As previously reported in End Use Codes and Standards Updates that in response to the DOE issuance of its final rule on commercial packaged boiler minimum efficiency requirements, Spire Inc., the Air-Conditioning, Heating, and Refrigeration Institute (AHRI) and the American Public Gas Association (APGA) filed petitions challenging the final rules minimum efficiency levels. This past Tuesday, October 20^th, they filed the attached  “INITIAL JOINT OPENING BRIEF OF AMERICAN PUBLIC GAS ASSOCIATION, AIR-CONDITIONING, HEATING, AND REFRIGERATION INSTITUTE, SPIRE INC., AND SPIRE MISSOURI INC.”  AGA  has intervened in support of Petitioners. We will continue providing updates on this issue as it progresses through the courts and hopefully it is remanded back to DOE for reconsideration of the final rule. This will provide for a renewed DOE rulemaking activity that will be conducted under the recently upgraded  DOE “Process” rule  and updated lower natural gas costs that can result in a more reasonable outcome for natural gas packaged boilers then what DOE finalized.

 

Yesterday, AGA’s Ted Williams provided a presentation, available here, at the CSA Workshop Overview – Hydrogen Use in Pipelines” webinar that  discussed the following:

 

 

 

 

 

The presentation was coordinated with prior work under a joint CGA/AGA project on hydrogen pipelines and ongoing and planned work on hydrogen effects on pipeline materials and systems by GTI.  As discussed during recent BECS Committee meetings, the AGA presentation raised unique U. S. criteria associated with introduction of natural gas/hydrogen blends in U. S. pipeline systems related to natural gas interchangeability to help ensure that end-use natural gas appliances and equipment will operate properly under various natural gas/hydrogen blends.

 

Following up the California Energy Commission (CEC) Webinar Workshop, ““Advances in Scientific Understanding of the Impacts of Indoor Cooking and Associated Ventilation on Indoor Air Quality” discussed in last week’s Update, BECS staff has agreed to work with AHAM’s federal and state affairs staff on developing rebuttal information to claims made at the Workshop and other IAQ issues.  AGA is hosting a conference call early next week to further define the joint AGA and AHAM efforts, which are intended to support AHAM advocacy in support of gas-fired cooking appliances.

[This is a weekly feature of the “Friday Update” covering state code calendar activities as presented by the online utility “Fiscal Note,” which is sponsored by APGA and AGA Code and Standards.]

 

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