The US Department of Energy (DOE) has proposed energy conservation standards and test procedures for commercial and industrial pumps, such as those used in agriculture, oil and gas production, water and wastewater, manufacturing, mining and commercial building systems.
There currently are no energy conservation standards or test procedures for commercial and industrial pumps. The standards will cover clean water pumps ranging in size from 1 to 200 horsepower.
According to a blog post on the NRDC Switchboard, the standards are projected to save about 30 billion kWh and achieve $1.1 billion in net energy cost savings over the next 30 years.
Pumps would be required to meet the new standards four years after the final rule is published, which is expected by the end of 2015, NRDC says. To meet the standards, manufacturers could improve pumps that don’t meet the standard or drop inefficient pumps from their product lines. For most pump types, the proposed standards would effectively remove the worst 25 percent of pumps on the market.
A public meeting to discuss the proposed standards and test procedures is scheduled for April 29. The comment deadline for energy conservation standards is June 1; the comment deadline for test procedures is June 15.
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