[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 52 (Monday, March 18, 2019)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 9721-9724]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-04999]
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Proposed Rules
Federal Register
________________________________________________________________________
This section of the FEDERAL REGISTER contains notices to the public of
the proposed issuance of rules and regulations. The purpose of these
notices is to give interested persons an opportunity to participate in
the rule making prior to the adoption of the final rules.
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Federal Register / Vol. 84, No. 52 / Monday, March 18, 2019 /
Proposed Rules
[[Page 9721]]
DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
10 CFR Parts 430 and 431
[EERE-2018-BT-TP-0020]
Energy Conservation Program: Notice of Request for Information on
the Measurement of Average Use Cycles or Periods of Use in DOE Test
Procedures
AGENCY: Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Department of
Energy.
ACTION: Request for information (RFI).
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SUMMARY: The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is initiating a data and
information collection process through this request for information to
better understand whether there are provisions in the Department's test
procedures for consumer appliances and industrial equipment that could
be improved to produce results that are more representative of average
use cycles or periods of use. Over time, many of DOE's test procedures
have been amended to account for products' increased functionality and
modes of operation. DOE's intent in issuing this RFI is to gather
information to ensure that the inclusion of measurement provisions in
its test procedures associated with such increased functionality has
not inadvertently compromised the measurement of representative average
use cycles or periods of use, and made some test procedures
unnecessarily burdensome. DOE welcomes written comments from the public
on any subject within the scope of this document, including topics not
directly outlined in this RFI. DOE particularly welcomes comments on
any suggestions for reducing or avoiding regulatory burdens within the
context of measuring average use cycles or periods of use.
DATES: Written comments and information are requested and will be
accepted on or before May 17, 2019.
ADDRESSES: Interested persons are encouraged to submit comments using
the Federal eRulemaking Portal at http://www.regulations.gov. Follow
the instructions for submitting comments. Alternatively, interested
persons may submit comments, identified by docket number EERE-2018-BT-
TP-0020, by any of the following methods:
1. Federal eRulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov. Follow
the instructions for submitting comments.
2. Email: to [email protected]. Include docket
number EERE-2018-BT-TP-0020 in the subject line of the message.
3. Postal Mail: Appliance and Equipment Standards Program, U.S.
Department of Energy, Building Technologies Office, Mailstop EE-5B,
1000 Independence Avenue SW, Washington, DC 20585-0121. Telephone:
(202) 287-1445. If possible, please submit all items on a compact disc
(CD), in which case it is not necessary to include printed copies.
4. Hand Delivery/Courier: Appliance and Equipment Standards
Program, U.S. Department of Energy, Building Technologies Office, 950
L'Enfant Plaza SW, Suite 600, Washington, DC 20024. Telephone: (202)
287-1445. If possible, please submit all items on a CD, in which case
it is not necessary to include printed copies.
No telefacsimilies (faxes) will be accepted. For detailed
instructions on submitting comments and additional information on this
process, see section III of this document.
Docket: The docket for this activity, which includes Federal
Register notices, comments, and other supporting documents/materials,
is available for review at http://www.regulations.gov. All documents in
the docket are listed in the http://www.regulations.gov index. However,
some documents listed in the index, such as those containing
information that is exempt from public disclosure, may not be publicly
available.
The docket web page can be found at http://www.regulations.gov/docket?D=EERE-2018-BT-TP-0020. The docket web page will contain simple
instructions on how to access all documents, including public comments,
in the docket. See section III for information on how to submit
comments through http://www.regulations.gov.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ms. Jennifer Tiedeman, U.S. Department
of Energy, Office of the General Counsel, GC-33, 1000 Independence
Avenue SW, Washington, DC 20585-0121. Telephone: (202) 287-6111. Email:
[email protected].
For further information on how to submit a comment or review other
public comments and the docket, contact the Appliance and Equipment
Standards Program staff at (202) 287-1445 or by email:
[email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Table of Contents
I. Authority and Background
II. Request for Information
III. Submission of Comments
I. Authority and Background
The Energy Policy and Conservation Act of 1975 (``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, which sets forth a variety of
provisions designed to improve energy efficiency. Title III, Part C of
EPCA established the Energy Conservation Program for Certain Industrial
Equipment.
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\1\ All references to EPCA in this document refer to the statute
as amended through the EPS Improvement Act of 2017, Public Law 115-
115 (January 12, 2018).
