[Federal Register Volume 83, Number 52 (Friday, March 16, 2018)]
[Notices]
[Pages 11738-11740]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2018-05364]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

[Case Numbers EPS-001, EPS-002, EPS-003, and EPS-004]


Notice of Decision and Order Granting Individual Waivers to Apple 
Inc., Microsoft Corporation, Poin2 Lab and Hefei Bitland Information 
Technology Co., From the Department of Energy External Power Supplies 
Test Procedure

AGENCY: Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Department of 
Energy (DOE).

ACTION: Notice of decision and order.

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SUMMARY: This notice announces a Decision and Order granting Apple, 
Inc. (``Apple''), Microsoft Corporation (``Microsoft''), Poin2 Lab 
(``Poin2'') and Hefei Bitland Information Technology Co. Ltd. 
(``Bitland'') individual waivers from specified portions of the DOE 
test procedure for determining the energy efficiency of external power 
supplies. The petitioners are required to test and rate specifically 
identified external power supply basic models in accordance with the 
alternate test procedure described in the Decision and Order.

DATES: The Decision and Order is applicable as of March 16, 2018.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ms. Lucy deButts, U.S. Department of 
Energy, Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Building 
Technologies Office, EE-5B, 1000 Independence Avenue SW, Washington, DC 
20585-0121. Telephone: (202) 287-1604. Email: 
[email protected].
    Mr. Michael Kido, U.S. Department of Energy, Office of the General 
Counsel, Mail Stop GC-33, Forrestal Building, 1000 Independence Avenue 
SW, Washington, DC 20585-0103. Telephone: (202) 586-8145. Email: 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On June 8, 2017 and June 22, 2017, the 
Information Technology Industry Council (``ITI''), on behalf of four 
petitioners Apple, Microsoft, Poin2, and Bitland--filed individual 
petitions for waiver under 10 CFR 430.27 from the current DOE test 
procedure for EPSs for several basic models of adaptive EPSs. On July 
24, 2017, DOE published a notice announcing its receipt of the 
petitions for waiver, which also granted the petitioners interim 
waivers.
    In that notice, DOE also solicited comments from interested parties 
on all aspects of the petition and specified an alternate test 
procedure that must be followed for testing and certifying the specific 
basic models for which the petitioners requested a waiver. 82 FR 34294. 
On March 16, 2018, DOE publishes the notice announcing a Decision and 
Order granting a waiver to the petitioners.

    Issued in Washington, DC, on March 9, 2018.
Kathleen B. Hogan,
Deputy Assistant Secretary for Energy Efficiency, Energy Efficiency and 
Renewable Energy.

Case #EPS-001, EPS-002, EPS-003, EPS-004

Decision and Order

I. Background and Authority

    The Energy Policy and Conservation Act of 1975, as amended 
(``EPCA'' or ``the Act''),\1\ Public Law 94-163 (42 U.S.C. 6291-6317, 
as codified), among other things, authorizes DOE to regulate the energy 
efficiency of a number of consumer products and industrial equipment. 
Title III, Part B \2\ of EPCA established the Energy Conservation 
Program for Consumer Products Other Than Automobiles, a program that 
includes external power supplies (``EPSs''), which are the subject of 
this Order. (42 U.S.C. 6291(36); 42 U.S.C. 6295(u)) Under EPCA, DOE's 
energy conservation program consists essentially of four parts: (1) 
testing, (2) labeling, (3) Federal energy conservation standards, and 
(4) certification and enforcement procedures.
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    \1\ All references to EPCA in this document refer to the statute 
as amended through the Energy Efficiency Improvement Act of 2015, 
Public Law 114-11 (April 30, 2015).
    \2\ For editorial reasons, upon codification in the U.S. Code, 
Part B was redesignated as Part A.
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    The Federal testing requirements consist of test procedures that 
manufacturers of covered products must use as the basis for: (1) 
certifying to DOE that their products comply with the applicable energy 
conservation standards adopted pursuant to EPCA (42 U.S.C. 6295(s)), 
and (2) making representations about the efficiency of those products 
(42 U.S.C. 6293(c)). Similarly, DOE must use these test procedures to 
determine whether a product complies with relevant standards 
promulgated under EPCA. (42 U.S.C. 6295(s))
    Under 42 U.S.C. 6293, EPCA sets forth the criteria and procedures 
DOE is required to follow when prescribing or amending test procedures 
for covered products. EPCA requires that test procedures prescribed or 
amended under this section must be reasonably designed to produce test 
results which reflect the energy efficiency, energy use or estimated 
annual operating cost of covered products during a representative 
average use cycle or period of use and requires that test procedures 
not be unduly burdensome to conduct. (42 U.S.C. 6293(b)(3)) The test 
procedure for external power supplies is contained in the Code of 
Federal Regulations (``CFR'') at 10 CFR part 430, subpart B, appendix 
Z, ``Uniform Test Method for Measuring the Energy Consumption of 
External Power Supplies'' (``Appendix Z'').
    Under 10 CFR 430.27, any interested person may submit a petition 
for waiver from DOE's test procedure requirements. DOE will grant a 
waiver from the test procedure requirements if DOE determines either 
that the basic model for which the waiver was requested contains a 
design characteristic that prevents testing of the basic model 
according to the prescribed test procedures, or that the prescribed 
test procedures evaluate the basic model in a manner so 
unrepresentative of its true energy or water consumption 
characteristics as to provide materially inaccurate comparative data. 
10 CFR 430.27(f)(2). DOE may grant the waiver subject to conditions, 
including adherence to alternate test procedures. Id.

