[Federal Register Volume 71, Number 206 (Wednesday, October 25, 2006)]
[Notices]
[Pages 62428-62429]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E6-17856]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Energy Information Administration


Agency Information Collection Activities: Proposed Collection; 
Comment Request

AGENCY: Energy Information Administration (EIA), Department of Energy 
(DOE).

ACTION: Agency information collection activities: proposed collection; 
comment request.

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SUMMARY: The EIA is soliciting comments on the proposed reinstatement 
of the Forms EIA-871A,B,C,E,G, and H, ``2007 Commercial Buildings 
Energy Consumption Survey''.

DATES: Comments must be filed by December 26, 2006. If you anticipate 
difficulty in submitting comments within that period, contact the 
person listed below as soon as possible.

ADDRESSES: Send comments to Joelle Michaels. To ensure receipt of the 
comments by the due date, submission by fax (202-586-0018) or e-mail 
([email protected]) is recommended. The mailing address is 
Joelle Michaels, Survey Manager, EI-63, Forrestal Building, U.S. 
Department of Energy, Washington, DC 20585. Alternatively, Ms. Michaels 
may be contacted by telephone at (202) 586-8952.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Requests for additional information or 
copies of any forms and instructions should be directed to Joelle 
Michaels at the address listed above.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Background
II. Current Actions
III. Request for Comments

I. Background

    The Federal Energy Administration Act of 1974 (Pub. L. 93-275, 15 
U.S.C. 761 et seq.) and the DOE Organization Act (Pub. L. 95-91, 42 
U.S.C. 7101 et seq.) require the EIA to carry out a centralized, 
comprehensive, and unified energy information program. This program 
collects, evaluates, assembles, analyzes, and disseminates information 
on energy resource reserves, production, demand, technology, and 
related economic and statistical information. This information is used 
to assess the adequacy of energy resources to meet near and longer-term 
domestic demands.
    The EIA, as part of its effort to comply with the Paperwork 
Reduction Act of 1995 (Pub. L. 104-13, 44 U.S.C. Chapter 35), provides 
the general public and other Federal agencies with opportunities to 
comment on collections of energy information conducted by or in 
conjunction with the EIA. Any comments received help the EIA to prepare 
data requests that maximize the utility of the information collected, 
and to assess the impact of collection requirements on the public. 
Also, the EIA will later seek approval by the Office of Management and 
Budget (OMB) under Section 3507(a) of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 
1995.
    The Commercial Buildings Energy Consumption Survey (CBECS) has been 
conducted eight times covering the years 1979, 1983 and 1986 under the 
name of the ``Nonresidential Buildings Energy Consumption Survey,'' and 
years 1989, 1992, 1995, 1999, and 2003 under the current name, 
``Commercial Buildings Energy Consumption Survey.'' CBECS collects 
baseline data on energy consumption and expenditures in commercial 
buildings, and on the energy-related characteristics of those 
buildings. To obtain this information, interviews are conducted for a 
sample of commercial buildings in the 50 States and the District of 
Columbia. For buildings in the survey, data are collected on the types, 
amount and cost of energy consumed in the building, how the energy is 
used, structural characteristics of the buildings, activities conducted 
inside the buildings that relate to energy use, building ownership and 
occupancy, energy conservation measures, and energy-using equipment. 
The information will be collected using Computer Assisted Personal 
Interviewing (CAPI) for the 2007 CBECS. For those buildings that cannot 
provide energy consumption data for the building, the data will be 
obtained in a mail survey from the suppliers of electricity and natural 
gas to the building, after receiving permission from the building 
owner, manager or tenant. This mail survey to the energy suppliers is 
mandatory. The data obtained from the CBECS are available to the public 
in a variety of EIA electronic tables and reports at http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/cbecs. Public use files that have been screened to 
protect the identity of the individual respondents are also available 
electronically at the above Web address. Selected data from the surveys 
are also published in the Monthly Energy Review and the Annual Energy 
Review.

