Mississauga, ON — Canada’s energy efficiency regulations are set to be amended but not before there has been an adequate amount of time for industry feedback. Now is the time to provide input on Amendment 17.
Earlier this year, Natural Resources Canada’s (NRCan) office of energy efficiency updated its “Forward Regulatory Plan 2021-2023,” which identifies its intention to amend Canada’s Energy Efficiency Regulations to align single-phase central air conditioners and heat pumps with standards in the United States; but still, take into account Canada’s cold climate conditions.
As of Jan. 1, 2023, the United States’ new test standards will feature the Department of Energy (DOE) Appendix M1, which introduces new performance metrics and prescribes more stringent minimum energy performance standards.
However, as featured in the technical bulletin attached to Amendment 17 published on Statistics Canada, NRCan is willing to align with Appendix M1 with the following adjustments:
- The optional -15C test point in the US DOE test procedure would become mandatory in Canadian regulations; and
- The HSPF2 metric used to evaluate compliance would be based on Climate Region V (for calculation of the performance metric in the test standard).
On March 10 and June 7, the Heating, Refrigeration, and Air Conditioning Institute of Canada (HRAI) and Air-Conditioning, Heating, and Refrigeration Institute (AHRI) submitted joint comments where members strongly recommended complete regulatory harmonization and advised NRCan to revise its position.
NRCan is seeking these adjustments to the regulations because it wants to assure Canadian consumers that products will function reliably in cold climate conditions. As a result, NRCan has indicated that it will pre-publish Amendment 17 in Canada Gazette, Part 1 sometime this fall. Once launched, an official 70-day comment period will begin, and HRAI is looking to ensure members are prepared for the official comment period should it launch this fall.