II. Petition for Waiver: Assertions and Determinations

    On June 8, 2017 and June 22, 2017, the Information Technology 
Industry Council (``ITI''), on behalf of four petitioners--Apple, 
Microsoft, Poin2, and Bitland--filed individual petitions for waiver 
under 10 CFR 430.27 from the current DOE test procedure for EPSs for 
several basic models of adaptive EPSs.\3\ The petitioners stated that 
the specified basic models meet the provisions of the International 
Electrotechincal Commission's ``Universal serial bus interfaces for 
data and power--Part 1-2: Common components--USB Power Delivery'' 
(``IEC 62680-1-2:2017'') specification.\4\ All four waiver petitions 
were nearly

[[Page 11739]]

identical in that they focused on each company's respective basic 
models of adaptive EPSs that utilize the IEC 62680-1-2:2017 
specification and provided the same rationale for why the waiver and 
the suggested alternative test method detailed in each petition is 
necessary.\5\ The IEC specification describes the particular 
architecture, protocols, power supply behavior, connectors, and cabling 
necessary for managing power delivery over a universal serial bus 
(``USB'') connection at power levels of up to 100 watts (``W''). The 
purpose behind this specification is to help provide a standardized 
approach for power supply and peripheral developers to ensure backward 
compatibility while retaining product design and marketing flexibility. 
See generally, IEC 62680-1-2:2017 (Abstract) (describing the standard's 
general provisions and purpose).
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    \3\ The following are the basic models for which the petitioners 
seeks a waiver: Apple--A1718, A1719, A1540; Microsoft--AC-100; 
Poin2--A16-045N1A; Bitland--A045R053L.
    \4\ International Electrotechnical Commission Universal serial 
bus interfaces for data and power-- Part 1-2: Common components--USB 
Power Delivery specification, available at https://webstore.iec.ch/publication/26174/.
    \5\ The petitions are available at https://www.regulations.gov/docket?D=EERE-2017-BT-WAV-0043.
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    In the view of the petitioners, applying the DOE test procedure to 
the adaptive EPS basic models identified in their individual petitions 
would yield results that would be unrepresentative of the active-mode 
efficiency of those products. The DOE test procedure requires that the 
average active-mode efficiency for adaptive EPSs \6\ be measured by 
testing the unit twice--once at the highest achievable output voltage 
(``V'') and once at the lowest. The test procedure requires that 
active-mode efficiency be measured at four loading conditions relative 
to the nameplate output current of the EPS. See generally 10 CFR 
430.23(bb) and Appendix Z. The lowest achievable output voltage 
supported by the IEC 62680-1-2:2017 specification is 5V and the 
nameplate current at this voltage output is 3 amps (''A''), resulting 
in a power output of 15W. The petitioners contend that while the IEC 
62680-1-2:2017 specification requires the tested EPS to support this 
power output, the 15W at 5V condition will be rarely used and only for 
brief periods of time. Accordingly, the petitioners assert that the DOE 
test procedure's measurement of efficiency at this power level is 
unrepresentative of the true energy consumption of these EPSs.
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    \6\ An adaptive EPS is an EPS that can alter its output voltage 
during active-mode based on an established digital communication 
protocol with the end-use application without user-generated action. 
10 CFR 430.2.
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    Consequently, the petitioners seek a waiver from DOE to permit them 
to use an alternative test procedure to measure the energy efficiency 
of the specified adaptive EPSs by testing these devices at the lowest 
voltage, 5V, at an output power of 10W instead of 15W.
    Under the current test procedure, when testing an adaptive EPS at 
the lowest achievable output voltage, the measured average active mode 
efficiency is equal to the average efficiency of the EPS tested at 
100%, 75%, 50%, and 25% of the nameplate output current of the EPS at 
that voltage. Appendix Z, sections 2.f and 4(a)(i)(E), and Table 1. 
Thus, for an adaptive EPS with a lowest output voltage of 5V and a 
nameplate output current of 3A (resulting in a 15W output at 100% of 
