[Federal Register Volume 66, Number 118 (Tuesday, June 19, 2001)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 32914-32915]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 01-15397]


 ========================================================================
 Proposed Rules
                                                 Federal Register
 ________________________________________________________________________
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 This section of the FEDERAL REGISTER contains notices to the public of 
 the proposed issuance of rules and regulations. The purpose of these 
 notices is to give interested persons an opportunity to participate in 
 the rule making prior to the adoption of the final rules.
 
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 

  Federal Register / Vol. 66, No. 118 / Tuesday, June 19, 2001 / 
Proposed Rules  

[[Page 32914]]



DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy

10 CFR Part 430

[Docket Number: EE-RM/STD-01-350]
RIN 1904-AA78


Energy Efficiency Program for Consumer Products: Energy 
Conservation Standards for Residential Furnaces and Boilers

AGENCY: Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Department of 
Energy.

ACTION: Notice of public workshop and availability of the framework 
document for residential furnaces and boilers efficiency standards.

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SUMMARY: The Department of Energy (DOE or Department) will hold an 
informal public workshop to discuss and receive comments on issues it 
will address and the process it will follow in considering the adoption 
of revised energy conservation standards for residential furnaces and 
boilers. The Department also encourages written comments on these 
subjects. To facilitate this process, the Department is preparing a 
Framework Document, a draft of which will be available on or about June 
18, 2001.

DATES: The public workshop will be held on Tuesday, July 17, 2001, from 
9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Written comments should be submitted by August 
17, 2001.

ADDRESSES: The workshop will be held at the U.S. Department of Energy, 
Forrestal Building, Room 1E-245, 1000 Independence Avenue, SW., 
Washington, DC 20585. (Please note that foreign nationals visiting DOE 
Headquarters are subject to advance security screening procedures. If 
you are a foreign national and wish to participate in the workshop, 
please inform DOE of this fact as soon as possible by contacting Ms. 
Brenda Edwards-Jones at (202) 586-2945 so that the necessary procedures 
can be completed.)
    On or about June 18, 2001, the draft Framework Document will be 
placed on the DOE website at: http://www.eren.doe.gov/buildings/codes_standards/
    Written comments are welcome, especially following the workshop. 
Please submit written comments to: Ms. Brenda Edwards-Jones, U.S. 
Department of Energy, Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, 
Energy Conservation Program for Consumer Products: Energy Conservation 
Standards for Residential Furnaces and Boilers, Docket Number: EE-RM/
STD-01-350, EE-41, 1000 Independence Avenue, SW., Washington, DC 20585-
0121. Telephone: (202) 586-2945; Telefax: (202) 586-4617. You should 
label comments both on the envelope and on the documents and submit 
them for DOE receipt by August 17, 2001. Please submit one signed copy 
of the document and a computer diskette (WordPerfect 8) or 10 copies 
(no telefacsimiles). The Department will also accept electronically-
mailed comments, e-mailed to [email protected], but you 
must supplement such comments with a signed hard copy.
    Copies of the transcript of the public workshop, the public 
comments received, the Framework Document, and this notice may be read 
at the Freedom of Information Reading Room, U.S. Department of Energy, 
Forrestal Building, Room 1E-190, 1000 Independence Avenue, SW., 
Washington, DC 20585, (202) 586-3142, between the hours of 9:00 a.m. 
and 4:00 p.m., Monday through Friday, except Federal holidays.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Cyrus Nasseri, U.S. Department of 
Energy, Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, EE-41, 1000 
Independence Avenue, SW., Washington, DC 20585-0121, (202) 586-9138, 
email: [email protected], or Eugene Margolis, Esq., U.S. 
Department of Energy, Office of General Counsel, GC-72, 1000 
Independence Avenue, SW., Washington, DC 20585, (202) 586-9507, email: 
[email protected]

