[Federal Register Volume 74, Number 106 (Thursday, June 4, 2009)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 26816-26818]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E9-12906]
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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
10 CFR Part 430
[Docket No. EERE-2008-BT-STD-0005]
RIN 1904-AB57
Energy Efficiency Program for Consumer Products: Public Meeting
and Availability of Framework Document for Battery Chargers and
External Power Supplies
AGENCY: Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Department of
Energy.
ACTION: Notice of public meeting and availability of a Framework
Document.
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SUMMARY: The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is initiating a rulemaking
process to consider establishing new energy conservation standards for
battery chargers and amending the energy conservation standards for
Class A external power supplies, as directed by the Energy Independence
and Security Act of 2007 (EISA). Accordingly, DOE will hold an informal
public meeting to discuss and receive comments on its planned
analytical approach and issues it will address in this rulemaking
proceeding. DOE also welcomes written comments from the public
concerning this rulemaking. To inform interested parties and to
facilitate this process, DOE has prepared two documents: a framework
document, which explains the analytical approach and identifies
particular issues on which DOE is interested in receiving comment; and
a draft technical report, which details DOE's research and analysis on
these products to date. Copies of these and all other documents
associated with this rulemaking are available at http://www.eere.energy.gov/buildings/appliance_standards/residential/battery_external.html.
DATES: DOE will hold a public meeting in Washington, DC, beginning on
July 16, 2009, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. The agenda for the public meeting
will include the energy conservation standards rulemaking on battery
chargers and external power supplies. DOE must receive requests to
speak at this public meeting no later than 4 p.m., Thursday, July 2,
2009. DOE must receive a signed original and an electronic copy of
statements to be given at the public meeting no later than 4 p.m.,
Thursday, July 9, 2009. Written comments on the framework document are
welcome, especially following the public meeting, and should be
submitted by July 20, 2009.
ADDRESSES: The public meeting will be held at the U.S. Department of
Energy, Forrestal Building, Room 1E-245, 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 as soon as possible by contacting
Ms. Brenda Edwards at (202) 586-2945 so that the necessary procedures
can be completed.
Interested parties may submit comments, identified by docket number
EERE-2008-BT-STD-0005 and/or Regulation Identifier Number (RIN) 1904-
AB57, by any of the following methods:
Federal eRulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov.
Follow the instructions for submitting comments.
E-mail: [email protected]. Include docket number
EERE-2008-BT-STD-0005 and/or RIN 1904-AB57 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
Battery Chargers and External Power Supplies, docket number EERE-2008-
BT-STD-0005 and/or RIN 1904-AB57, 1000 Independence Avenue, SW.,
Washington, DC 20585-0121. 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. 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 or
comments received, go to the U.S. Department of Energy, Resource Room
of the Building Technologies Program, Sixth Floor, 950 L'Enfant Plaza,
SW., Washington, DC 20024, (202) 586-2945, between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m.,
Monday through Friday, except Federal holidays. Please call Ms. Brenda
Edwards first at the above telephone number for additional information
about visiting the Resource Room.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. Victor Petrolati, U.S. Department
of Energy, Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Building
Technologies, EE-2J, 1000 Independence Avenue, SW., Washington, DC
20585-0121. Telephone: (202) 586-4549. E-mail:
[email protected].
Mr. Michael Kido, U.S. Department of Energy, Office of the General
Counsel, GC-72, 1000 Independence Avenue, SW., Washington, DC 20585.
Telephone: (202) 586-9507. E-mail: [email protected].
For information on how to submit or review public comments and on
how to participate in the public meeting, contact Ms. Brenda Edwards,
U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable
Energy, Building Technologies Program, EE-2J, 1000 Independence Avenue,
SW., Washington, DC, 20585-0121. Telephone (202) 586-2945. E-mail:
[email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Title III of the Energy Policy and
Conservation Act (EPCA), as amended (42 U.S.C. 6291 et seq.), sets
forth a variety of provisions designed to improve energy efficiency.