the nameplate output current), the average active mode efficiency at 
the lowest output voltage would be equal to the average of the 
efficiencies when testing at 15W, 11.25W, 7.5W, and 3.75W. The 
petitioners suggested that these requirements be modified for their 
products when calculating the average active mode efficiency--namely, 
by using the average of four loading conditions representing the same 
respective percentages of an output current of 2A. Doing so would mean 
that the average active mode efficiency would equal the average of the 
efficiencies when testing at 10W, 7.5W, 5W, and 2.5W. The petitioners 
suggested taking the results from this alternative approach and 
comparing them against the DOE efficiency requirements at 10W.
    The petitioners assert that the test procedure for the lowest 
voltage level does not reflect actual field usage of these products. 
The IEC 62680-1-2:2017 specification requires USB-compliant products to 
support 15W at 5V but, according to the petitioners, adaptive EPSs 
operating at 5V do not exceed 10W for almost all usage conditions. 
Petitioners state that when charging a product that supports the USB 
power delivery requirements and is sold or intended to be used with the 
EPS, the IEC 62680-1-2:2017-compliant EPS charges at 5V only with a 
dead battery or fully charged battery (and then at 0.5A or less). At 
other times when more power is needed, petitioners state that the EPS 
will use a higher voltage rail (greater than 5V). (A ``voltage rail'' 
refers to a single voltage provided by the relevant power supply unit 
through a dedicated circuit/wire used for that voltage.) The 
petitioners also state that the same holds true for other end-use 
products that support the USB power delivery requirements manufactured 
by each of the respective manufacturers. The petitioners provided data 
to demonstrate that when using an adaptive EPS that supports the IEC 
62680-1-2:2017 specification to charge an end-use product of a 
manufacturer different from the one who manufactured the EPS, it is 
likely that the product would charge at less than 10W at 5V, or may 
even be capable of exploiting the ability of an adaptive EPS to provide 
higher voltages for faster charging. The only occurrence where the 
adaptive EPS would be used at the full 15W at 5V is in the rare 
instance when used with an end-use product that does not support the 
USB power delivery requirements, but instead supports the ability to 
draw 3.0A at 5V. Accordingly, the petitioners assert that the current 
DOE test procedure, which requires that efficiency be measured above 
10W at the lowest voltage condition, results in a measurement that is 
grossly unrepresentative of the actual energy consumption 
characteristics of the adaptive EPS being tested.
    On July 24, 2017, DOE published a notice announcing its receipt of 
the petitions for waiver, which also granted the petitioners interim 
waivers, solicited comments from interested parties on all aspects of 
the petition and specified an alternate test procedure that must be 
followed for testing and certifying the specific basic models for which 
the petitioners requested a waiver. 82 FR 34294. DOE did not receive 
any comments on the notice of petitions for waiver.
    Based on the information provided by the petitioners, DOE has 
determined that the current test procedure at Appendix Z would evaluate 
the specified adaptive EPS basic models in a manner so unrepresentative 
of their true energy consumption characteristics as to provide 
materially inaccurate comparative data. This Decision and Order 
specifies that each petitioner test and rate these basic models in a 
manner identical to that which was provided in the interim waiver.
    Each petitioner sought a test procedure waiver for certain basic 
models. This Decision and Order applies only to the basic models listed 
within this document and does not extend to any other basic models.
    Consistent with 10 CFR 430.27(j), not later than 60 days after 
March 16, 2018 any manufacturer currently distributing in commerce in 
the United States a product employing a technology or characteristic 
that results in the same need for a waiver from the applicable test 
procedure must submit a petition for waiver.
    Manufacturers not currently distributing such a product in commerce 
in the United States must petition for and be granted a waiver prior to 
the distribution in commerce of that product in the United States.