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Part B of Title III of the Energy Policy and 
Conservation Act, Public Law 94-163, as amended by the National Energy 
Conservation Policy Act (NECPA), Public Law 95-619; the National 
Appliance Energy Conservation Act (NAECA) of 1987, Public Law 100-12; 
the National Appliance Energy Conservation Amendments of 1988 (NAECA 
1988), Public Law 100-357; and the Energy Policy Act of 1992 (EPACT), 
Public Law 102-486,\1\ created the Energy Conservation Program for 
Consumer Products other than Automobiles (Program). The consumer 
products subject to this Program (referred to hereafter as ``covered 
products'') include residential furnaces and boilers. EPCA section 
325(f), 42 U.S.C 6295(f).
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    \1\ Part B of Title III of the Energy Policy and Conservation 
Act, Pub. L. 94-163, as amended by the National Energy Conservation 
Policy Act (NECPA), Pub. L. 95-619; the National Appliance Energy 
Conservation Act (NAECA) of 1987, Pub. L. 100-12; the National 
Appliance Energy Conservation Amendments of 1988 (NAECA 1988), Pub. 
L. 100-357; and the Energy Policy Act of 1992 (EPACT), Pub. L. 102-
486, is referred to in this notice as the ``Act.''
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    For furnaces, the Act set the initial Federal energy conservation 
standard in terms of the Annual Fuel Utilization Efficiency (AFUE) 
descriptor at a minimum value of 78 percent for all furnaces except 
boilers (for which the minimum AFUE was set at 75 percent for gas steam 
boilers and 80 percent for other boilers), mobile home furnaces (for 
which the minimum AFUE was set at 75 percent), and ``small'' furnaces 
(which are explained below).
    The Act did not establish a minimum efficiency for ``small'' 
furnaces, having an input of less than 45,000 British thermal units per 
hour, but required that the Department must publish a final rule by 
January 1, 1989, and set its minimum AFUE at a specific percent which 
is not less than 71 percent and not more than 78 percent. EPCA 
325(f)(1)(B)(ii), 42 U.S.C. 6295(f)(1)(B)(ii). Accordingly, for these 
products, the Department published an Advance Notice of Proposed 
Rulemaking (ANOPR) (52 FR 46367, December 7, 1987) which presented a 
detailed discussion of the proposed analytical methodology and models 
and invited comments and data. On December 2, 1988, the Department 
published a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NOPR) (53 FR 48798, December 
2, 1988) in which the Department proposed to establish an

[[Page 32915]]

