiency the hallmark of its standards for furnaces. Wrote the newspaper: "The federal government could help lower your natural gas bill, but isn't inclined to do so. That's the only way to explain the weak furnace efficiency standard being promulgated by [DOE]. It requires all furnaces to convert 80 percent of gas into heat by 2015. That sounds like an impressive efficiency standard - until you realize that the current standard is 78 percent."

Since at least half the new furnaces sold in the Northeast come with an efficiency rating of 90 percent, wrote the newspaper, why doesn't DOE make that the standard? Northeast homeowners "will pay a heavy price for the weaker standard," wrote the Times Union. "According to the Northeast Energy Efficiency Partnerships, a regional nonprofit group that promotes environmental goals, the average Northeast household stands to lose $250 a year in energy cost savings under the 80-percent rule, while the Northeast as a whole will lose more than $1.6 billion in savings over the next 15 years. That's too high a price to pay - both in dollars and in wasted energy."
Albany Times Union, editorial , Oct. 31.