Environmental assessment for proposed energy conservation standards for eight types of consumer products: Room air conditioners, water heaters, direct heating equipment, mobile home furnaces, ranges and ovens, pool heaters, fluorescent ballasts, and televisions

Abstract

The Environmental Assessment (EA) presents the results of the associated environmental impacts from a range of new candidate energy conservation standards for eight types of household appliances. The results are presented for each potential standard level for each of the eight appliance types. Each measure of possible environmental change is an alternative action, and it is compared to what is expected to happen if no new standards for each product were finalized, i.e., the ``no action`` alternative. The main environmental concern addressed is emissions from fossil-fueled electricity generation. Most of the design options for the eight appliances result in decreased electricity use and, therefore, a reduction of power plant emissions. The proposed efficiency standards will generally decrease air pollution by decreasing future energy demand. The greatest decreases in air pollution will be for sulfur oxides, listed in equivalent weight of sulfur dioxide, or SO{sub 2}. Reductions of nitrogen oxides and carbon dioxide also occur and are listed by weight of NO{sub x} and CO{sub 2}, respectively. Although the quantity of raw materials used per appliance will remain relatively constant, in most scenarios increased initial cost is expected to decrease slightly the number of appliances sold, resulting in small decreases in raw materials used. The main effect of decreased appliance production is the SO{sub 2} emitted in steel production.