\2\ For editorial reasons, upon codification in the U.S. Code,
Part B was redesignated Part A.
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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. Relevant provisions of the Act include definitions (42
U.S.C. 6291; 42 U.S.C. 6311), energy conservation standards (42 U.S.C.
6295; 42 U.S.C. 6317), test procedures (42 U.S.C. 6293; 42 U.S.C.
6314), labeling provisions (42 U.S.C. 6294; 42 U.S.C. 6315), and the
authority to require information and reports from manufacturers (42
U.S.C. 6296; 42 U.S.C. 6316).
DOE's test procedures are required to be reasonably designed to
produce test
[[Page 9722]]
results that measure energy efficiency, energy use, water use (in the
case of showerheads, faucets, water closets and urinals), or estimated
annual operating cost of covered products or equipment during a
representative average use cycle or period of use, and they cannot be
unduly burdensome to conduct. (42 U.S.C. 6293(b)(3); 42 U.S.C.
6314(a)(2))
II. Request for Information
DOE is issuing this RFI for the purpose of gathering information on
how the Department could reasonably design its test procedures to
produce results representative of average use cycles or periods of use,
while at the same time ensure that they are not unduly burdensome to
conduct. The Department is interested in identifying specific instances
in which its test procedures' methods of measuring energy use have
become unnecessarily complex, potentially incorporating the testing of
modes and/or functions that do not, in fact, produce results that are
representative of average use cycles or periods of use. In certain
cases, DOE's test procedures have evolved in response to product
evolution in the market, including increased product functionality and
modes of product operation. This trend may have contributed to
procedures that, while accounting for a wide variety of functions,
cease to accurately capture representative average use cycles or
periods of use, as required by EPCA. (42 U.S.C. 6293(b)(3); 42 U.S.C.
6314(a)(2))
DOE seeks information with respect to any of its test procedures
for both consumer products and industrial equipment, which stakeholders
believe could be improved to produce results that are representative of
average use cycles or periods of use and are not unduly burdensome to
conduct.
Consider an example from DOE's clothes washer test procedure. Over
time, machine labeling and literature have evolved to the point that
the term ``normal'' cycle, as previously defined in the DOE test
procedure, no longer captured all of the control settings most
consumers would typically--or could possibly--choose in operating the
machine to wash their laundry. (See, e.g., 75 FR 57556, 57575 (Sept.
21, 2010)). Further, the range of cycle options and terminology on the
control panels changed over time such that many machines no longer
refer to a ``normal'' cycle, instead relying upon other terms. DOE
concluded that testing only the wash temperature options available on
what has typically been considered the normal cycle, despite consumers
being able to access the other temperature options by switching out of
the normal cycle, may not result in testing that ``contributes to an
accurate representation of energy consumption as used by consumers.''
Id: 80 FR 46730, 46737 (Aug. 5, 2015). The standard of ``energy
consumption as used by consumers'', however, appears to be inconsistent
with the statutory requirement for test procedures at 42 U.S.C.
6293(b). Specifically, the statute requires a test method that measures
energy use at those wash or rinse temperature selections that comprise
a ``representative average use cycle or period of use''--not every wash
or rinse temperature available on the machine.\3\
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\3\ There are other provisions of the clothes washer test
procedure that may also be inconsistent with the statutory
requirement of measuring energy use or efficiency ``during a
representative average use cycle or period of use.'' For example,
the DOE test procedure specifies that the cycle considered to be the
``Normal cycle'' must be able to wash ``up to a full load,'' even
though the average load has the highest load usage factor in the
test procedure based on consumer use data. DOE further stated that
the DOE test procedure ``approximates consumer usage habits'' by
requiring minimum, average, and maximum load sizes, which also may
be inconsistent with the statutory requirement to measure the energy
use or efficiency during a representative use cycle or period of
use. 80 FR 46730, 46742 (Aug. 5, 2015).
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For two other examples, consider DOE test procedures for single-
package vertical air conditioners and heat pumps and commercial water
source heat pumps. DOE recently issued two requests for information
that asked commenters to consider whether changes to the test
procedures are needed with regard to fan energy use to properly
characterize a representative average use cycle per 42 U.S.C. 6293(b),
or whether including such energy use would be ``additive of other
existing accounting of fan energy use.'' See 83 FR 34499, 34503, 504
(July 29, 2018); 83 FR 29048, 29050 (June 22, 2018).
