The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has finalized new efficiency standards for commercial air conditioners and furnaces. DOE says the standards will save businesses $167 billion on their utility bills and reduce carbon pollution by 885 million metric tons over the lifetime of the products that are covered.

DOE says these standards will save more energy than any other issued by the Department to date.

The commercial air conditioning and furnace standards will occur in two phases. The first phase will begin in 2018 and deliver a 13% efficiency improvement in products. Five years later, an additional 15% increase in efficiency will be required for new commercial units.

Commercial air conditioners, also known as rooftop units, are commonly used in low-rise buildings such as schools, restaurants, big-box stores and small office buildings. They cool about half of the total commercial floor space in the U.S.

Commercial air conditioners cool about half of the commercial floor space in the U.S. Image credit: Dennis Schroeder/NREL.The standards could save a typical building owner $4,200-$10,100 over the life of a single rooftop air conditioner, according to a statement released by manufacturers and efficiency groups that took part in DOE's negotiated rulemaking process. Moreover, unlike a typical household that has a single central air conditioning unit, commercial spaces frequently have multiple units. Therefore they may realize larger savings, the groups say. A typical big-box store, for example, may have more than 20 units.

To finalize the standards, DOE convened 17 stakeholders, including major industry organizations, manufacturers, utilities and efficiency organizations.