Agreement on air conditioner efficiency standards in the US

On November 11, 2004, air conditioner manufacturers and energy efficiency advocates in the US announced a consensus agreement on equipment efficiency standards for air conditioners and heat pumps. The current federal standard, Energy Efficiency Ratio (EER) of 8.9, was established by Congress in 1992. The new agreement implies that the EER will increase, as of January 1, 2010, to 11.2, a 26% improvement in efficiency. According to the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE), the agreement should reduce peak power needs by about 7400 MW by 2020, equivalent to the output of 25 new power plants of 300 MW each and will provide net benefits to building owners of about 2.4 billion USD for commercial air conditioners bought over the 2010-2030 period.