[Federal Register Volume 73, Number 182 (Thursday, September 18, 2008)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 54089-54090]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E8-21821]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

10 CFR Part 430

[Docket No. EERE-2008-BT-STD-0012]
RIN 1904-AB80


Energy Conservation Standards for Residential Refrigerators, 
Refrigerator-Freezers, and Freezers: Public Meeting and Availability of 
the Framework Document

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

ACTION: Notice of public meeting and availability of the framework 
document.

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SUMMARY: DOE will hold an informal public meeting to discuss and 
receive comments on issues that it will address in this rulemaking 
proceeding. The Department is also initiating data collection for 
establishing energy conservation standards for residential 
refrigerators, refrigerator-freezers, and freezers. The Department also 
encourages written comments on these subjects. To inform stakeholders 
and facilitate this process, DOE has prepared a draft framework 
document, available at http://www1.eere.energy.gov/buildings/appliance_standards/residential/refrigerators_freezers.html.

DATES: The Department will hold a public meeting on Monday, September 
29, 2008, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. in Washington, DC. Any person 
requesting to speak at the public meeting should submit such request 
along with a signed original and an electronic copy of the statements 
to be given at the public meeting before 4 p.m., Monday, September 22, 
2008. Written comments are welcome, especially following the public 
meeting, and should be submitted by October 20, 2008.

ADDRESSES: The public meeting will be held at the U.S. Department of 
Energy, Forrestal Building, Room 8E-089, 1000 Independence Avenue, SW., 
Washington, DC 20585-0121. Please note that foreign nationals 
participating in the public meeting are subject to advance security 
screening procedures. If a foreign national wishes to participate in 
the public meeting, please inform DOE of this fact as soon as possible 
by contacting Ms. Brenda Edwards at (202) 586-2945 so that the 
necessary procedures can be completed.
    Stakeholders may submit comments, identified by docket number EERE-
2008-BT-STD-0012 and/or Regulation Identifier Number (RIN) 1904-AB80, 
by any of the following methods:
     Federal eRulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov. 
Follow the instructions for submitting comments.
     E-mail: [email protected]. Include 
EERE-2008-BT-STD-0012 and/or RIN 1904-AB80 in the subject line of the 
message.
     Mail: Ms. Brenda Edwards, U.S. Department of Energy, 
Building Technologies Program, Mailstop EE-2J, Framework Document for 
Refrigerators, Refrigerator-Freezers, and Freezers, EERE-2008-BT-STD-
0012 and/or RIN 1904-AB80, 1000 Independence Avenue, SW., Washington, 
DC 20585-0121. Phone: (202) 586-2945. Please submit one signed paper 
original.
     Hand Delivery/Courier: Ms. Brenda Edwards, U.S. Department 
of Energy, Building Technologies Program, 6th Floor, 950 L'Enfant 
Plaza, SW., Washington, DC 20024. Phone: (202) 586-2945. Please submit 
one signed paper original.
    Instructions: All submissions received must include the agency name 
and docket number or RIN for this rulemaking.
    Docket: For access to the docket to read background documents, a 
copy of the transcript of the public meeting, or comments received, go 
to the U.S. Department of Energy, 6th Floor, 950 L'Enfant Plaza, SW., 
Washington, DC 20024, between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m., Monday through Friday, 
except Federal holidays. For additional information about visiting the 
Resource Room, please call Ms. Brenda Edwards at (202) 586-2945. Please 
note that the Department's Freedom of Information Reading Room 
(formerly Room 1E-190 at the Forrestal Building) no longer houses 
rulemaking materials.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: (1) Stephen Witkowski, U.S. Department 
of Energy, Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Building 
Technologies, EE-2J, 1000 Independence Avenue, SW., Washington, DC 
20585-0121. Phone: (202) 586-7463. e-mail: 
[email protected]. (2) Michael Kido, U.S. Department of 
Energy, Office of General Counsel, GC-72, 1000 Independence Avenue, 
SW., Washington, DC 20585-0121. Phone: (202) 586-9507. e-mail: 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Part A of Title III of the Energy Policy and

[[Page 54090]]

