Petition for Waiver of Felix Storch, Inc. (FSI) From the Department of Energy Residential Refrigerator and Refrigerator-Freezer Test Procedure and Grant of Interim Waiver, 14686-14698 [2014-05778]
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VII. Agency Contact
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
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CONTACT
Dated: March 12, 2014.
Lynn B. Mahaffie,
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[FR Doc. 2014–05825 Filed 3–14–14; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4000–01–P
DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
Office of Energy Efficiency and
Renewable Energy
[Case No. RF–038]
Petition for Waiver of Felix Storch, Inc.
(FSI) From the Department of Energy
Residential Refrigerator and
Refrigerator-Freezer Test Procedure
and Grant of Interim Waiver
Office of Energy Efficiency and
Renewable Energy, Department of
Energy.
ACTION: Notice of Petition for Waiver,
Notice of Granting Application for
Interim Waiver, and Request for Public
Comments.
AGENCY:
This notice announces receipt
of a petition for waiver from Felix
Storch, Inc. (FSI) seeking an exemption
from specified portions of the U.S.
Department of Energy (DOE) test
procedure for determining the energy
consumption of certain electric
refrigerators and refrigerator-freezers.
FSI asks that it be permitted to use an
alternate test procedure to account for
the energy consumption of its specific
models of its Keg Beer Coolers, Assisted
SUMMARY:
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Living Refrigerator-freezers and UltraCompact Hotel Refrigerators in place of
the currently applicable DOE test
procedure. DOE solicits comments, data,
and information concerning FSI’s
petition and the suggested alternate test
procedure. Today’s notice also declines
to grant FSI with an interim waiver from
the electric refrigerator-freezers test
procedure, for the reasons described in
this notice. The waiver request pertains
to the basic models set forth in FSI’s
petition.
DATES: DOE will accept comments, data,
and information with respect to the FSI
Petition until April 16, 2014.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments,
identified by case number ‘‘RF–038,’’ by
any of the following methods:
• Federal eRulemaking Portal: https://
www.regulations.gov. Follow the
instructions for submitting comments.
• Email: AS_Waiver_Requests@
ee.doe.gov. Include the case number
[Case No. RF–038] in the subject line of
the message.
• Mail: Ms. Brenda Edwards, U.S.
Department of Energy, Building
Technologies Office, Mailstop EE–5B/
1000 Independence Avenue SW.,
Washington, DC 20585–0121.
Telephone: (202) 586–2945. Please
submit one signed original paper copy.
• Hand Delivery/Courier: Ms. Brenda
Edwards, U.S. Department of Energy,
Building Technologies Program, 950
L’Enfant Plaza SW., Suite 600,
Washington, DC 20024. Please submit
one signed original paper copy.
Docket: For access to the docket to
review the background documents
relevant to this matter, you may visit the
U.S. Department of Energy, 950 L’Enfant
Plaza SW., Washington, DC 20024; (202)
586–2945, between 9:00 a.m. and 4:00
p.m., Monday through Friday, except
Federal holidays. Available documents
include the following items: (1) This
notice; (2) public comments received;
(3) the petition for waiver and
application for interim waiver; and (4)
prior DOE rulemakings regarding
similar refrigerator-freezers. Please call
Ms. Brenda Edwards at the above
telephone number for additional
information.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr.
Bryan Berringer, U.S. Department of
Energy, Building Technologies Office,
Mail Stop EE–5B, Forrestal Building,
1000 Independence Avenue SW.,
Washington, DC 20585–0121.
Telephone: (202) 586–0371. Email:
Bryan.Berringer@ee.doe.gov.
Mr. Michael Kido, U.S. Department of
Energy, Office of the General Counsel,
Mail Stop GC–71, Forrestal Building,
1000 Independence Avenue SW.,
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Washington, DC 20585–0103.
Telephone: (202) 586–8145. Email:
Michael.Kido@hq.doe.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Background and Authority
Title III, Part B of the Energy Policy
and Conservation Act of 1975 (EPCA),
Public Law 94–163 (42 U.S.C. 6291–
6309, as codified, established the Energy
Conservation Program for Consumer
Products Other Than Automobiles, a
program covering most major household
appliances, which includes the electric
refrigerators and refrigerator-freezers
that are the focus of this notice.1 Part B
includes definitions, test procedures,
labeling provisions, energy conservation
standards, and the authority to require
information and reports from
manufacturers. Further, Part B
authorizes the Secretary of Energy to
prescribe test procedures that are
reasonably designed to produce results
that measure the energy efficiency,
energy use, or estimated annual
operating costs of a covered product,
and that are not unduly burdensome to
conduct. (42 U.S.C. 6293(b)(3)) The
currently applicable test procedure for
electric refrigerators and electric
refrigerator-freezers is contained in 10
CFR part 430, subpart B, appendix A1.
The test procedure that will be required
for certifying that products comply with
Federal standards beginning on
September 15, 2014 is contained in 10
CFR part 430, subpart B, appendix A.
