[Federal Register Volume 68, Number 49 (Thursday, March 13, 2003)]
[Notices]
[Pages 12069-12071]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 03-6108]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[OAR-2002-0092; FRL-7466-1]


Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission of EPA ICR 
No. 1772.03, OMB Control No. 2060-0347 to OMB for Review and Approval; 
Comment Request

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: In compliance with the Paperwork Reduction Act (44 U.S.C. 3501 
et seq.), this document announces that the following Information 
Collection Request (ICR) has been forwarded to the Office of Management 
and Budget (OMB) for review and approval: Activities Associated with 
EPA's Energy Star Program in the Commercial and Industrial Sectors. 
This ICR describes the nature of the information collection and its 
estimated burden and cost.

DATES: Additional comments may be submitted on or before April 14, 
2003.

ADDRESSES: Follow the detailed instructions in SUPPLEMENTARY 
INFORMATION.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mary Susan Bailey, Climate Protection 
Partnerships Division, Mailcode: 6202J, Environmental Protection 
Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave., NW., Washington, DC 20460; telephone 
number: (202) 564-0189; fax number: (202) 565-2083; e-mail address: 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: EPA has submitted the following ICR to OMB 
for review and approval according to the procedures prescribed in 5 CFR 
1320.12. On October 29, 2002 (67 FR 65979), EPA sought comments on this 
ICR pursuant to 5 CFR 1320.8(d). EPA received no comments.
    EPA has established a public docket for this ICR under Docket ID 
No. OAR-2002-0092, which is available for public viewing at the Air and 
Radiation Docket and Information Center in the EPA Docket Center (EPA/
DC), EPA West, Room B102, 1301 Constitution Ave., NW., Washington, DC. 
The EPA Docket Center Public Reading Room is open

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from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, excluding legal 
holidays. The telephone number for the Reading Room is (202) 566-1744, 
and the telephone number for the Air and Radiation Docket and 
Information Center is (202) 566-1742. An electronic version of the 
public docket is available through EPA Dockets (EDOCKET) at http://www.epa.gov/edocket. Use EDOCKET to submit or view public comments, 
access the index listing of the contents of the public docket, and to 
access those documents in the public docket that are available 
electronically. Once in the system, select ``search,'' then key in the 
docket ID number identified above.
    Any comments related to this ICR should be submitted to EPA and OMB 
within 30 days of this notice, and according to the following detailed 
instructions: (1) Submit your comments to EPA online using EDOCKET (our 
preferred method), by e-mail to [email protected], or by mail to: 
EPA Docket Center, Environmental Protection Agency, Mailcode: 6102T, 
1200 Pennsylvania Ave., NW., Washington, DC 20460, and (2) Mail your 
comments to OMB at: Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, 
Office of Management and Budget (OMB), Attention: Desk Officer for EPA, 
725 17th Street, NW., Washington, DC 20503.
    EPA's policy is that public comments, whether submitted 
electronically or in paper, will be made available for public viewing 
in EDOCKET as EPA receives them and without change, unless the comment 
contains copyrighted material, CBI, or other information whose public 
disclosure is restricted by statute. When EPA identifies a comment 
containing copyrighted material, EPA will provide a reference to that 
material in the version of the comment that is placed in EDOCKET. The 
entire printed comment, including the copyrighted material, will be 
available in the public docket. Although identified as an item in the 
official docket, information claimed as CBI, or whose disclosure is 
otherwise restricted by statute, is not included in the official public 
docket, and will not be available for public viewing in EDOCKET. For 
further information about the electronic docket, see EPA's Federal 
Register notice describing the electronic docket at 67 FR 38102 (May 
31, 2002), or go to http://www.epa.gov/edocket.
    Title: Activities Associated with EPA's Energy Star Program in the 
Commercial and Industrial Sectors, (OMB Control No. 2060-0347, EPA ICR 
No. 1772.03). This is a request to renew an existing approved 
collection that is scheduled to expire on April 30, 2003. Under OMB 
regulations, the Agency may continue to conduct or sponsor the 
collection of information while this submission is pending at OMB.
    Abstract: Energy Star is a voluntary program to encourage 
organizations to prevent pollution rather than controlling it after its 
creation. The Program focuses on reducing utility-generated emissions 
by reducing the demand for energy. In 1991, EPA launched the Green 
Lights program to encourage corporations, State and local governments, 
colleges and universities, and other organizations to adopt energy-
efficient lighting as a profitable means of preventing pollution and 
improving lighting quality. Since then, EPA has rolled Green Lights 
into Energy Star and expanded Energy Star to encompass organization-
wide energy performance improvement, such as building technology 
upgrades, product purchasing initiatives, and employee training. At the 
same time, EPA has streamlined the reporting requirements of Energy 
Star and focused on providing incentives for improvements (e.g., Energy 
Star Awards Program). EPA also makes tools and other resources 
available over the Web to help the public overcome the barriers to 
evaluating their energy performance and investing in profitable 
improvements.
    To join Energy Star, organizations are asked to complete a 
Partnership Letter or Agreement that establishes their commitment to 
energy efficiency. Partners agree to undertake efforts such as 
measuring, tracking, and benchmarking their organization's energy 
performance by using tools such as those offered by Energy Star; 
developing and implementing a plan to improve energy performance in 
their facilities and operations by adopting a strategy provided by 
Energy Star; and educating staff and the public about their Partnership 
with Energy Star, and highlighting achievements with the Energy Star 
Label, where available.
    Partners also may be asked to periodically submit information to 
EPA as needed to assist in program implementation. For example, EPA 
compiles the Energy Service and Product Provider Directory to provide 
the public with easy access to energy efficiency products and services. 
Businesses wishing to appear in this directory are asked to submit a 
completed form that details their products and services.
    Partnership in Energy Star is voluntary and can be terminated by 
Partners or EPA at any time. EPA does not expect organizations to join 
the program unless they expect participation to be cost-effective and 
otherwise beneficial for them.
    In addition, Partners and any other interested party can help EPA 
promote energy-efficient technologies by evaluating the efficiency of 
their buildings by benchmarking individual buildings by using EPA's on-
line benchmarking tool, Portfolio Manager, and apply for Energy Star 
Labels if their performance ranks in the top 25 percent. If they can 
demonstrate that an individual building meets the Energy Star criteria, 
they will receive an Energy Star plaque that they can display on the 
building. EPA does not expect to deem any information collected under 
Energy Star to be Confidential Business Information (CBI).
    An agency may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required 
to respond to, a collection of information unless it displays a 
currently valid OMB control number. The OMB control numbers for EPA's 
regulations are listed in 40 CFR part 9 and 48 CFR chapter 15, and are 
identified on the form and/or instrument, if applicable.
    Burden Statement: The annual public reporting and recordkeeping 
burden for this collection of information will vary depending on the 
type of participant, the specific collection activity, and other 
factors. The annual burden for joining Energy Star and conducting 
related activities is estimated to range from about 2 to 8 hours per 
respondent. This includes time for preparing and submitting the 
Partnership Letter or Agreement and other information as requested. The 
burden for applying for an Energy Star Label is estimated to range from 
about 5.5 to 10.5 hours per respondent. This includes time for reading 
the instructions of the benchmarking tool if needed, gathering and 
entering information on building characteristics and energy use into 
the tool, printing a score report, and preparing/submitting the Energy 
Star Label application materials to EPA. The burden for applying for an 
Energy Star Award is estimated to range from 4 to 26.5 hours per 
respondent. This includes time for preparing and submitting the awards 
application materials to EPA.
    Burden means the total time, effort, or financial resources 
expended by persons to generate, maintain, retain, or disclose or 
provide information to or for a Federal agency. This includes the time 
needed to review instructions; develop, acquire, install, and utilize 
technology and systems for the purposes of collecting, validating, and 
verifying information, processing and maintaining information, and 
disclosing and providing information; adjust the