Also consider the current DOE test procedure for ceiling fans,
which requires manufacturers to test multi-mount ceiling fans--i.e.,
fans that can be mounted in either the standard or hugger position--to
test the fan in both positions. 81 FR 48620, 48633 (July 25, 2016). DOE
discussed in the proposed rule, however, data that suggested that fans
were installed in the standard position 73 percent of the time. 79 FR
62522, 62532 (Oct. 17, 2014). As a result, testing in the standard
position arguably meets the statutory test of measuring the energy use
of the product during a representative average use cycle or period of
use, whereas requiring testing in the more energy-intensive hugger
configuration may not.
There are instances for which the DOE test procedures rely on
streamlined approaches so as not to be unduly burdensome, while still
being designed to reasonably to provide results that are representative
of an average use cycle or period of use. For one example, DOE's
existing test procedures for refrigerators, refrigerator-freezers, and
freezers generally require testing with the cabinet doors kept closed
in an environmentally-controlled room at 90 [deg]F temperature. This
test condition is intended to simulate performance in more typical room
temperature conditions (72 [deg]F) with door openings. See, 10 CFR
430.23(a)(1) and (b)(7)). Requiring actual door openings during testing
can make it difficult to maintain the necessary operating conditions
and introduces test variability. It also would increase test burden by
requiring additional equipment and labor for test setup and conducting
the test. The 90 [ordm]F ambient condition with no door openings is
designed to provide a measurement consistent with representative
average consumer use, while avoiding excessive testing burden. 74 FR
29824, 29831.
A further example is the test procedure for dehumidifiers. In
application, a dehumidifier generally cycles through dehumidification
mode and off-cycle mode based on ambient room conditions (i.e., the
dehumidifier operates until the ambient reaches the humidity setpoint,
then it cycles off, and then cycles back on when ambient humidity
increases above a certain level). Instead of operating a dehumidifier
continuously through varying conditions to achieve the different modes,
the DOE test procedure requires testing the dehumidification mode, off-
cycle mode, and other low-power modes separately. See generally,
appendix X1 of 10 CFR part 430, subpart B. Prescribed hours of
operation for each mode are then used to calculate the associated
annual energy consumption and calculate the integrated energy factor,
the metric for the dehumidifier energy conservation standard effective
in 2019. Id. The hours allocated between dehumidification mode and off-
cycle mode are intended to reflect the cyclic operation between these
modes for a dehumidifier, so that the test procedure produces results
that measure energy efficiency during a representative average use
cycle or period of use. This approach reduces the time necessary for
testing and avoids the additional test burden that would be required to
properly control and account for varying ambient test conditions.
The examples described above are just that; examples to highlight
the issue upon which DOE seeks input. These examples are not intended
suggest and
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particular outcome or in any way to limit the requested input from
interested parties on how DOE might improve its test procedures to
better capture average use cycles or periods of use, while minimizing
regulatory test burdens. Rather, DOE is interested in relevant
arguments and suggestions and input across all product and equipment
types.
DOE would specifically be interested in whether there is reliable,
non-proprietary consumer use data that could better inform its
understanding of average use cycles or periods of use, or a less
burdensome definition of normal cycle that could capture such use. DOE
also welcomes comments on other issues relevant to this topic that may
not specifically be identified in this document. In particular, DOE
notes that under Executive Order 13771, ``Reducing Regulation and
Controlling Regulatory Costs,'' Executive Branch agencies such as DOE
are directed to manage the costs associated with the imposition of
expenditures required to comply with Federal regulations. See 82 FR
9339 (February 3, 2017). Pursuant to that Executive Order, DOE
encourages the public to provide input on measures DOE could take to
lower the cost of its regulations applicable to appliances or
equipment.
III. Submission of Comments
DOE invites all interested parties to submit in writing, by the
date listed in the DATES section of this notice, comments and
information on matters addressed in this notice. These comments and
information will aid in DOE's better understanding of how its test
procedures could potentially be improved to best produce results that
are representative of average use cycles or periods of use, and the
Department's better understanding of any related concerns with respect
to undue regulatory burden.
