Vermont S 191: An act relating to appliance efficiency

Bill Text

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VT LEG #385140 v.1
S.191 1
Introduced by Senator Watson 2
Referred to Committee on 3
Date: 4
Subject: Energy; commerce and trade; energy efficiency standards for 5
appliances and equipment 6
Statement of purpose of bill as introduced: This bill proposes to amend 7
Vermont’s appliance efficiency standards to include updates to the federal 8
regulations. 9
An act relating to appliance efficiency 10
It is hereby enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Vermont: 11
Sec. 1. 9 V.S.A. § 2795 is amended to read: 12
§ 2795. EFFICIENCY AND WATER CONSERVATION STANDARDS 13
(a) The Commissioner shall adopt rules in accordance with the provisions 14
of 3 V.S.A. chapter 25 establishing minimum efficiency standards for the types 15
of new products set forth in section 2794 of this title. The rules shall provide 16
for the following minimum efficiency standards for products sold or installed 17
in this State: 18
(1) Medium voltage dry-type distribution transformers shall at a 19
minimum meet the efficiency requirements set forth for such transformers in 20

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VT LEG #385140 v.1
10 C.F.R. § 431.196, as those requirements may be amended from time to 1
time. 2
(2) Metal halide lamp fixtures designed to be operated with lamps rated 3
greater than or equal to 150 watts but less than or equal to 500 watts shall not 4
contain a probe-start metal halide ballast. 5
(3)(A) Residential furnaces and residential boilers shall meet or exceed 6
the following Annual Fuel Utilization Efficiency (AFUE) and electricity ratio 7
values: 8
Product Type Maximum Maximum 9
AFUE electricity 10
ratio 11
Natural gas- and propane- 12
fired furnaces 90% 2.0% 13
Oil-fired furnaces ≥ 94,000 14
Btus/hour in capacity 83% 2.0% 15
Oil-fired furnaces < 94,000 16
Btus/hour in capacity 83% 2.3% 17
Natural gas-, oil-, and 18
propane-fired hot water 19
residential boilers 84% Not applicable 20

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VT LEG #385140 v.1
Natural gas-, oil-, 1
and propane-fired steam 2
residential boilers 82% Not applicable 3
(B) AFUE shall be measured in accordance with the federal test 4
method for measuring the energy consumption of furnaces and boilers 5
contained in Appendix N to subpart B of part 430, Title 10, Code of Federal 6
Regulations. 7
(C) The Commissioner may adopt rules to exempt compliance with 8
these residential furnace or residential boiler AFUE standards at any building, 9
site, or location where complying with these standards would be in conflict 10
with any local zoning ordinance, building or plumbing code, or other rule 11
regarding installation and venting of residential boilers or residential furnaces. 12
(4)(A) Single-voltage external AC to DC power supplies shall meet the 13
energy efficiency requirements of the following table: 14
Nameplate output power Minimum efficiency in Active Mode 15
0 to < 1 watt 0.49* Nameplate Output 16
≥ 1 watt and ≤ 49 watts 0.09*Ln(Nameplate Output power) + 0.49 17
> 49 watts 0.84 18
Maximum Energy Consumption in 19
No-Load Mode 20
0 to < 10 watts 0.5 watts 21

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VT LEG #385140 v.1
≥ 10 watts and ≤ 250 watts 0.75 watts 1
* Where Ln (Nameplate Output) = Natural logarithm of the nameplate output 2
expressed in watts. 3
(B) This standard applies to single voltage AC to DC power supplies 4
that are sold individually and to those that are sold as a component of or in 5
conjunction with another product. Single voltage AC to DC power supplies 6
that are made available by a product manufacturer as accessories, service parts, 7
or spare parts for its products manufactured prior to January 1, 2008 shall be 8
exempt from the requirements of this standard. 9
(C) For purposes of this subdivision (4), the efficiency of single-10
voltage external AC to DC power supplies shall be measured in accordance 11
with the test methodology specified by the ENERGY STAR Program, “Test 12
Method for Calculating the Energy Efficiency of Single-Voltage External AC-13
DC and AC-AC Power Supplies (August 11, 2004).” 14
(5)(A) State-regulated incandescent reflector lamps shall meet the 15
minimum average lamp efficacy requirements for federally regulated 16
incandescent reflector lamps contained in 42 U.S.C. § 6295(i)(1)(A). 17
(B) The following types of incandescent reflector lamps are exempt 18
from these requirements: 19
(i) lamps rated at 50 watts or less of the following types: BR30, 20
ER30, BR40, and ER40; 21

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VT LEG #385140 v.1
(ii) lamps rated at 65 watts of the following types: BR30, BR40, 1
and ER40; and 2
(iii) R20 lamps of 45 watts or less. 3
(6) In the rules, the Commissioner shall adopt minimum efficiency and 4
water conservation standards for each product that is subject to a standard 5
under 10 C.F.R. §§ 430 and 431 as those provisions existed on January 19, 6
2017 2025. The minimum standard and the testing protocol for each prod