[[Page 11740]]

Manufacturers may also submit a request for interim waiver pursuant to 
the requirements of 10 CFR 430.27.

III. Consultations With Other Agencies

    In accordance with 10 CFR 430.27(f)(2), DOE consulted with the 
Federal Trade Commission (``FTC'') staff concerning the petitioners' 
petition for waiver. The FTC staff did not have any objections to 
granting waivers to petitioners.

IV. Order

    After careful consideration of all the material that was submitted 
by and on behalf of Apple, Inc. (``Apple''), Microsoft Corporation 
(``Microsoft''), Poin2 Lab (``Poin2''), and Hefei Bitland Information 
Technology Co. Ltd. (``Bitland'') in this matter, DOE grants a waiver 
regarding the below specified basic models. Therefore, in accordance 
with 10 CFR 430.27, it is ORDERED that:
    (1) Apple, Microsoft, Poin2, and Bitland must test and rate the 
external power supply basic models listed in paragraphs (1)(A) through 
(1)(D) of this section in accordance with the alternate test procedure 
set forth in paragraph (2) of this section.
    (A) Apple must test and rate the EPSs of Apple brand basic models 
A1718, A1719, A1540 as set forth in paragraph (2) of this section.
    (B) Microsoft must test and rate the EPSs of Microsoft brand basic 
model AC-100 as set forth in paragraph (2) of this section.
    (C) Poin2 must test and rate the EPSs of Chicony brand basic model 
A16-045N1A as set forth in paragraph (2) of this section.
    (D) Bitland must test and rate the EPSs of Chicony brand basic 
model A045R053L as set forth in paragraph (2) of this section.
    (2) The alternate test procedure for the basic models listed in 
paragraphs (1)(A) through (1)(D) of this section is the test procedure 
for EPSs prescribed by DOE at 10 CFR part 430, subpart B, appendix Z, 
except that under section 4(a)(i)(E) and Table 1 of Appendix Z, the 
adaptive EPSs must be tested such that when testing at the lowest 
achievable output voltage (i.e., 5V), the Nameplate Output Current 
shall be 2A (which corresponds to an output power of 10W at the 100% 
loading condition). The 75%, 50%, and 25% loading conditions shall be 
scaled accordingly and the nameplate output power of such an EPS, at 
the lowest output voltage, shall be equal to 10W.
    (3) Representations. Apple, Microsoft, Poin2, and Bitland must make 
representations about the energy use of the adaptive external power 
supply basic models identified in paragraph (1) of this section for 
compliance, marketing, or other purposes only to the extent that such 
products have been tested in accordance with the provisions outlined 
above and such representations fairly disclose the results of such 
testing in accordance with 10 CFR part 430, subpart B, appendix Z and 
10 CFR 429.37.
    (4) These waivers shall remain in effect consistent with the 
provisions of 10 CFR 430.27.
    (5) These waivers are issued on the condition that the statements, 
representations, and documentation provided on behalf of and by the 
petitioners are valid. DOE may revoke or modify these waivers at any 
time if it determines the factual basis underlying the petitions for 
waiver is incorrect, or the results from the alternate test procedure 
are unrepresentative of the basic models' true energy consumption 
characteristics. 10 CFR 430.27(k)(1). Likewise, any of the petitioners 
may request that DOE rescind or modify the waiver if the petitioner 
discovers an error in the information provided to DOE as part of its 
petition, determines that the waiver is no longer needed, or for other 
appropriate reasons. 10 CFR 430.27(k)(2)
    (6) Granting of these waivers does not release Apple, Microsoft, 
Poin2, or Bitland from the certification requirements set forth at 10 
CFR part 429.

    Signed in Washington, DC, on March 9, 2018.

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Kathleen B. Hogan, Ph.D.

Deputy Assistant Secretary for Energy Efficiency, Energy Efficiency 
and Renewable Energy.

[FR Doc. 2018-05364 Filed 3-15-18; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 6450-01-P