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Southern California Gas Company. Low Income Energy Efficiency High Efficiency Forced-Air Unit Pilot Results and Recommendation Presented at the Joint Utility Quarterly Meeting San Francisco, CA January 25, 2011. High Efficiency Forced Air Unit Pilot. 2010 HE FAU Pilot Overview
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Southern California Gas Company Low Income Energy Efficiency High Efficiency Forced-Air Unit Pilot Results and Recommendation Presented at the Joint Utility Quarterly Meeting San Francisco, CA January 25, 2011
High Efficiency Forced Air Unit Pilot • 2010 HE FAU Pilot Overview • Southern California Gas Company proposed the pilot in their 2009-2011 application. The pilot proposed to install 250 High Efficiency Forced Air Furnaces units • Target was low-income, high energy use homes (with gas consumption of> 300 therms used during the period ofNovember, 2009 through March, 2010).
High Efficiency Forced Air Unit Pilot 2010 HE FAU Pilot Overview cont’d Annual Fuel Utilization Efficiency (AFUE) rating of 65 or lower FAU furnace would be replaced with a new high-efficiency FAU furnace with an AFUE rating >92. Participants must have an existing, operational furnace. Dwelling must be a single-family, owner-occupied home. Expected energy efficiency gains were estimated at 29% per FAU installed. 3
High Efficiency Forced-Air Unit PilotParticipants • 41 customers participated in the pilot. • 7 different climate zones were represented among the participants.
High Efficiency Forced-Air Unit PilotResults • Cost: $2,600 per unit • Additionally, SoCalGas faced unexpected obstacles even though a diligent effort was made to find and provide customers with this serviceat no cost. Examples: • Legitimacy of the program questioned, • Original customer had moved, • FAU had already been replaced, • Home was no longer owned by customer, • Permit issues due to existing code violations on the property, current FAU rating higher than 65 AFUE, • Home needed a new duct system.
High Efficiency Forced-Air Unit PilotResults • Actual efficiency gains were 24%, or slightly lower than the forecast of 29% per FAU installed. • The cost-effectiveness results of the FAU Pilot passed the Commission-adopted 0.25 threshold. • High efficiency FAU’s continue to increase in efficiency and be introduced in the market. This means SoCalGas would need to conduct ongoing cost-effectiveness tests to verify that new models would still be eligible for the LIEE program.
High Efficiency Forced-Air Unit PilotRecommendation • SoCalGas ‘ Final Report did not recommend that the HE FAU replacement be added to the LIEE furnace repair and replacement measure. • Recent development of newer, more expensive, and more energy efficient forced-air units (95 AFUE) in the marketand the phasing-out of the 92 AFUE units used in the pilot. • Uncertainties around the cost of new 95 AFUE FAU’s and the availability of the units used in the pilot make it difficult to determine the feasibility of HE FAU replacement as a full measure. • The cost-effectiveness results of this pilot with 92 AFUE units cannot be applied to the higher efficiency 95 AFUE units.
High Efficiency Forced Air Unit Pilot • Questions? • Contact: • Mark Rasile • Project Manager • 213-244-5335 • mrasile@semprautilities.com