Part B of Title III (42 U.S.C. 6291-6309), subsequently renamed Part A,
established the ``Energy Conservation Program for Consumer Products
Other Than Automobiles.'' \1\ The consumer products subject to this
program are referred to as ``covered products.''
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\1\ This part was originally titled Part B but it was
redesignated Part A in the United States Code for editorial reasons.
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Section 135 of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (EPACT 2005), Public
Law 109-58, amended sections 321 and 325 of EPCA, by defining battery
chargers and external power supplies and directing the Secretary to
prescribe ``definitions and test procedures for the power use of
battery chargers and external power
[[Page 26817]]
supplies'' and to ``issue a final rule that determines whether energy
conservation standards shall be issued for battery chargers and
external power supplies or classes of battery chargers and external
power supplies.'' (42 U.S.C. 6295(u)(1)(A) and (E))
On December 8, 2006, DOE complied with the first of these
requirements by publishing a final rule that prescribed test procedures
for a variety of products. 71 FR 71340. That rule, which is currently
codified in multiple sections of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR),
included definitions and test procedures for battery chargers and
external power supplies. The test procedures for battery chargers and
external power supplies are found in 10 CFR Part 430, Subpart B,
Appendix Y (``Uniform Test Method for Measuring the Energy Consumption
of Battery Chargers'') and 10 CFR Part 430, Subpart B, Appendix Z
(``Uniform Test Method for Measuring the Energy Consumption of External
Power Supplies.''), respectively.
DOE subsequently published a notice of public meeting and
availability of documentation for public review on December 29, 2006.
71 FR 78389. This public meeting, called a ``Scoping Workshop,''
discussed DOE's plans for conducting a determination analysis for
battery chargers and external power supplies. The Scoping Workshop was
held at DOE's Forrestal Building in Washington, DC, on January 24,
2007. Information pertaining to the Scoping Workshop can be found on
DOE's Web site at http://www.eere.energy.gov/buildings/appliance_standards/residential/battery_external.html.
On December 19, 2007, Congress enacted the Energy Independence and
Security Act of 2007 (EISA), Public Law 110-140, which amended, among
others, sections 321, 323, and 325 of EPCA. While EPACT 2005 amended
EPCA by defining an external power supply as ``an external power supply
circuit that is used to convert household electric current into DC
current or lower-voltage AC current to operate a consumer product'' (42
U.S.C. 6291(36)(A)), section 301 of EISA amended this definition by
creating a subset of external power supplies called ``Class A External
Power Supplies''--those external power supplies that are ``able to
convert to only 1 AC or DC output voltage at a time'' and that have
``nameplate output power that is less than or equal to 250 watts.'' (42
U.S.C. 6291(36)(C)(i)) Section 301 of EISA also established for these
products energy conservation standards that became effective on July 1,
2008, and directed DOE to conduct an energy conservation standards
rulemaking to review those standards by July 1, 2011.
Additionally, section 309 of EISA amended section 325(u)(1)(E) of
EPCA by directing DOE to issue a final rule that prescribes energy
conservation standards for battery chargers or classes of battery
chargers or to determine that no energy conservation standard is
technologically feasible and economically justified. DOE is bundling
together this battery charger rulemaking proceeding with the
requirement to review and consider amending the energy conservation
standards for Class A external power supplies, as both rulemakings must
be completed by July 1, 2011. The new rulemaking requirements contained
in sections 301 and 309 of EISA effectively supersede the prior
determination analysis that EPACT 2005 required DOE to conduct.
Section 309 of EISA also instructed DOE to ``issue a final rule
that determines whether energy conservation standards shall be issued
for external power supplies or classes of external power supplies'' no
later than two years after EISA's enactment. (42 U.S.C.
6295(u)(1)(E)(i)(I)) Because DOE cannot conduct a determination
analysis on whether it should issue energy conservation standards for a
product for which standards have already been set, DOE is interpreting
these sections jointly as a requirement to determine, in a separate
rulemaking to be completed by December 19, 2009, whether energy
conservation standards shall be issued for non-Class A external power
supplies. Examples of these types of external power supplies include
those with nameplate output power greater than 250 watts, those that
are able to convert to more than one AC or DC output voltage at the
same time, and those that are specifically excluded from coverage under
the Class A external power supply definition provided by EISA by virtue
of their application (e.g., EPSs used with medical devices).
