[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 239 (Thursday, December 16, 2021)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 71406-71409]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2021-27136]
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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
10 CFR Part 430
[EERE-2021-BT-TP-0023]
RIN 1904-AF18
Energy Conservation Program: Test Procedures for Cooking Products
AGENCY: Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Department of
Energy.
ACTION: Notice of proposed rulemaking; extension of public comment
period and notification of data availability (NODA).
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SUMMARY: The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is extending the public
comment period for the notice of proposed rulemaking (``NOPR'') that
DOE published on November 4, 2021 regarding a proposal for a new test
procedure for conventional cooking tops, a category of cooking
products, that would replace the procedure that DOE withdrew on August
18, 2020. DOE is also publishing a NODA regarding the results of DOE's
recently completed test program assessing the repeatability and
reproducibility of the proposed test procedure. DOE is publishing the
results of its testing and requests comment, data, and information
regarding the results.
DATES: The comment period for the NOPR which published on November 4,
2021 (86 FR 60974), is extended. DOE will accept comments, data, and
information regarding the NOPR and NODA on or before January 18, 2022.
ADDRESSES: Interested persons are encouraged to submit comments using
the Federal eRulemaking Portal at www.regulations.gov. Follow the
instructions for submitting comments. Alternatively, interested persons
may submit comments, identified by docket number EERE-2021-BT-TP-0023,
by any of the following methods:
1. Federal eRulemaking Portal: www.regulations.gov. Follow the
instructions for submitting comments.
2. Email: [email protected]. Include the docket number
EERE-2021-BT-TP-0023 in the subject line of the message.
No telefacsimilies (``faxes'') will be accepted. For detailed
instructions on submitting comments and additional information on this
process, see section III of this document.
Although DOE has routinely accepted public comment submissions
through a variety of mechanisms, including postal mail and hand
delivery/courier, the Department has found it necessary to make
temporary modifications to the comment submission process in light of
the ongoing coronavirus 2019 (``COVID-19'') pandemic. DOE is currently
suspending receipt of public comments via postal mail and hand
delivery/courier. If a commenter finds that this change poses an undue
hardship, please contact Appliance Standards Program staff at (202)
586-1445 to discuss the need for alternative arrangements. Once the
COVID-19 pandemic health emergency is resolved, DOE anticipates
resuming all of its regular options for public comment submission,
including postal mail and hand delivery/courier.
Docket: The docket for this activity, which includes Federal
Register notices, public meeting attendee lists and transcripts (if a
public meeting is held), comments, and other supporting documents/
materials, is available for review at www.regulations.gov. All
documents in the docket are listed in the 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 www.regulations.gov/docket/EERE-2021-BT-TP-0023. The docket web page contains instructions on how
to access all documents, including public comments, in the docket. See
section III for information on how to submit comments through
www.regulations.gov.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Dr. Stephanie Johnson, U.S. Department
of Energy, Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Building
Technologies Office, EE-2J, 1000 Independence Avenue SW, Washington, DC
20585-0121. Telephone: (202) 287-1943. Email:
[email protected].
Ms. Celia Sher, U.S. Department of Energy, Office of the General
Counsel, GC-33, 1000 Independence Avenue SW, Washington, DC 20585-0121.
Telephone: (202) 287-6122. Email: [email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Table of Contents
I. Background
II. Summary of Additional Testing Performed by DOE
III. Extension of the Comment Period
I. Background
DOE originally established test procedures for cooking products in
a final rule published in the Federal Register on May 10, 1978. 43 FR
20108, 20120-20128. In the years following, DOE amended the test
procedure for conventional cooking tops on several
[[Page 71407]]
occasions. Those amendments included the adoption of standby and off
mode provisions in a final rule published on October 31, 2012. 77 FR
65942.
In a final rule published December 16, 2016 (``December 2016 Final
Rule''), DOE amended 10 CFR part 430 to incorporate by reference, for
use in the conventional cooking tops test procedure, the relevant
sections of Committee for Electrotechnical Standardization Standard
60350-2:2013, ``Household electric appliances--Part 2: Hobs--Method for
measuring performance'' (``EN 60350-2:2013''), which uses a water-
heating test method to measure the energy consumption of electric
cooking tops. 81 FR 91418. The December 2016 Final Rule also extended
the water-heating test method specified in EN 60350-2:2013 to gas
cooking tops. Id.
On August 18, 2020, DOE published a final rule (``August 2020 Final
Rule'') withdrawing the test procedure for conventional cooking tops.
