[Federal Register: October 25, 2006 (Volume 71, Number 206)]
[Notices]
[Page 62428-62429]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr25oc06-34]
=======================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
Energy Information Administration
Agency Information Collection Activities: Proposed Collection;
Comment Request
AGENCY: Energy Information Administration (EIA), Department of Energy
(DOE).
ACTION: Agency information collection activities: proposed collection;
comment request.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: The EIA is soliciting comments on the proposed reinstatement
of the Forms EIA-871A,B,C,E,G, and H, ``2007 Commercial Buildings
Energy Consumption Survey''.
DATES: Comments must be filed by December 26, 2006. If you anticipate
difficulty in submitting comments within that period, contact the
person listed below as soon as possible.
ADDRESSES: Send comments to Joelle Michaels. To ensure receipt of the
comments by the due date, submission by fax (202-586-0018) or e-mail
joelle.michaels@eia.doe.gov) is recommended. The mailing address is
Joelle Michaels, Survey Manager, EI-63, Forrestal Building, U.S.
Department of Energy, Washington, DC 20585. Alternatively, Ms. Michaels
may be contacted by telephone at (202) 586-8952.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Requests for additional information or
copies of any forms and instructions should be directed to Joelle
Michaels at the address listed above.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Background
II. Current Actions
III. Request for Comments
I. Background
The Federal Energy Administration Act of 1974 (Pub. L. 93-275, 15
U.S.C. 761 et seq.) and the DOE Organization Act (Pub. L. 95-91, 42
U.S.C. 7101 et seq.) require the EIA to carry out a centralized,
comprehensive, and unified energy information program. This program
collects, evaluates, assembles, analyzes, and disseminates information
on energy resource reserves, production, demand, technology, and
related economic and statistical information. This information is used
to assess the adequacy of energy resources to meet near and longer-term
domestic demands.
The EIA, as part of its effort to comply with the Paperwork
Reduction Act of 1995 (Pub. L. 104-13, 44 U.S.C. Chapter 35), provides
the general public and other Federal agencies with opportunities to
comment on collections of energy information conducted by or in
conjunction with the EIA. Any comments received help the EIA to prepare
data requests that maximize the utility of the information collected,
and to assess the impact of collection requirements on the public.
Also, the EIA will later seek approval by the Office of Management and
Budget (OMB) under Section 3507(a) of the Paperwork Reduction Act of
1995.
The Commercial Buildings Energy Consumption Survey (CBECS) has been
conducted eight times covering the years 1979, 1983 and 1986 under the
name of the ``Nonresidential Buildings Energy Consumption Survey,'' and
years 1989, 1992, 1995, 1999, and 2003 under the current name,
``Commercial Buildings Energy Consumption Survey.'' CBECS collects
baseline data on energy consumption and expenditures in commercial
buildings, and on the energy-related characteristics of those
buildings. To obtain this information, interviews are conducted for a
sample of commercial buildings in the 50 States and the District of
Columbia. For buildings in the survey, data are collected on the types,
amount and cost of energy consumed in the building, how the energy is
used, structural characteristics of the buildings, activities conducted
inside the buildings that relate to energy use, building ownership and
occupancy, energy conservation measures, and energy-using equipment.
The information will be collected using Computer Assisted Personal
Interviewing (CAPI) for the 2007 CBECS. For those buildings that cannot
provide energy consumption data for the building, the data will be
obtained in a mail survey from the suppliers of electricity and natural
gas to the building, after receiving permission from the building
owner, manager or tenant. This mail survey to the energy suppliers is
mandatory. The data obtained from the CBECS are available to the public
in a variety of EIA electronic tables and reports at http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/cbecs.
Public use files that have been screened to
protect the identity of the individual respondents are also available
electronically at the above Web address. Selected data from the surveys
are also published in the Monthly Energy Review and the Annual Energy
Review.
II. Current Actions
This will be a proposed reinstatement of a previously approved
collection and three-year clearance request to OMB.