Finally, section 310 of EISA established definitions for active
mode, standby mode, and off mode, and directed DOE to amend its
existing test procedures for both BCs and EPSs to measure the energy
consumed in standby mode and off mode. (42 U.S.C. 6295(gg)(2)(B)(i))
DOE satisfied this requirement by publishing a final rule that
incorporated standby and off mode measurement into the DOE test
procedure. 74 FR 13318 (March 27, 2009).
To initiate the bundled battery charger and Class A external power
supply rulemaking, DOE has prepared a Framework Document to explain the
issues, analyses, inputs, and processes it anticipates will arise in
developing new energy conservation standards for battery chargers and
amended energy conservation standards for Class A external power
supplies. In addition, DOE has prepared a draft technical report that
presents DOE's research, analysis, and methods on both these products
as part of its work on the determination analysis in 2007. The
publication of this draft technical report is not intended to set any
new precedent for framework document meetings. Instead, DOE believes
that it may receive better comment and more precise direction from
interested parties on key issues by publishing its previously developed
draft analyses in conjunction with this framework document. As
discussed earlier, the work on the determination was overtaken by the
changes introduced by EISA, which modified both its scope and schedule.
As noted above, DOE will hold a public meeting on Thursday, July
16, 2009, in Washington, DC, to discuss the analyses presented and
issues identified in the Framework Document. At the public meeting, the
Department will make a number of presentations, invite discussion on
the rulemaking process as it applies to battery chargers and external
power supplies, and solicit comments, data, and information from
participants and other interested parties. DOE will also invite comment
on its preliminary analyses of battery chargers and external power
supplies, as described in the draft technical report
The public meeting will be conducted in an informal, facilitated
conference style. There shall be no discussion of proprietary
information, costs or prices, market shares, or other commercial
matters regulated by U.S. antitrust laws. A court reporter will record
the proceedings of the public meeting, which will be entered into the
docket for this rulemaking.
DOE encourages those who wish to participate in the public meeting
to read the Framework Document and draft technical report and to be
prepared to discuss their contents. Copies of both documents are
available at http://www.eere.energy.gov/buildings/appliance_standards/residential/battery_external.html.
Public meeting participants need not limit their comments to the
issues identified in the Framework Document. DOE is also interested in
receiving comments concerning other relevant issues that participants
believe would affect any energy conservation standards for these
products. For example, interested parties are invited to comment on
external power supplies
[[Page 26818]]
not included in Class A. DOE is conducting a separate determination
analysis rulemaking for these products, but intends to invite public
comment on the scope of coverage for non-Class A external power
supplies at the end of the public meeting, if time permits.
DOE invites all interested parties, whether they participate in the
public meeting, to submit in writing by July 20, 2009, comments and
information on matters addressed in the Framework Document and on other
matters relevant to assessment of energy conservation standards for
battery chargers and external power supplies.
After the public meeting and the close of the comment period on the
Framework Document, DOE will begin collecting data, conducting the
analyses as discussed in the Framework Document and at the public
meeting, and reviewing the comments received.
DOE considers public participation to be a very important part of
the process for setting energy conservation standards. DOE encourages
the participation and interaction of the public during the comment
period in each stage of the rulemaking process. Beginning with the
Framework Document, and during each subsequent public meeting and
comment period, interactions with and among members of the public
provide a balanced discussion of the issues that assists DOE in the
standards rulemaking process. Accordingly, anyone who would like to
participate in the public meeting, receive meeting materials, or be
added to the DOE mailing list to receive future notices and information
regarding this and related rulemakings on battery chargers and external
power supplies should contact Ms. Brenda Edwards at (202) 586-2945, or
via e-mail at [email protected].
Issued in Washington, DC, on May 26, 2009.
Steven Chalk,
Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary, Energy Efficiency and Renewable
Energy.
[FR Doc. E9-12906 Filed 6-3-09; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6450-01-P