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existing ways to comply with any previously applicable instructions and 
requirements; train personnel to be able to respond to a collection of 
information; search data sources; complete and review the collection of 
information; and transmit or otherwise disclose the information.
    Respondents/Affected Entities: Participants in EPA's Energy Star 
Program in the Commercial and Industrial Sectors.
    Estimated Number of Respondents: 5,000.
    Frequency of Response: One-time, annually, and/or periodically, 
depending on type of respondent and collection.
    Estimated Total Annual Hour Burden: 83,343 hours.
    Estimated Total Annual Cost: $6,594,941, including $1,540,530 in 
annualized capital or O&M costs.
    Changes in the Estimates: There is a decrease of 134,371 hours in 
the total estimated burden currently identified in the OMB Inventory of 
Approved ICR Burdens. This decrease is a result of EPA's streamlining 
of Energy Star's information collections since preparing ICR 1772.02. 
EPA now places a greater emphasis on providing voluntary incentives for 
improvements and has simplified its collections. For example, EPA no 
longer requires Partners to submit the Annual Facility Report (AFR), 
which took Partners over 198,000 hours to prepare/submit annually. EPA 
also simplified other paperwork related to their Partnership. 
Organizations had previously submitted a Memorandum of Understanding 
(MOU) to join the program, which took about five hours to complete. 
Partners now prepare a more streamlined Partnership Letter or 
Agreement, which takes between 2 and 2.5 hours. EPA estimates that its 
streamlining has resulted in 203,743 hours in burden reduction 
annually.
    This burden reduction is partially offset, however, because EPA 
also expects to see greater benchmarking activity over the coming 
years. EPA developed a Web-based tool, Portfolio Manager, to help 
organizations benchmark the energy use in their buildings. ICR 1772.02 
estimated about 2,300 benchmarkings per year, whereas ICR 1772.03 
estimates more than 23,000 benchmarkings per year. This expected growth 
reflects EPA's view that an increased number of organizations will find 
Portfolio Manager beneficial and use it to improve their energy 
performance. EPA also expects to conduct activities to expand and 
refine Portfolio Manager (e.g., information collection and beta testing 
to expand Portfolio Manager to include new space use types). EPA 
expects to see an annual burden increase in benchmarking and related 
activities of 69,372 hours.
    In summary, EPA estimates that the burden reduction of 203,743 
hours explained above will be partially offset by the burden increase 
of 69,372 hours resulting from increased benchmarking and related 
activities. The result is a net burden reduction of 134,371 hours 
annually.

    Dated: February 25, 2003.
Oscar Morales,
Director, Collection Strategies Division.
[FR Doc. 03-6108 Filed 3-12-03; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P