By: Brian Schutt
Beginning on January 1, 2015, the Department of Energy in their attempt to reduce energy consumption has enacted new minimum efficiency standards for single-phase split system air conditioners and heat pumps.
Since that is all in HVAC speak, I’ll break it down by saying residential A/C and heat pumps are being mandated to be more efficient.
Here in Indianapolis, the new standards only impact the efficiency of heat pumps. The move is making the minimum from 13 SEER to 14 SEER. This increase in efficiency will likely make the equipment more expensive, making the jobs more expensive.
With the increased efficiency of heat pumps, the labor side of the project should be the same as before, so price increases shouldn’t be substantial.