energy conservation standard of 78 percent AFUE for small gas furnaces, 
which was the highest level within the range (71 to 78 percent) for the 
Department to consider, as set by the Act. In a final rule (54 FR 
47916, November 17, 1989), the Department set the minimum AFUE for 
these products at 78 percent, or the maximum value allowed by the Act, 
with an effective date of January 1, 1992.
    The Act set initial efficiency standards for mobile home furnaces 
(for which the minimum AFUE was set at 75 percent) but also required 
that the Department must publish a final rule no later than January 1, 
1992, to determine whether these standards should be amended, and if 
so, the effective date for those amendments was required to be January 
1, 1994. The Department started this activity and issued an ANOPR (55 
FR 39624, September 28, 1990), followed by a NOPR where it proposed a 
new energy descriptor and standard levels (59 FR 10464, March 4, 1994). 
Further activities on this rulemaking were interrupted by several 
events, including a fiscal year 1996 moratorium on proposing or issuing 
new or amended appliance energy conservation standards, and the 
development of an improved process for standard rulemaking by the 
Department, as described below.
    The Department of the Interior and Related Agencies Appropriations 
Act for fiscal year 1996 included a moratorium on proposing or issuing 
new or amended appliance energy conservation standards during fiscal 
year 1996. Public Law 104-134. During this period, standard rulemaking 
activities were suspended while the Department continued to work on the 
underlying analyses for standards and on test procedure revisions. In 
September 1995, the Department announced a formal effort to improve the 
process it uses to develop appliance efficiency standards. Energy 
efficiency advocates, product manufacturers, trade associations, State 
agencies, utilities, and other interested parties were asked to provide 
substantial input into the Department's work, which resulted in the 
publication of a rule institutionalizing procedural enhancements. 61 FR 
36973, July 15, 1996 (hereinafter referred to as the Process Rule).
    In addition to setting the efficiency standards for mobile home 
furnaces, the Act also requires that the Department must publish a 
final rule to determine for all furnaces (including mobile home 
furnaces) whether the standards should be amended. The Act required 
that this final rule be published no later than January 1, 1994, and if 
it is determined that the standards should be amended, those amendments 
must be effective on January 1, 2002. EPCA, section 325(f)(3)(B), 42 
U.S.C. 6295(f)(3)(B). The Department started this activity also. In 
September 1993, the Department published an ANOPR in which it presented 
for furnaces, the product classes that it planned to analyze, and a 
detailed discussion of the analytical methodology and models that it 
expected to use in doing the analysis to support this rulemaking. (58 
FR 47326, September 8, 1993). The Department invited comments and data 
on the accuracy and feasibility of the planned methodology and 
encouraged interested persons to recommend improvements or alternatives 
to the approach taken by DOE. Due to the aforementioned moratorium and 
the development of the process improvement plan, the Department was 
unable to complete the required rulemaking for furnaces within the 
stipulated time frame of January 1, 1994.
    In the Department's fiscal year 1998 Priority Setting for the 
Appliance Rulemaking Process, residential furnaces and boilers were 
assigned a low priority level, for which the Department did not plan to 
actively pursue rulemakings over the next two years, and the work was 
limited to basic technology investigation. In the fiscal year 2001 
Priority Setting for the Appliance Rulemaking Process, residential 
furnaces and boilers were assigned a high level of priority, for which 
the Department plans to pursue the rulemaking actively through 
meetings, workshops, and published notices. Today's notice, the subject 
Framework Document, and the workshop mark the next steps in the process 
for updating the energy conservation standards for residential furnaces 
and boilers and mobile home furnaces covered by the statute.
    The Department has prepared the Framework Document to explain and 
discuss the process, analyses, and issues concerning the development of 
such standards. For many of the issues and analyses, the Framework 
Document sets forth approaches that the Department is considering.
    The main focus of the workshop will be to discuss the analyses and 
issues contained in various sections of the Framework Document. For 
each item listed in this document, the Department will make a 
presentation with discussion to follow. In addition, the Department 
will also make a brief presentation on the rulemaking process for 
residential furnaces and boilers. The Department encourages those who 
wish to participate in the workshop to obtain the Framework Document 
and be prepared to discuss its contents. However, workshop participants 
need not limit their discussions to these topics. The Department is 
also interested in receiving views concerning other issues that 
participants believe would affect energy conservation standards for 
residential furnaces and boilers. The Department also welcomes all 
interested parties, whether or not they participate in the workshop, to 
submit in writing by August 17, 2001, comments and information on the 
matters addressed in the Framework Document and on other matters 
relevant to consideration of standards for residential furnaces and 
boilers.
    The workshop will be conducted in an informal, conference style. A 
court reporter will be present to record the minutes of the meeting. 
There shall be no discussion of proprietary information, costs or 
prices, market shares, or other commercial matters regulated by the 
U.S. antitrust laws.
    After the workshop and expiration of the period for submitting 
written statements, the Department will begin collecting data and 
conducting the analyses as discussed at the workshop and in 
consideration of the comments received.
    If you would like to participate in the workshop, receive workshop 
materials, or be added to the DOE mailing list to receive future 
notices and information regarding residential furnaces and boilers, 
please contact Ms. Brenda Edwards-Jones at (202) 586-2945.

    Issued in Washington, DC, on June 13, 2001.
David K. Garman,
Assistant Secretary for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy.
[FR Doc. 01-15397 Filed 6-18-01; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6450-01-P