This case study describes how Mass Save, a collaborative of Massachusetts’ electric and natural gas utilities and energy-efficiency service providers, designed and implemented a novel residential heating and cooling program to incentivize adoption of smart diagnostic tools and contribute to HVAC workforce development. This program uses smart diagnostic tools to enable quality installation and tune-ups and reduce the energy use and peak demand of residential HVAC equipment.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Smart Tools for Efficient HVAC Performance Campaign supports the use of wirelessly connected smart diagnostic tools—a suite of digital probes that transmit key HVAC system measurements such as refrigerant temperatures and pressures to HVAC system diagnostics smartphone applications. These tools can help determine whether air source heat pumps, central air conditioners, and other residential HVAC equipment are installed or operating correctly.

This report presents background on AFDD, stakeholder engagement efforts, a technology assessment of automated fault detection and diagnostics (AFDD) and smart diagnostic tools, residential CAC and ASHP market trends, a characterization of the CAC and ASHP installed base, a synopsis of utility provider HVAC programs, and market barriers to AFDD.

ACCA’s ANSI-approved quality standards have been adopted by utilities, government agencies, manufacturers, and others nationwide. ACCA makes these standards available as a service to the industry and our broader community.

How ENERGY STAR Verified HVAC Installation (ESVI) works.

The Southface Energy Institute team will research and validate the impact of novel HVAC installation verification and monitoring tools in climate zones 2 through 7. Through nationwide deployment in real-world applications utilizing HVAC contractor networks, the team will determine the individual and combined energy and HVAC performance impacts of commissioning using the measureQuick platform and continuous monitoring using the Sensi Predict system. Additionally, the team will document and analyze nonenergy impacts of these tools.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is working with partners on new collaborative initiatives to support the development of high-performance HVAC systems that operate efficiently and maintain optimal performance over time, delivering comfort, energy savings, and utility cost savings to U.S. homeowners.