Descripción

Note: The federal government has imposed and updated appliance efficiency standards through several legislative acts,* and now has standards in place or under development for 30 classes of products. In general, states which had set standards prior to federal action may enforce their own standards until the federal standards take effect. States that had not set standards prior to federal action must use the federal standards. This summary addresses (1) state appliance standards that will be in place until the federal standards take effect and (2) products for which the federal government is not currently developing an efficiency standard. Much of the information in this summary comes from the Appliance Standards Awareness Project (ASAP). Visit the ASAP web site for comprehensive information about appliance standards. See the Department of Energy Appliance Standards website for additional information.

Massachusetts’ original appliance standards legislation was enacted in 1986. In November 2005, the standards were expanded, although to date most of the equipment listed in Massachusetts law has since been preempted by federal law. 

Because of the existing federal standards covering residential furnaces, boilers, and furnace fans, Massachusetts sought a waiver of federal preemption from the warm-state standard. That waiver would have allowed Massachusetts’ cold-state standard to go into effect in 2013. The Massachusetts Attorney General and the Department of Energy Resources (DOER) filed the waiver petition in October 2009. The U.S. Department of Energy responded negatively, see the Department of Energy web site for more information on the petition, comments filed and denial. Therefore, there are no current appliance standards in place in MA.

* These acts include the National Appliance Energy Conservation Act of 1987, the Energy Policy Act of 1992, the Energy Policy Act of 2005, and the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007.