In response to the growing interest in introducing hydrogen into the natural gas system and its end use appliance and equipment compatibility with these blends in maintaining performance and durability, AHRI has scheduled this webinar where results of natural gas/hydrogen testing and analysis will be presented.  Results will be presented on the exploratory testing on four domestic appliance categories jointly sponsored CSA Group/AHRI/AGA exploratory testing performed by Appliance Engineering, Inc. and a  second analysis of natural gas/hydrogen blends performed by Enertek International of the U. K. under AHRI sponsorship.  AGA and CSA Group staff will present findings of the Appliance Engineering testing, and Enertek International will present its analysis results.  Additional presentations from selected AHRI members on issues related to appliance operation on natural gas/hydrogen blends are planned for the program.  Additional testing needs and test programs under development will be described to conclude the program.  Those interested in participating in the webinar can register here.  Note that while the announcement is issued by AHRI, the webinar is open to all interested industry participants.  AGA encourages fuel gas suppliers, including natural gas utility representatives and propane suppliers, to participate.

 

Having been successful in turning back proposed electrification code requirements at the ICC for the 2021 edition of the International Energy Conservation Code (IECC), BECS Committee staff has now focused on supporting member efforts to oppose the rejected requirements where they might be proposed as amendments during IECC adoption review process in state and local proceedings.  However, in a review this week of proposed amendments to the California Energy Standard Title 24 for the 2022 edition, Codes and Standards that similar provisions are being proposed for the State of California through the statewide energy code.  The docket-posted proposals for the Title 24 revisions are available here as the “Draft 2022 Energy Code Express Terms” as part of the Title 24 “Pre-Rulemaking” ahead of the formal rulemaking period and which, if adopted, are targeted to be effective as of January 2023.  Specific mandatory electrification measures include the following requirements in Section 150.0 for residences:

 

 

 

 

All three electric-ready locations would be served by 30 to 50 amp electrical service and main electrical panel reserved space for installation of double pole circuit breakers for installation of an electric heat pump, electric cooktop, and electric dryer, respectively, and electrical panel markings as  “240V ready”.

 

BECS staff review of the Title 24 proposals that identified these measures came as a consequence of a narrower review of Title 24 of indoor air quality proposals that would require exhausting kitchen cooking appliance hood flow rates and capture efficiencies that set higher and more expensive requirements for natural gas cooking appliances than for competing electric cooking appliances.  The Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers (AHAM), having worked extensively on hood standards, test procedures, and requirements, is leading efforts to avoid differentiating hood flow rates and capture efficiencies based upon cooking energy source and has provided detailed comments to CEC on proposed hood requirements.  BECS staff notes that the technical background for the hood differentials arises from work of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), which is based upon emission measurements and modeling of residential occupancies that do not comply with newly proposed requirements for kitchen ventilation.  As such, the LBNL work is supporting proposed requirements that do not consider the effectiveness baseline kitchen ventilation rates being proposed.  As BECS staff  has commented in the past on ASHRAE Standard 62.2, “Ventilation and Acceptable Indoor Air Quality in Residential Buildings,” ventilation rates for specific sources, such as for cooking appliance emissions, must be evaluated in combination with the indoor air emissions mitigation provided by required baseline ventilation systems.  Evaluation of source control without consideration of these required ventilation measures, working in parallel, is likely to product invalid determinations of required minimum ventilation rates.  We plan to include this perspective in future comments on the Title 24 proposals.

 

Following up the last week’s “Friday Update” describing plans for field testing of self-powered gas-fired heating appliances (including both space and water heating), BECS staff has received several strong expressions of AGA member interest in utility participation in the field test, which would take place in the 2021-22 heating season.  We will continue  to discuss member interest in the field test over the next several weeks, with specific targets emerging for the activity in mid-May and late-June:

 

It is envisioned that self-powered heating appliance technologies would be commercialized in 2022.  In the meantime, however, and to address urgent needs to avoid weather- and system-related power outage issues in the near-term, at the request of BECS Committee members,  BECS staff is exploring utility interest in supporting commercial adoption of residential-scale uninterruptable power supplies (UPS) for powering gas-fired heating systems.  Such systems would be useful and likely cost effective for providing sufficient power to operate gas-fired heating systems for periods approximating at least 24 operational hours.  Such supplies would not be sufficient to address all outage events, such as the recent Texas power outage event, but they would be capable of replacing grid power requirements for short outage periods and mitigating effects of rolling blackouts.  UPS systems, properly sized for operating heating systems, may represent cost effective alternatives to backup generators and household UPS power system UPS systems, which may represent prohibitive installed costs to consumers.  Residential UPS systems downsized to operate gas-fired heating systems may represent a useful compromise.  Currently, a number of companies are engaged in the residential UPS market, including  Tesla Powerwall, Mitsubishi Electric, iGEN Technologies, and Generac PWRcell.  While AGA provides no endorsement of specific UPS vendors or products, these and other UPS vendors might be considered in gas utility efforts to offer consumers back up power supplies to “keep the heat on.”