Submitting comments via http://www.regulations.gov. The http://www.regulations.gov web page will require you to provide your name and
contact information. Your contact information will be viewable to DOE
Building Technologies staff only. Your contact information will not be
publicly viewable except for your first and last names, organization
name (if any), and submitter representative name (if any). If your
comment is not processed properly because of technical difficulties,
DOE will use this information to contact you. If DOE cannot read your
comment due to technical difficulties and cannot contact you for
clarification, DOE may not be able to consider your comment.
However, your contact information will be publicly viewable if you
include it in the comment or in any documents attached to your comment.
Any information that you do not want to be publicly viewable should not
be included in your comment, nor in any document attached to your
comment. Persons viewing comments will see only first and last names,
organization names, correspondence containing comments, and any
documents submitted with the comments.
Do not submit to http://www.regulations.gov information for which
disclosure is restricted by statute, such as trade secrets and
commercial or financial information (hereinafter referred to as
Confidential Business Information (CBI)). Comments submitted through
http://www.regulations.gov cannot be claimed as CBI. Comments received
through the website will waive any CBI claims for the information
submitted. For information on submitting CBI, see the Confidential
Business Information section.
DOE processes submissions made through http://www.regulations.gov
before posting. Normally, comments will be posted within a few days of
being submitted. However, if large volumes of comments are being
processed simultaneously, your comment may not be viewable for up to
several weeks. Please keep the comment tracking number that http://www.regulations.gov provides after you have successfully uploaded your
comment.
Submitting comments via email, hand delivery, or mail. Comments and
documents submitted via email, hand delivery, or mail also will be
posted to http://www.regulations.gov. If you do not want your personal
contact information to be publicly viewable, do not include it in your
comment or any accompanying documents. Instead, provide your contact
information on a cover letter. Include your first and last names, email
address, telephone number, and optional mailing address. The cover
letter will not be publicly viewable as long as it does not include any
comments.
Include contact information each time you submit comments, data,
documents, and other information to DOE. If you submit via mail or hand
delivery, please provide all items on a CD, if feasible. It is not
necessary to submit printed copies. No facsimiles (faxes) will be
accepted.
Comments, data, and other information submitted to DOE
electronically should be provided in PDF (preferred), Microsoft Word or
Excel, WordPerfect, or text (ASCII) file format. Provide documents that
are not secured, written in English and free of any defects or viruses.
Documents should not contain special characters or any form of
encryption and, if possible, they should carry the electronic signature
of the author.
Campaign form letters. Please submit campaign form letters by the
originating organization in batches of between 50 to 500 form letters
per PDF or as one form letter with a list of supporters' names compiled
into one or more PDFs. This reduces comment processing and posting
time.
Confidential Business Information. According to 10 CFR 1004.11, any
person submitting information that he or she believes to be
confidential and exempt by law from public disclosure should submit via
email, postal mail, or hand delivery two well-marked copies: One copy
of the document marked confidential including all the information
believed to be confidential, and one copy of the document marked ``non-
confidential'' with the information believed to be confidential
deleted. Submit these documents via email or on a CD, if feasible. DOE
will make its own determination about the confidential status of the
information and treat it according to its determination.
Factors of interest to DOE when evaluating requests to treat
submitted information as confidential include (1) a description of the
items, (2) whether and why such items are customarily treated as
confidential within the industry, (3) whether the information is
generally known by or available from other sources, (4) whether the
information has previously been made available to others without
obligation concerning its confidentiality, (5) an explanation of the
competitive injury to the submitting person which would result from
public disclosure, (6) when such information might lose its
confidential character due to the passage of time, and (7) why
disclosure of the information would be contrary to the public interest.
It is DOE's policy that all comments may be included in the public
docket, without change and as received, including any personal
information provided in the comments (except information deemed to be
exempt from public disclosure).
DOE considers public participation to be a very important part of
the process for developing a greater understanding of the emerging
``smart'' technology sector. DOE actively encourages the participation
and interaction of the public during the comment period in each stage
of this process. Interactions
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with and between members of the public provide a balanced discussion of
the issues and assist DOE in the process. Anyone who wishes to be added
to the DOE mailing list to receive future notices and information about
this process should contact Appliance and Equipment Standards Program
staff at (202) 287-1445 or via email at
[email protected].
Signed in Washington, DC, on March 8, 2019.
Daniel R. Simmons,
Assistant Secretary, Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy.
[FR Doc. 2019-04999 Filed 3-15-19; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6450-01-P