85 FR 50757. DOE initiated the rulemaking for the August 2020 Final
Rule in response to a petition for rulemaking submitted by the
Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers (``AHAM''), in which AHAM
asserted that the then-current test procedure for gas cooking tops was
not representative, and, for both gas and electric cooking tops, had
such a high level of variation that it did not produce accurate results
for certification and enforcement purposes and did not assist consumers
in making purchasing decisions based on energy efficiency (``AHAM
petition''). 85 FR 50757, 50760; see also 80 FR 17944 (Apr. 25, 2018).
DOE withdrew the test procedure for conventional cooking tops
because testing conducted by DOE and outside parties using that test
procedure yielded inconsistent results. 85 FR 50757, 50760. As
described in the August 2020 Final Rule, DOE's test data for electric
cooking tops showed only small variations (within tests conducted at a
single laboratory) while lab-to-lab test results submitted by AHAM
showed high levels of variation for gas and electric cooking tops,
indicating that the test may not have been reproducible across labs.
Id. at 85 FR 50763. DOE was not able to identify the cause of
variation. Id. DOE determined that the inconsistency in test results
indicated that the results were unreliable, and that it was unduly
burdensome to retain the procedure and require cooking top tests be
conducted using that test method without further study to resolve those
inconsistencies. Id. at 85 FR 50760. In January 2020, DOE initiated a
round robin test program to further investigate the water-heating
approach and the issues raised in the AHAM petition.\1\
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\1\ This testing was conducted according to the cooking top test
procedure, as published in December 2016.
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DOE published a NOPR on November 4, 2021 (``November 2021 NOPR'')
in which it presented results from the initial round robin test program
and proposed to reestablish a test procedure for conventional cooking
tops. 86 FR 60974. The proposed test procedure would adopt the latest
version of the relevant industry standard \2\ with modifications to
adapt the test method to gas cooking tops, offer an optional method for
burden reduction, normalize the energy use of each test cycle, include
measurement of standby mode and off mode energy use, update certain
test conditions, and provide certain clarifying language. Id.
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\2\ International Electrotechnical Commission (``IEC'') Standard
60350-2 (Edition 2.0 2017-08), ``Household electric cooking
appliances--Part 2: Hobs--Methods for measuring performance.''
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The results of the initial round robin testing initiated in January
2020 were presented in Table III.1 and Table III.2 of the November 2021
NOPR. 86 FR 60974, 60979-60980. The results of this testing showed
repeatability and reproducibility coefficients of variation (``COVs'')
under 2 percent for electric cooking tops tested at certified
laboratories. Id. at 86 FR 60980. In the November 2021 NOPR, DOE also
observed that for gas cooking tops, the repeatability COVs were of 0.3-
3.7 percent and the reproducibility COVs ranged from 4.0 to 8.9
percent. Id.
II. Summary of Additional Testing Performed by DOE
Following the August 2020 Final Rule, in May 2021, DOE initiated a
second round robin test program in response to changes to electric
cooking tops on the market and to evaluate potential variability in
testing gas cooking tops. This NODA presents the results from the
second round robin test program.
For the second round robin test program, DOE conducted two
replications of the test procedure according to the test procedure
proposed in the November 2021 NOPR, using the same three certified test
laboratories as were used in the initial round robin testing, and using
four out of the five gas cooking tops that were used during the initial
round robin testing.\3\
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\3\ Due to time constraints, Unit #11 in the test sample was not
tested at Laboratory B, but was instead tested at Laboratory E, a
non-certified test laboratory which has experience testing electric
cooking tops.
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DOE included one electric-coil cooking top that meets the most
recent version of the relevant industry safety standard in its second
round robin. In response to AHAM's petition, Whirlpool submitted
comments regarding the frequency of heating element cycling, stating
that the introduction of a ``coil surface unit cooking oil ignition
test'' to the 16th edition of the Underwriters Laboratory (``UL'')
standard 858, ``Household Electric Ranges Standard for Safety'' (``UL
858'') resulted in manufacturers making design changes to electric-coil
cooking tops that increased cycling frequency over shorter durations in
order to maintain a constant temperature. (Whirlpool, EERE-2018-BT-TP-
0004, No. 20 at pp. 2-3) \4\ The 16th edition of UL 858 published on
November 7, 2014. On June 18, 2015, UL issued a revision to UL 858 that
added a new performance requirement for electric-coil cooking tops
intended to address unattended cooking, the ``Abnormal Operation--Coil
Surface Unit Cooking Oil Ignition Test.'' This revision had an
effective date of April 4, 2019. Because the electric-coil cooking top
in DOE's initial round robin testing was purchased prior to that
effective date, DOE could not be certain whether that test unit
contained design features that would meet the performance
specifications in the 2015 revision of UL 858. To address the lack of
test data on electric-coil cooking tops that comply with the 2015
revision of the UL 858 safety standard, DOE included one electric-coil
cooking top meeting the 2015 revision of UL 858 in its second round
robin (labeled as Unit #11 in the test data).
