[Federal Register Volume 73, Number 182 (Thursday, September 18, 2008)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 54089-54090]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E8-21821]
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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
10 CFR Part 430
[Docket No. EERE-2008-BT-STD-0012]
RIN 1904-AB80
Energy Conservation Standards for Residential Refrigerators,
Refrigerator-Freezers, and Freezers: Public Meeting and Availability of
the Framework Document
AGENCY: Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Department of
Energy.
ACTION: Notice of public meeting and availability of the framework
document.
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SUMMARY: DOE will hold an informal public meeting to discuss and
receive comments on issues that it will address in this rulemaking
proceeding. The Department is also initiating data collection for
establishing energy conservation standards for residential
refrigerators, refrigerator-freezers, and freezers. The Department also
encourages written comments on these subjects. To inform stakeholders
and facilitate this process, DOE has prepared a draft framework
document, available at http://www1.eere.energy.gov/buildings/appliance_standards/residential/refrigerators_freezers.html.
DATES: The Department will hold a public meeting on Monday, September
29, 2008, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. in Washington, DC. Any person
requesting to speak at the public meeting should submit such request
along with a signed original and an electronic copy of the statements
to be given at the public meeting before 4 p.m., Monday, September 22,
2008. Written comments are welcome, especially following the public
meeting, and should be submitted by October 20, 2008.
ADDRESSES: The public meeting will be held at the U.S. Department of
Energy, Forrestal Building, Room 8E-089, 1000 Independence Avenue, SW.,
Washington, DC 20585-0121. Please note that foreign nationals
participating in the public meeting are subject to advance security
screening procedures. If a foreign national wishes to participate in
the public meeting, please inform DOE of this fact as soon as possible
by contacting Ms. Brenda Edwards at (202) 586-2945 so that the
necessary procedures can be completed.
Stakeholders may submit comments, identified by docket number EERE-
2008-BT-STD-0012 and/or Regulation Identifier Number (RIN) 1904-AB80,
by any of the following methods:
Federal eRulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov.
Follow the instructions for submitting comments.
E-mail: [email protected]. Include
EERE-2008-BT-STD-0012 and/or RIN 1904-AB80 in the subject line of the
message.
Mail: Ms. Brenda Edwards, U.S. Department of Energy,
Building Technologies Program, Mailstop EE-2J, Framework Document for
Refrigerators, Refrigerator-Freezers, and Freezers, EERE-2008-BT-STD-
0012 and/or RIN 1904-AB80, 1000 Independence Avenue, SW., Washington,
DC 20585-0121. Phone: (202) 586-2945. Please submit one signed paper
original.
Hand Delivery/Courier: Ms. Brenda Edwards, U.S. Department
of Energy, Building Technologies Program, 6th Floor, 950 L'Enfant
Plaza, SW., Washington, DC 20024. Phone: (202) 586-2945. Please submit
one signed paper original.
Instructions: All submissions received must include the agency name
and docket number or RIN for this rulemaking.
Docket: For access to the docket to read background documents, a
copy of the transcript of the public meeting, or comments received, go
to the U.S. Department of Energy, 6th Floor, 950 L'Enfant Plaza, SW.,
Washington, DC 20024, between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m., Monday through Friday,
except Federal holidays. For additional information about visiting the
Resource Room, please call Ms. Brenda Edwards at (202) 586-2945. Please
note that the Department's Freedom of Information Reading Room
(formerly Room 1E-190 at the Forrestal Building) no longer houses
rulemaking materials.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: (1) Stephen Witkowski, U.S. Department
of Energy, Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Building
Technologies, EE-2J, 1000 Independence Avenue, SW., Washington, DC
20585-0121. Phone: (202) 586-7463. e-mail:
[email protected]. (2) Michael Kido, U.S. Department of
Energy, Office of General Counsel, GC-72, 1000 Independence Avenue,
SW., Washington, DC 20585-0121. Phone: (202) 586-9507. e-mail:
[email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Part A of Title III of the Energy Policy and
[[Page 54090]]
Conservation Act of 1975 (EPCA), 42 U.S.C 6291 et seq. , established an
energy conservation program for major household appliances, which
includes residential refrigerators, refrigerator-freezers, and
freezers. This program authorizes the Department to establish
technologically feasible, economically justified energy efficiency
regulations for certain consumer products for which such regulations
would incur substantial national energy savings, and for which both
natural market forces and voluntary labeling programs have been and/or
are expected to be ineffective in promoting energy efficiency.