The content of the 2007 CBECS will be largely unchanged from the
2003 CBECS. The sampling frame, which was redesigned for the 2003
CBECS, will be updated to account for new construction since 2003.
Proposed changes include:
Form EIA-871I--which collected information from college/university
and hospital complexes on the inputs and outputs to their central
physical plant, if present--will be discontinued. This form had been
added for the 2003 CBECS, but upon review, it was determined that using
a separate form was cumbersome and the data that were collected were
not of high quality. However, a few questions from the form, such as
the total square footage of the entire campus, may be incorporated into
the computerized survey instrument for the 2007 CBECS.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has requested the
inclusion of questions on the CBECS, relating to water consumption in
commercial buildings. Pending funding from EPA and EIA and OMB
approval, these questions will be used to gather some basic water use
information to support a program to help consumers select more water
efficient products.
For the 2003 CBECS, EPA's Energy Star program funded some
supplemental sample cases and a few additional questions regarding the
building activity. The purpose of their additional work was to help
improve their publicly-available benchmarking models. We anticipate
that a similar agreement will be put in place for the 2007 CBECS;
discussions are currently underway.
The CBECS no longer collects data from energy suppliers about fuel
oil or district heat consumption (consumption information for these
sources are collected only from the building respondents). Forms EIA-
871D and F have been eliminated.
Existing survey questions may be modified slightly based on
knowledge gained from the 2003 CBECS and based on feedback from CBECS
data users.
III. Request for Comments
Prospective respondents and other interested parties should comment
on the actions discussed in item II. The following guidelines are
provided to assist in the preparation of comments.
[[Page 62429]]
Please indicate to which form(s) your comments apply.
General Issues
A. Is the proposed collection of information necessary for the
proper performance of the functions of the agency and does the
information have practical utility? Practical utility is defined as the
actual usefulness of information to or for an agency, taking into
account its accuracy, adequacy, reliability, timeliness, and the
agency's ability to process the information it collects.
B. What enhancements can be made to the quality, utility, and
clarity of the information to be collected?
As a Potential Respondent to the Request for Information
A. What actions could be taken to help ensure and maximize the
quality, objectivity, utility, and integrity of the information to be
collected?
B. Are the instructions and definitions clear and sufficient? If
not, which instructions need clarification?
C. Can the information be submitted by the due date?
D. Public reporting burden for this collection is estimated to
average approximately 45 minutes per interview for the building
respondent (Form EIA-871A) and approximately 30 minutes per energy
supplier response in those cases where the data must be collected from
the energy suppliers (Forms EIA-871C and E). The estimated burden
includes the total time necessary to provide the requested information.
In your opinion, how accurate is this estimate?
E. The agency estimates that the only cost to a respondent is for
the time it will take to complete the collection. Will a respondent
incur any start-up costs for reporting, or any recurring annual costs
for operation, maintenance, and purchase of services associated with
the information collection?
F. What additional actions could be taken to minimize the burden of
this collection of information? Such actions may involve the use of
automated, electronic, mechanical, or other technological collection
techniques or other forms of information technology.
G. Does any other Federal, State, or local agency collect similar
information? If so, specify the agency, the data element(s), and the
methods of collection.
As a Potential User of the Information To Be Collected
A. What actions could be taken to help ensure and maximize the
quality, objectivity, utility, and integrity of the information
disseminated?
B. Is the information useful at the levels of detail to be
collected?
C. For what purpose(s) would the information be used? Be specific.
D. Are there alternate sources for the information and are they
useful? If so, what are their weaknesses and/or strengths?
Comments submitted in response to this notice will be summarized
and/or included in the request for OMB approval of the form. They also
will become a matter of public record.
Statutory Authority: Section 3507(h)(1) of the Paperwork
Reduction Act of 1995 (Pub. L. 104-13, 44 U.S.C. Chapter 35).
Issued in Washington, DC, October 18, 2006.
Jay H. Casselberry,
Agency Clearance Officer, Energy Information Administration.
[FR Doc. E6-17856 Filed 10-24-06; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6450-01-P