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\4\ The parenthetical reference provides a reference for
information located in the docket of DOE's rulemaking regarding test
procedures for conventional cooking tops. The references are
arranged as follows: (Commenter name, comment docket ID number, page
of that document). (Docket No. EERE-2018-BT-TP-0004, which is
maintained at www.regulations.gov/docket/EERE-2018-BT-TP-0004).
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To address the reproducibility concerns with the prior gas cooking
top test results, DOE tested four gas cooking tops. As discussed in the
November 2021 NOPR, several of the proposed test procedure provisions
were intended to specifically reduce the testing variability for gas
cooking tops.
The results from testing the electric cook tops and the gas cook
tops are as follows. DOE observed that an electric-coil cooking top
meeting the 2015 update of the UL 858 safety standard had repeatability
COVs under 1 percent, and a reproducibility COV under 3 percent. DOE
also observed that the repeatability COV for gas cooking tops
[[Page 71408]]
decreased to values under 2 percent (compared to a maximum of 3.7
percent from the first round robin), and the reproducibility COV for
gas cooking tops decreased to values largely under 4 percent, with a
maximum of 5.3 percent (compared to a maximum of 8.9 percent from the
first round robin).
DOE notes that the average annual energy use as measured under the
test procedure proposed in the November 2021 NOPR differs substantively
from the average annual energy use measured for a given cooking top in
the initial round robin, due primarily to the update in the number of
annual cooking top cycles from 214.F5 cycles per year for gas cooking
tops in the test procedure as published in December 2016 to 418 cycles
per year as proposed in the November 2021 NOPR.\5\ 86 FR 60974, 60994.
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\5\ Other proposals in the November 2021 NOPR likely to impact
annual energy use include the starting water temperature (15 degrees
Celsius (``[deg]C'') in the procedure as published in December 2016,
and 25 [deg]C in the proposed test procedure), the normalization of
the per-cycle energy use to account for the final water temperature,
and the update test vessel selection criteria.
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As also discussed in the November 2021 NOPR, DOE proposed a target
power density for the optional potential simmering setting pre-
selection test for gas cooking tops of 4.0 British thermal units per
hour per square centimeter. Id. at 86 FR 60990. This proposal was based
on the estimated power density for gas cooking top tests conducted as
part of the initial round robin. As part of the second round robin
testing on gas cooking tops, DOE has collected additional data on the
measured power density of the minimum-above-threshold input setting and
the maximum-below-threshold input setting for all four tested gas
cooking tops, which may be compared to the proposed target power
density.
The test data are available in the docket for this proposed
rulemaking at: www.regulations.gov/document/EERE-2021-BT-TP-0023-0004.
III. Extension of the Comment Period
For the November 2021 NOPR, comments were originally due no later
than January 3, 2022. In light of this NODA, DOE has determined that it
is appropriate to extend the comment period to allow additional time
for interested parties to prepare and submit comments. Therefore, DOE
is extending the comment period and will accept comments, data, and
information on the November 2021 NOPR and this NODA on and before
January 18, 2022.
Submitting comments via www.regulations.gov. The
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
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documents submitted with the comments.
Do not submit to www.regulations.gov information for which
disclosure is restricted by statute, such as trade secrets and
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Confidential Business Information (``CBI'')). Comments submitted
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through the website will waive any CBI claims for the information
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DOE processes submissions made through www.regulations.gov before
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Include contact information each time you submit comments, data,
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Confidential Business Information. According to 10 CFR 1004.11, any
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email two well-marked copies: One copy of the document marked
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treat it according to its determination.
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).
Signing Authority
This document of the Department of Energy was signed on December 9,
2021, by Kelly J. Speakes-Backman, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary
for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, pursuant to delegated
authority from the Secretary of Energy. That document with the original
signature and date is maintained by DOE. For administrative purposes
only, and in compliance with requirements of the Office of the Federal
Register, the undersigned DOE Federal Register Liaison Officer has been
authorized to sign and submit the document in electronic format for
publication, as an official document of the Department of Energy. This
[[Page 71409]]
administrative process in no way alters the legal effect of this
document upon publication in the Federal Register.
Signed in Washington, DC, on December 10, 2021
Treena V. Garrett,
Federal Register Liaison Officer, U.S. Department of Energy.
[FR Doc. 2021-27136 Filed 12-15-21; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6450-01-P