The regulations set forth in 10 CFR
part 430.27 contain provisions that
enable a person to seek a waiver from
the test procedure requirements for
covered products. The Assistant
Secretary for Energy Efficiency and
Renewable Energy (the Assistant
Secretary) will grant a waiver if it is
determined that the basic model for
which the petition for waiver was
submitted contains one or more design
characteristics that prevents testing of
the basic model according to the
prescribed test procedures, or if the
prescribed test procedures may evaluate
the basic model in a manner so
unrepresentative of its true energy
consumption characteristics as to
provide materially inaccurate
comparative data. 10 CFR 430.27(l).
Petitioners must include in their
petition any alternate test procedures
known to the petitioner to evaluate the
basic model in a manner representative
of its energy consumption. The
Assistant Secretary may grant the
waiver subject to conditions, including
adherence to alternate test procedures.
1 For editorial reasons, upon codification in the
U.S. Code, Part B was re-designated Part A.
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10 CFR 430.27(l). Waivers remain in
effect pursuant to the provisions of 10
CFR 430.27(m).
The waiver process also allows the
Assistant Secretary to grant an interim
waiver from test procedure
requirements to manufacturers that have
petitioned DOE for a waiver of such
prescribed test procedures. 10 CFR
430.27(g). An interim waiver remains in
effect for 180 days or until DOE issues
its determination on the petition for
waiver, whichever occurs earlier. DOE
may extend an interim waiver for an
additional 180 days. 10 CFR 430.27(h).
II. Petition for Waiver of Test Procedure
On December 12 and 17, 2013, FSI
submitted a petition for waiver from the
test procedure applicable to residential
electric refrigerators and refrigeratorfreezers set forth in 10 CFR part 430,
subpart B, appendices A and A1. In its
petition, FSI asserts that its products
could not be tested and rated for energy
consumption on a basis representative
of their true energy consumption
characteristics. The DOE test procedure
for residential refrigeration (both the
procedure that is required currently and
the procedure that will be required
beginning on September 15, 2014)
require testing products at an ambient
temperature of 90°F. DOE selected that
temperature to simulate the effects of
door openings and closings, which are
not performed during the testing. See 10
CFR § 430.23(a)(10) (The regulation
explains, ‘‘[t]he intent of the energy test
procedure is to simulate typical room
conditions (approximately 70 °F (21 °C))
with door openings, by testing at 90 °F
(32.2 °C) without door openings.’’). FSI
contends that the products addressed by
its waiver petition will be sold for uses
where door openings and closings are
highly infrequent. As a result, in its
view, testing these products in
accordance with the DOE test procedure
conditions would result in
measurements of energy use that are
unrepresentative of the actual energy
use of these products under their
conditions of expected use by
consumers.
As an alternative, FSI submitted to
DOE an alternate test procedure to
account for the energy consumption of
its Keg Beer Coolers, Assisted Living
Refrigerator-freezers and Ultra-Compact
Hotel Refrigerators. That procedure
would test these units at 70°F or 72°F
over a 24-hour period instead of the
required 90°F ambient temperature
condition. FSI believes its alternate test
procedure will allow for the accurate
measurement of the energy use of these
products as required by the current DOE
test procedure.
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FSI also requests an interim waiver
from the existing DOE test procedure for
the models listed in its December 12,
2013 petition. An interim waiver may be
granted if it is determined that the
applicant will experience economic
hardship if the application for interim
waiver is denied, if it appears likely that
the petition for waiver will be granted,
and/or the Assistant Secretary
determines that it would be desirable for
public policy reasons to grant
immediate relief pending a
determination of the petition for waiver.
See 10 CFR 430.27(g).
DOE has determined that FSI’s
application for interim waiver does not
provide sufficient market, equipment
price, shipments and other
manufacturer impact information to
permit DOE to evaluate the economic
hardship FSI might experience absent a
favorable determination on its
application for interim waiver. DOE
understands, based upon FSI’s petition,
that absent an interim waiver, FSI’s
products could not be tested and rated
for energy consumption on a basis
representative of their true energy
consumption characteristics. However,
DOE has found that FSI’s petition
provides insufficient information for
DOE to determine whether the
alternative test procedure that FSI
proposes to use is likely to provide a
measurement of the energy use of these
products that is representative of their
operation under conditions of expected
consumer use. Since DOE has found it
unlikely that FSI’s waiver petition will
be granted in its current form and has
determined that it is not desirable for
public policy reasons to grant FSI
immediate relief, DOE is declining to
grant an interim waiver and is seeking
additional information on the
underlying basis for FSI’s proposed
alternative.