Conservation Act of 1975 (EPCA), 42 U.S.C 6291 et seq. , established an 
energy conservation program for major household appliances, which 
includes residential refrigerators, refrigerator-freezers, and 
freezers. This program authorizes the Department to establish 
technologically feasible, economically justified energy efficiency 
regulations for certain consumer products for which such regulations 
would incur substantial national energy savings, and for which both 
natural market forces and voluntary labeling programs have been and/or 
are expected to be ineffective in promoting energy efficiency.
    The amendments to EPCA in the National Appliance Energy 
Conservation Act of 1987 (NAECA), Public Law 100-12, established energy 
conservation standards for refrigerators, refrigerator-freezers, and 
freezers, as well as requirements for determining whether these 
standards should be amended. (42 U.S.C. 6295(b))
    EPCA, as amended by NAECA, established performance standards for 
residential refrigerators, refrigerator-freezers, and freezers and 
required that DOE conduct two cycles of rulemakings to determine 
whether more stringent standards are justified. (42 U.S.C. 6295 (b)) On 
November 17, 1989, DOE published a final rule in the Federal Register 
updating the performance standards. The new standards became effective 
on January 1, 1993. 54 FR 47916. Subsequently, DOE determined that new 
standards for some of the product classes were based on incomplete data 
and incorrect analysis. As a result, DOE published a correction that 
amended the new standards for the following three product classes: (1) 
Refrigerators and refrigerator-freezers with manual defrost, (2) 
refrigerator-freezers with automatic defrost with a bottom-mounted 
freezer but without through-the-door (TTD) ice service, and (3) chest 
freezers and all other freezers. 55 FR 42845. DOE updated the 
performance standards once again for refrigerators, refrigerator-
freezers, and freezers by publishing a final rule in the Federal 
Register on April 28, 1997. 62 FR 23102. The new standards became 
effective on July 1, 2001. By completing a second standards rulemaking, 
DOE had fulfilled its legislative requirement to conduct two cycles of 
standards rulemakings.
    Stakeholders submitted a petition in 2004 requesting that DOE 
conduct another rulemaking to amend the standards for residential 
refrigerator-freezers. In April 2005, DOE granted the petition and 
conducted a limited set of analyses to assess the potential energy 
savings and potential economic benefit of new standards. DOE issued a 
report in October 2005 detailing the analyses, which examined the 
technological and economic feasibility of new standards set at Energy 
Star levels effective in 2005 for the two most popular product classes 
of refrigerators: Top-mount refrigerator-freezers without TTD features 
and side-mount refrigerator-freezers with TTD features. DOE confined 
its updated analysis to these two classes because they accounted for a 
majority of current product shipments. Depending on assumptions 
regarding the impact that standards would have on market efficiency, 
DOE estimated that amended standards at the 2005 Energy Star levels 
would yield between 2.4 to 3.4 quadrillion British thermal units (Btu), 
with an associated economic impact to the Nation ranging from a burden 
or cost of $1.2 billion to a benefit or savings of $3.3 billion.
    In October 2005, DOE published draft data sheets containing energy 
savings potentials for refrigerator-freezers as part of its fiscal year 
2006 schedule-setting process. The data sheets were based on the 
October 2005 draft technical report analyzing potential new amended 
energy conservation standards for residential refrigerator-freezers 
described above. The analysis was not extended to all refrigerator, 
refrigerator-freezer, and freezer product classes because of the large 
proportion of the market represented by the two product classes 
analyzed in detail and because DOE expected that results for these 
product classes would be representative for all of the product classes. 
The technical report and the associated data sheets provided input to 
the setting of priorities for rulemakings activities. Other products 
were given a higher priority, and limited rulemaking work on 
refrigerators and freezers was carried out in the following years prior 
to the enactment of EISA.
    EISA, signed into law on December 19, 2007, requires DOE to publish 
a final rule by December 31, 2010, to determine whether to amend the 
standards in effect for refrigerators, refrigerator-freezers, and 
freezers manufactured on or after January 1, 2014. DOE is embarking on 
a standards rulemaking for these products to comply with EISA 
requirements. To begin the required rulemaking process, the Department 
prepared the framework document to explain the issues, analyses, and 
process that it is considering for the development of energy efficiency 
standards for refrigerators, refrigerator-freezers, and freezers. The 
public meeting will focus on analyses and issues contained in various 
sections of the framework document. For each item listed, the 
Department will make a presentation with discussion to follow. The 
Department will also make a brief presentation on the rulemaking 
process for these products.
    The Department encourages anyone who wishes to participate in the 
public meeting to obtain the framework document and to be prepared to 
discuss its contents. A copy of the draft framework document is 
available at http://www1.eere.energy.gov/buildings/appliance_standards/residential/refrigerators_freezers.html. However, public 
meeting participants need not limit their comments to the topics 
identified in the framework document. The Department is also interested 
in receiving views on other relevant issues that participants believe 
would affect energy conservation standards for these products. The 
Department welcomes all interested parties, whether or not they 
participate in the public meeting, to submit in writing by October 20, 
2008, comments and information on matters addressed in the framework 
document and on other matters relevant to consideration of standards 
for refrigerators, refrigerator-freezers, and freezers.
    DOE will conduct the public meeting in an informal, conference 
style. A court reporter will record the minutes of the meeting. The 
discussion will not include proprietary information, costs or prices, 
market shares, or other commercial matters regulated by U.S. antitrust 
laws.
    After the public meeting and the expiration of the period for 
submitting written statements, the Department will begin collecting 
data, conducting the analyses as discussed at the public meeting, and 
reviewing public comments.
    Anyone who wishes to participate in the public meeting, receive 
meeting materials, or be added to the DOE mailing list to receive 
future notices and information about residential refrigerators, 
refrigerator-freezers, and freezers should contact Ms. Brenda Edwards 
at (202) 586-2945.

    Issued in Washington, DC, on September 12, 2008.
John F. Mizroch,
Acting Assistant Secretary, Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy.
 [FR Doc. E8-21821 Filed 9-17-08; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6450-01-P