II. Current Actions

    This will be a proposed reinstatement of a previously approved 
collection and three-year clearance request to OMB.
    The content of the 2007 CBECS will be largely unchanged from the 
2003 CBECS. The sampling frame, which was redesigned for the 2003 
CBECS, will be updated to account for new construction since 2003.
    Proposed changes include:
    Form EIA-871I--which collected information from college/university 
and hospital complexes on the inputs and outputs to their central 
physical plant, if present--will be discontinued. This form had been 
added for the 2003 CBECS, but upon review, it was determined that using 
a separate form was cumbersome and the data that were collected were 
not of high quality. However, a few questions from the form, such as 
the total square footage of the entire campus, may be incorporated into 
the computerized survey instrument for the 2007 CBECS.
    The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has requested the 
inclusion of questions on the CBECS, relating to water consumption in 
commercial buildings. Pending funding from EPA and EIA and OMB 
approval, these questions will be used to gather some basic water use 
information to support a program to help consumers select more water 
efficient products.
    For the 2003 CBECS, EPA's Energy Star program funded some 
supplemental sample cases and a few additional questions regarding the 
building activity. The purpose of their additional work was to help 
improve their publicly-available benchmarking models. We anticipate 
that a similar agreement will be put in place for the 2007 CBECS; 
discussions are currently underway.
    The CBECS no longer collects data from energy suppliers about fuel 
oil or district heat consumption (consumption information for these 
sources are collected only from the building respondents). Forms EIA-
871D and F have been eliminated.
    Existing survey questions may be modified slightly based on 
knowledge gained from the 2003 CBECS and based on feedback from CBECS 
data users.

III. Request for Comments

    Prospective respondents and other interested parties should comment 
on the actions discussed in item II. The following guidelines are 
provided to assist in the preparation of comments.

[[Page 62429]]

Please indicate to which form(s) your comments apply.

General Issues

    A. Is the proposed collection of information necessary for the 
proper performance of the functions of the agency and does the 
information have practical utility? Practical utility is defined as the 
actual usefulness of information to or for an agency, taking into 
account its accuracy, adequacy, reliability, timeliness, and the 
agency's ability to process the information it collects.
    B. What enhancements can be made to the quality, utility, and 
clarity of the information to be collected?

As a Potential Respondent to the Request for Information

    A. What actions could be taken to help ensure and maximize the 
quality, objectivity, utility, and integrity of the information to be 
collected?
    B. Are the instructions and definitions clear and sufficient? If 
not, which instructions need clarification?
    C. Can the information be submitted by the due date?
    D. Public reporting burden for this collection is estimated to 
average approximately 45 minutes per interview for the building 
respondent (Form EIA-871A) and approximately 30 minutes per energy 
supplier response in those cases where the data must be collected from 
the energy suppliers (Forms EIA-871C and E). The estimated burden 
includes the total time necessary to provide the requested information. 
In your opinion, how accurate is this estimate?
    E. The agency estimates that the only cost to a respondent is for 
the time it will take to complete the collection. Will a respondent 
incur any start-up costs for reporting, or any recurring annual costs 
for operation, maintenance, and purchase of services associated with 
the information collection?
    F. What additional actions could be taken to minimize the burden of 
this collection of information? Such actions may involve the use of 
automated, electronic, mechanical, or other technological collection 
techniques or other forms of information technology.
    G. Does any other Federal, State, or local agency collect similar 
information? If so, specify the agency, the data element(s), and the 
methods of collection.

As a Potential User of the Information To Be Collected

    A. What actions could be taken to help ensure and maximize the 
quality, objectivity, utility, and integrity of the information 
disseminated?
    B. Is the information useful at the levels of detail to be 
collected?
    C. For what purpose(s) would the information be used? Be specific.
    D. Are there alternate sources for the information and are they 
useful? If so, what are their weaknesses and/or strengths?
    Comments submitted in response to this notice will be summarized 
and/or included in the request for OMB approval of the form. They also 
will become a matter of public record.

    Statutory Authority: Section 3507(h)(1) of the Paperwork 
Reduction Act of 1995 (Pub. L. 104-13, 44 U.S.C. Chapter 35).

    Issued in Washington, DC, October 18, 2006.
Jay H. Casselberry,
Agency Clearance Officer, Energy Information Administration.
[FR Doc. E6-17856 Filed 10-24-06; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6450-01-P