[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 206 (Monday, October 26, 2015)]
[Notices]
[Pages 65222-65223]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2015-27202]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy


Proposed Agency Information Collection

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

ACTION: Notice and request for comments.

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SUMMARY: The Department of Energy (DOE) invites public comment on a 
proposed collection of information that DOE is developing for 
submission to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) pursuant to the 
Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995. Comments are invited on: (a) Whether 
the proposed collection of information is necessary for the proper 
performance of the functions of the agency, including whether the 
information shall have practical utility; (b) the accuracy of the 
agency's estimate of the burden of the proposed collection of 
information, including the validity of the methodology and assumptions 
used; (c) ways to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the 
information to be collected; and (d) ways to minimize the burden of the 
collection of information on respondents, including through the use of 
automated collection techniques or other forms of information 
technology.

DATES: Comments regarding this proposed information collection must be 
received on or before November 10, 2015. If you anticipate difficulty 
in submitting comments within that period, contact the person listed in 
ADDRESSES as soon as possible.

ADDRESSES: Written comments may be sent to Mr. Chris Early, U.S. 
Department of Energy, Building Technologies Office, Mail Stop EE-5B, 
Forrestal Building, 1000 Independence Avenue SW., Washington, DC 20585-
0121 or by fax at 202-586-4617 or by email at [email protected].

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Requests for additional information or 
copies of the information collection instrument and instructions should 
be directed to Mr. Chris Early, U.S. Department of Energy, Building 
Technologies Office, Mail Stop EE-5B, Forrestal Building, 1000 
Independence Avenue SW., Washington, DC 20585-0121. 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This information collection request 
contains: (1) OMB No. New; (2) Information Collection Request Title: 
Programs for Improving Energy Efficiency in Residential Buildings (3) 
Type of Request: New; (4) Purpose: The proposed collection will enable 
DOE to understand the universe of organizations participating in four 
voluntary programs: Zero Energy Ready Home Program, the Better 
Buildings Residential Network, the Home Energy Score, and the Home 
Performance with ENERGY STAR Program (HPwES). The DOE published a 
notice and request for comments for 60 days related to this current 
request to collect information on May 15, 2014 (79 FR 27867) and 
received no comments. That notice asked for comments for four voluntary 
programs at DOE, three of which are the same as for this current 
request for clearance and one is different. The DOE decided not to 
collect information for one of the four programs that was part of that 
May 15, 2014 request for comments, the Building America Program. The 
DOE, however, is adding the HPwES program to this current request for 
comments. The purpose of this 15 day notice and request for comments is 
to again request public comments on the three programs that were in the 
earlier 60 day notice and request for comments and also request 
comments on the HPwES program which was not included in that earlier 60 
day FR notice. Through these four programs DOE encourages and assists 
the people and organizations that volunteer to participate in them to 
build and renovate new and existing houses to use less energy. The 
program partners who voluntarily participate in the programs consist of 
most of the actors in the home building industry including home owners, 
home builders, home builder tradesman and associations, home design 
professionals, students in architecture and related building 
construction industries, home energy raters, home energy auditors, home 
inspectors, building consultants, manufacturers of building products, 
professional trainers, utility companies, home building and 
manufacturing industry associations, consumer and home building 
industry advocacy organizations, financial institutions, non-profit 
organizations, educational institutions, nonprofit organizations, 
energy program administrators and implementers, Home Performance with 
ENERGY STAR sponsors, state or local government energy offices or 
agencies, clean energy non-profits with existing residential energy 
programs and other organizations who believe peer sharing will help 
them improve their effectiveness in encouraging homeowners to complete 
energy upgrades. DOE proposes to collect information about the 
participants such as their names and addresses, their evaluations of 
training they received about the programs, descriptions of their 
qualifications to conduct training for the programs, their plans to get 
people to participate in the programs, their certifications describing 
how they can assess homes, estimates of how many homes they can get to 
participate in the programs, and information about the homes. The 
collected information will help DOE understand the participating 
partners' activities and progress toward achieving scheduled milestones 
enabling DOE to make decisions about the best way to run the programs 
and respond to partners' needs to improve their operations and actions 
to lower energy consumption. The portion of the HPwES Program for which 
DOE is requesting comments was run by EPA. The operation of part of the 
HPwES program is to be transferred to the DOE from the Environmental 
Protection Agency (EPA). The DOE intends to operate HPwES substantially 
similarly to the way EPA operates the program. The difference in 
estimates of numbers of responses, number of respondents, burden hours, 
and costs to respond between the HPwES that was approved by OMB for EPA 
and the one requested to be approved by DOE are minor. The OMB did give 
the EPA clearance for collection of information in the HPwES program on 
August 14, 2014. OMB gave it the ICR Control Number 2060-0586. EPA did 
not receive any comments in either the 30 or 60 day Federal Register 
Notices for that collection of information; (5) Annual Estimated Number 
of Respondents: 11,585. (6) Annual Estimated Number of Total Responses: 
46,909. (7) Annual Estimated Number of Burden Hours:

[[Page 65223]]

22,926. (8) Annual Estimated Reporting and Recordkeeping Cost Burden: 
zero dollars. DOE estimates that there are no additional costs to 
respondents associated with the surveys other than the costs associated 
with the burden hours.

    Statutory Authority:  The U.S. Code, Title 42, Chapter 149, 
Subchapter IX, Part A, Section 16191--Energy Efficiency.

    Issued in Washington, DC, on October 2, 2015.
Roland J. Risser,
Director, Building Technologies Office, Energy Efficiency and Renewable 
Energy.
[FR Doc. 2015-27202 Filed 10-23-15; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 6450-01-P