The amendments to EPCA in the National Appliance Energy
Conservation Act of 1987 (NAECA), Public Law 100-12, established energy
conservation standards for refrigerators, refrigerator-freezers, and
freezers, as well as requirements for determining whether these
standards should be amended. (42 U.S.C. 6295(b))
EPCA, as amended by NAECA, established performance standards for
residential refrigerators, refrigerator-freezers, and freezers and
required that DOE conduct two cycles of rulemakings to determine
whether more stringent standards are justified. (42 U.S.C. 6295 (b)) On
November 17, 1989, DOE published a final rule in the Federal Register
updating the performance standards. The new standards became effective
on January 1, 1993. 54 FR 47916. Subsequently, DOE determined that new
standards for some of the product classes were based on incomplete data
and incorrect analysis. As a result, DOE published a correction that
amended the new standards for the following three product classes: (1)
Refrigerators and refrigerator-freezers with manual defrost, (2)
refrigerator-freezers with automatic defrost with a bottom-mounted
freezer but without through-the-door (TTD) ice service, and (3) chest
freezers and all other freezers. 55 FR 42845. DOE updated the
performance standards once again for refrigerators, refrigerator-
freezers, and freezers by publishing a final rule in the Federal
Register on April 28, 1997. 62 FR 23102. The new standards became
effective on July 1, 2001. By completing a second standards rulemaking,
DOE had fulfilled its legislative requirement to conduct two cycles of
standards rulemakings.
Stakeholders submitted a petition in 2004 requesting that DOE
conduct another rulemaking to amend the standards for residential
refrigerator-freezers. In April 2005, DOE granted the petition and
conducted a limited set of analyses to assess the potential energy
savings and potential economic benefit of new standards. DOE issued a
report in October 2005 detailing the analyses, which examined the
technological and economic feasibility of new standards set at Energy
Star levels effective in 2005 for the two most popular product classes
of refrigerators: Top-mount refrigerator-freezers without TTD features
and side-mount refrigerator-freezers with TTD features. DOE confined
its updated analysis to these two classes because they accounted for a
majority of current product shipments. Depending on assumptions
regarding the impact that standards would have on market efficiency,
DOE estimated that amended standards at the 2005 Energy Star levels
would yield between 2.4 to 3.4 quadrillion British thermal units (Btu),
with an associated economic impact to the Nation ranging from a burden
or cost of $1.2 billion to a benefit or savings of $3.3 billion.
In October 2005, DOE published draft data sheets containing energy
savings potentials for refrigerator-freezers as part of its fiscal year
2006 schedule-setting process. The data sheets were based on the
October 2005 draft technical report analyzing potential new amended
energy conservation standards for residential refrigerator-freezers
described above. The analysis was not extended to all refrigerator,
refrigerator-freezer, and freezer product classes because of the large
proportion of the market represented by the two product classes
analyzed in detail and because DOE expected that results for these
product classes would be representative for all of the product classes.
The technical report and the associated data sheets provided input to
the setting of priorities for rulemakings activities. Other products
were given a higher priority, and limited rulemaking work on
refrigerators and freezers was carried out in the following years prior
to the enactment of EISA.
EISA, signed into law on December 19, 2007, requires DOE to publish
a final rule by December 31, 2010, to determine whether to amend the
standards in effect for refrigerators, refrigerator-freezers, and
freezers manufactured on or after January 1, 2014. DOE is embarking on
a standards rulemaking for these products to comply with EISA
requirements. To begin the required rulemaking process, the Department
prepared the framework document to explain the issues, analyses, and
process that it is considering for the development of energy efficiency
standards for refrigerators, refrigerator-freezers, and freezers. The
public meeting will focus on analyses and issues contained in various
sections of the framework document. For each item listed, the
Department will make a presentation with discussion to follow. The
Department will also make a brief presentation on the rulemaking
process for these products.
The Department encourages anyone who wishes to participate in the
public meeting to obtain the framework document and to be prepared to
discuss its contents. A copy of the draft framework document is
available at http://www1.eere.energy.gov/buildings/appliance_standards/residential/refrigerators_freezers.html. However, public
meeting participants need not limit their comments to the topics
identified in the framework document. The Department is also interested
in receiving views on other relevant issues that participants believe
would affect energy conservation standards for these products. The
Department welcomes all interested parties, whether or not they
participate in the public meeting, to submit in writing by October 20,
2008, comments and information on matters addressed in the framework
document and on other matters relevant to consideration of standards
for refrigerators, refrigerator-freezers, and freezers.
DOE will conduct the public meeting in an informal, conference
style. A court reporter will record the minutes of the meeting. The
discussion will not include proprietary information, costs or prices,
market shares, or other commercial matters regulated by U.S. antitrust
laws.
After the public meeting and the expiration of the period for
submitting written statements, the Department will begin collecting
data, conducting the analyses as discussed at the public meeting, and
reviewing public comments.
Anyone who wishes to participate in the public meeting, receive
meeting materials, or be added to the DOE mailing list to receive
future notices and information about residential refrigerators,
refrigerator-freezers, and freezers should contact Ms. Brenda Edwards
at (202) 586-2945.
Issued in Washington, DC, on September 12, 2008.
John F. Mizroch,
Acting Assistant Secretary, Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy.
[FR Doc. E8-21821 Filed 9-17-08; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6450-01-P