The Hydraulic Institute, North America’s largest pump trade association, announces the release of two final rules (1) The Energy Conservation Standard and (2) The Test Procedure for Commercial and Industrial Pumps by the United States Department of Energy (DOE). The rulings are now available through www.pumps.org.  The compliance date for the Energy Conservation Standard will be 2020 and DOE estimates it will save 0.29 quadrillion BTUs (2020 – 2050).

The final rules release is a culmination of more than five years of effort and negotiations between DOE and interested parties. The Hydraulic Institute and its membership advocated for the industry throughout the rule making process and played a significant role in their development. In support of the industry, the Hydraulic Institute and its members participated on the Appliance Standards Rulemaking and Rulemaking Federal Advisory Committee (ASRAC) which developed the term sheet that became the basis for the rules. HI members, committees and volunteers provided performance data on more than 3,000 pumps for analysis, wrote the test procedure that was incorporated by reference (HI 40.6-2014 Methods for Rotodynamic Pump Efficiency Testing), reviewed and commented on proposed rules, participated in public hearings addressing the rules and has maintained an informative website (www.pumps.org/DOERulemaking) detailing the steps along the way. HI is now reviewing the final rules and will discuss the rulings during the HI Annual Conference which will occur February 11-15, 2016 in Tucson, Arizona.

The Energy Conservation Standards Ruling: In this final rule, the DOE adopts new energy conservation standards for pumps. DOE has determined that the new energy conservation standards for pumps would result in significant conservation of energy, and are technologically feasible and economically justified.

The Pump Test Procedure Ruling: The DOE is now authorized to prescribe energy conservation standards and corresponding test procedures for statutorily covered equipment such as pumps. Under 42 U.S.C. 6314, EPCA sets forth the criteria and procedures DOE must follow when prescribing or amending test procedures for covered equipment. EPCA provides that any test procedures prescribed or amended under this section shall be reasonably designed to produce test results that measure energy efficiency, energy use or estimated annual operating cost of a covered product during a representative average use cycle or period of use, and shall not be unduly burdensome to conduct.