Appliance Efficiency Standards

Appliance efficiency standards set essential requirements for residential and commercial products to help maintain the performance and quality of the product while reducing its energy and water consumption. These standards help ensure poor quality, inefficient, and wasteful products do not enter the supply chain, and protect consumers from purchasing appliances that would drive up their utility costs.

Maine’s Appliance Efficiency Standards, 06-096 C.M.R. ch. 180, (Chapter 180) became effective November 3, 2022, to help Maine meet the greenhouse gas reduction goals established in 38 M.R.S. § 576-A, and is intended to operate in conjunction with the efforts of other states.

Covered Products

  • General Service Lamps
  • Computers and Computer Monitors
  • Commercial Hot Food Holding Cabinets
  • Plumbing Fittings
  • Plumbing Fixtures
  • Portable Electric Spas
  • Spray Sprinkler Bodies
  • Water Dispensers

Current Standards

Maine has adopted standards for the following product categories. Details of these standards including definitions, efficiency requirements, and test procedure information can be found in Chapter 180. The rule applies to products manufactured after January 1, 2023, and does not include the sale of used products.

The table below describes the adopted standard and test procedures.

Appliance Efficiency Standards
Product Category Definition Standards

General Service Lamps

Medium-base incandescent light bulbs that are:

  1. reflector lamps that are ER30, BR30, BR40 or ER40 lamps rated at 50 watts or less;
  2. reflector lamps that are BR30, BR40 or ER40 lamps rated at 65 watts;
  3. reflector lamps that are R20 lamps rated at 45 watts or less;
  4. B, BA, CA, F and G shape lamps as defined in ANSI standard C79.1-2002 with a lumen output greater than or equal to 200 and rated at 40 watts or less;
  5. A and C shape lamps as defined in ANSI standard C79.1-2002 with a lumen output greater than or equal to 200 and less than 310;
  6. shatter-resistant lamps; or
  7. 3-way lamps.

General service lamps shall meet or exceed a lamp efficiency of 45 lumens per watt.

Water Dispensers

A freestanding device that consumes energy to cool and/or heat potable water.

Water Dispensers shall have on mode with no water draw energy consumption less than or equal the following values as measured in accordance with the test criteria prescribed in Version 2.0 of the ENERGY STAR program product specifications for water coolers, effective February 1, 2014:

  1. 0.16 kilowatt-hours per day for cold-only units and cook-and-cold units;
  2. 0.87 kilowatt-hours per day for storage type hot-and-cold units; and
  3. 0.18 kilowatt-hours per day for on demand hot-and-cold units.

Plumbing Fittings

Showerheads, lavatory faucets, kitchen faucets, public lavatory faucets, metering faucets, kitchen replacement aerators, and lavatory replacement aerators.

Plumbing fittings that are showerheads, lavatory faucets, kitchen faucets, public lavatory faucets, metering faucets, kitchen replacement aerators, and lavatory replacement aerators shall meet the standards set forth in 20 CCR §1605.3 as they were in effect on December 9, 2021.

Plumbing Fixtures

Water closets and urinals, other than those designed and marketed exclusively for use at prisons or mental health facilities

Wall-mounted urinals, except for trough-type urinals, shall have a maximum flush volume of 0.5 gallons per flush.

Floor-mounted urinals, except for trough-type urinals, shall have a maximum flush volume of 0.5 gallons per flush.

Water closets, except for dual-flush tank-type water closets, shall have a maximum flush volume of 1.28 gallons per flush.

Dual-flush tank-type water closets shall have a maximum dual-flush effective flush volume of 1.28 gallons per flush.

Spray Sprinkler Bodies

A sprinkler body that does not contain components to drive the rotation of the nozzle or orifice during operation and lacks an integral control valve. This term includes a spray sprinkler body that is a component of a spray sprinkler.

Spray sprinkler bodies shall include an integral pressure regulator and shall meet the water efficiency and performance criteria and other requirements of that specification.

Portable Electric Spas

A factory-built electric spa or hot tub, supplied with equipment for heating and circulating water at the time of sale or sold separately for subsequent attachment.

Portable electric spas shall meet the requirements of the “American National Standard for Portable Electric Spa Energy Efficiency” (ANSI/APSP/ICC 14-2019), effective November 19, 2019.

Computer Monitors

An analog or digital device of diagonal screen size greater than or equal to 17 inches and less than or equal to 61 inches, that has a pixel density of greater than 5000 pixels per square inch, and that is designed primarily for the display of computer-generated signals for viewing by one person in a desk-based environment. A computer monitor is composed of a display screen and associated electronics.

A computer monitor does not include displays with integrated or replaceable batteries designed to support primary operation without AC mains or external DC power, (e.g., electronic readers, mobile phones, tablets, battery-powered digital picture frames); or a television or a signage display.

Computer monitors shall meet the requirements of CCR Title 20, Section 1605.3(v), as in effect on December 9, 2021. Compliance with those requirements shall be as measured in accordance with test methods prescribed in §1604(v) of those regulations.

Computers

A device that performs logical operations and processes data. A computer includes both stationary and portable units and includes a desktop computer, a portable all-in-one, a notebook computer, a mobile gaming system, a high expandability computer, a small-scale server, a thin client, and a workstation. Although a computer is capable of using input devices and displays, such devices are not required to be included with the computer when the computer is shipped. A computer is composed of, at a minimum:

  1. A central processing unit (CPU) to perform operations or, if no CPU is present, then the device must function as a client gateway to a server and the server acts as a computational CPU;
  2. Ability to support user input devices such as a keyboard, mouse, or touchpad; and
  3. An integrated display screen or the ability to support an external display screen to output information.

The term “computer” does not include a tablet, a game console, a television, a small computer device, a server other than a small-scale server, or an industrial computer.

Computers shall meet the requirements of CCR Title 20, Section 1605.3(v), as in effect on December 9, 2021. Compliance with those requirements shall be as measured in accordance with test methods prescribed in §1604(v) of those regulations.

Commercial Hot Food Holding Cabinets

A heated, fully enclosed compartment with one or more solid or transparent doors designed to maintain the temperature of hot food that has been cooked using a separate appliance. This does not include heated glass merchandizing cabinets, drawer warmers, or cook-and-hold appliances.

Commercial hot food holding cabinets shall meet the qualification criteria of the ENERGY STAR Program Requirements Product Specification for Commercial Hot Food Holding Cabinets, Version 2.0, effective October 1, 2011.

Contact

For more information, contact Claire Briggs at claire.briggs@maine.gov or (207) 355-5307.