AGA Welcomes Shannon Corcoran as Director of Building Energy Codes and Standards.
We are pleased to announce that Shannon Corcoran has accepted the position at AGA as a Director of Building Energy Codes and Standards. Shannon is no stranger to the AGA Building Energy Codes and Standards Committee (BECS) having served on the committee for over 8 years as an Ex Officio member for her previous employers. She is very familiar with the BECS Committee priorities and was a major contributor during that time in assisting and supporting BECS Committee end use codes and standards issues. Shannon will be providing strong support to AGA and our members for end use codes, standards, regulations, and legislation that impacts the retention and expansion of the direct use of natural gas for the built environment and transportation. Shannon can be contacted by email at [email protected] and her phone number is 202-824-7250.
AGA and the American Public Gas Association (APGA) File Comments on the DOE 2021 Climate Adaptation and Resilience Plan.
On November 19th, AGA and the APGA filed the attached joint comments on the Department of Energy’s (“DOE”) 2021 Climate Adaptation and Resilience Plan. On October 7, 2021 the Biden-Harris Administration released plans developed by more than 20 federal agencies, including DOE, that outline the steps each agency will take to ensure their facilities and operations adapt to and are increasingly resilient to climate change impacts. The Council on Environmental Quality (“CEQ”) and Office of Management and Budget (“OMB”) requested public input on the agency climate adaptation plans. As discussed in these comments, we provided specific reasons why the use of the natural gas system can provide energy resilience to DOE’s facilities. We also took this opportunity to outline research programs on natural gas technologies that warrant DOE technical and financial support to advance new, innovated products to enhance the future use and expansion of the direct use of natural gas as follows:
- Technical and financial support in the development and deployment of high-efficient low emission emitting natural gas technologies for residential and commercial space heating and domestic water heating appliances and equipment using advanced materials, controls and technologies.
- Technical assistance in evaluating the impact of various blends of hydrogen and natural gas introduced into existing natural gas transmission and distribution systems to include longevity, reliability, leak potential, and elevated pressure, etc.
- Technical and financial support to expand the development of the types of natural gas appliances and equipment that can operate without electrical power and thus off the electric grid. This is an important, desirable operating feature that can maintain the gas equipment’s operation during power outages but reduces the operating cost by eliminating any electricity cost for the operation of the natural gas appliances and equipment.
We will provide any feedback on our comments when available.
AGA Files Objection to EPA Energy Star Program Removal of Most Efficient Recognition for Gas Appliances.
In the October 8 End Use Codes and Standards Update, we reported that the EPA Energy Star program had announced the following regarding gas appliances :“Gas Dryers, Furnaces and Boilers: EPA received comments from nine commenters recommending that the Agency discontinue ENERGY STAR Most Efficient recognition of products that use gas to: help achieve President Biden’s 2050 net-zero economy goal, to protect consumer health, and better appeal to the Most Efficient target audience – environmentally-conscious consumers.” It goes on the say, “EPA has decided to suspend ENERGY STAR Most Efficient recognition of these products in 2022 and will continue to monitor relevant market developments. “ While this action by EPA does not exclude approved gas furnaces, dryers and boilers from the Energy Star program, this action is a first step that appears to begin to diminish the recognition of natural gas appliances that comply with the EPA Energy Star criteria. It should be noted that this decision was made without input from the natural gas industry (it was never proposed by EPA) and apparently is a result from recommendations from the environmental and energy conservation groups including the Natural Resources Defense Council, RMI, etc. AGA staff has developed a response to EPA to counter this action by EPA (attached) to this action noting the agencies lack of transparency and criteria used to make this decision and requesting return of the Most Efficient category for gas appliance. Please review the draft and let us know if you have any questions or comments on the response.