If implemented within DOE’s proposed timeframe, the new standards would come into effect in 2026.

AHRI and fellow litigants, the American Public Gas Association (APGA) and Spire, filed a Motion to Vacate the Commercial Packaged Boiler Final Rule to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit in response to the Department of Energy’s (DOE) submission of the supplemental response to comments to the final rule.  

The design guide was developed in partnership by the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Building Technologies Office, ASHRAE, the American Institute of Architects (AIA), the Illuminating Engineering Society (IES) and the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC). 

In a previous column last year, I identified a change in definition, by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), regarding showerheads, body sprays and safety shower showerheads. In December 2020, during the Trump administration, DOE basically redefined “showerhead” as a single device that discharges water. Hence, if you installed two showerheads installed on a single shower valve, DOE would consider them two showerheads.

Most plumbing manufacturers thought when DOE proposed the rule, it was nice but had very little chance of being finalized. That is why it was so shocking when on Dec. 8, 2020, the final rule was signed into law.

In August, the Department of Energy (DOE), published a proposed rulemaking that would change the definition of a showerhead. While this sounds simple enough, you have to remember this is the federal government.