DOE notes that the existing test
procedures, as well as recent test
procedure waivers, contain a method for
addressing certain types of products for
which less frequent door openings
occur. Specifically, the test procedure
for residential freezers applies an
adjustment factor to account for the
relatively fewer expected door openings
of upright and chest freezers, each of
which has a corresponding adjustment
factor for the overall energy use. (See
appendix B to subpart B of 10 CFR part
430, section 5.2.1.) Further, DOE has
also granted a test procedure waiver for
a combination wine cooler-refrigerator
on the basis of the manufacturer’s claim
that the product would be subjected to
fewer door openings in typical use,
which used the same adjustment factor
as is applied to upright freezers. 78 FR
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35894 (Sept. 17, 2013). DOE also
requests comment on whether such an
approach would be more appropriate for
testing these models.
For the reasons stated above, before
DOE will authorize the use of an
alternative test procedure for testing of
the specific models listed in the waiver
petitions, DOE is seeking comment from
interested stakeholders on whether FSI’s
proposed test is likely to be
representative of the energy use of the
products that are the subjects of the
waiver petition or whether another
alternative may be more appropriate.
DOE makes decisions on waivers and
interim waivers for only those models
specifically set out in the petition, not
future models that may be manufactured
by the petitioner. FSI may submit a new
or amended petition for waiver and
request for grant of interim waiver, as
appropriate, for additional models of
refrigerator-freezers for which it seeks a
waiver from the DOE test procedure. In
addition, DOE notes that granting of an
interim waiver or waiver does not
release a petitioner from the
certification requirements set forth at 10
CFR part 429.
III. Summary and Request for
Comments
Through today’s notice, DOE
announces receipt of FSI’s December 12,
2013 and December 17, 2013 petitions
for waiver from the specified portions of
the test procedure applicable to FSI’s
line of Keg Beer Coolers, Assisted Living
Refrigerator-freezers and Ultra-Compact
Hotel Refrigerators and declines to grant
FSI an interim waiver from those same
portions of the test procedure for the
models specified in its December 12,
2013 request for interim waiver. The
petition includes a suggested alternate
test procedure to determine the energy
consumption of FSI’s specified
refrigerator-freezers. DOE may consider
including this alternate procedure in a
subsequent Decision and Order.
However, at this time, DOE cannot
establish whether the alternative
procedure proposed by FSI is an
appropriate means for measuring the
energy use of these products based
solely on the information provided in
the waiver petition.
DOE solicits comments from
interested parties on all aspects of the
petition, including the suggested
alternate test procedure and calculation
methodology. Pursuant to 10 CFR
430.27(d), any person submitting
written comments to DOE must also
send a copy of such comments to the
petitioner. The contact information for
the petitioner is: Paul Storch, President,
Summit Appliance Div., Felix Storch,
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Inc., 770 Garrison Ave., Bronx, NY
10474. All submissions received must
include the agency name and case
number for this proceeding. Submit
electronic comments in WordPerfect,
Microsoft Word, Portable Document
Format (PDF), or text (American
Standard Code for Information
Interchange (ASCII)) file format and
avoid the use of special characters or
any form of encryption. Wherever
possible, include the electronic
signature of the author. DOE does not
accept telefacsimiles (faxes).
Issued in Washington, DC, on March 11,
2014.
Kathleen B. Hogan,
Deputy Assistant Secretary for Energy
Efficiency, Energy Efficiency and Renewable
Energy.
December 12, 2013
Building Technologies Program
U.S. Department of Energy
Test Procedure Waiver
1000 Independence Ave. SW
Mailstop EE–2J
Washington, DC 20585–0121
RE: Petition for Waiver of Test
Procedures in use currently (10 CFR
§ 430, subpart B, appendix A1) and
proposed for September 15, 2014 (10
CFR § 430, subpart B, appendix A)
pursuant to 10 CFR. § 430.27(a)(1) for
Summit brand appliances as follows:
• Keg Beer Coolers (Models SBC590,
SBC590OS, and SBC635M)
• Assisted Living Refrigerator-freezers
(Models ALBF44, ALBF68)
• Hotel Refrigerators (Models HTL2
and HTL3)
Introduction
The Department of Energy (‘‘DOE’’)
provides a waiver process for
refrigeration products when ‘‘the
prescribed [10 CFR § 430, Subpart B,
Appendix A1 currently and the
proposed 10 CFR § 430, Subpart B,
Appendix A] test procedures may
evaluate [a product] . . . in a manner so
unrepresentative of its true energy
consumption characteristics . . . as to
provide materially inaccurate
comparative data.’’ 10 CFR § 430.27.
This petition seeks such a waiver for the
above-referenced products.
Felix Storch, Inc. (‘‘FSI’’) is a small
business engaged in importing,
manufacturing, and distributing
appliances to niche markets in the
household, commercial, hospitality,
institutional, and medical community,
as well as distributing household
cooking and laundry appliances.
Located in the South Bronx, New York,
FSI employs approximately 150
individuals engaged in manufacturing,
material handling, trucking,
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engineering, marketing, sales, shipping,
clerical services, and customer service.
FSI, under the Summit brand name,
imports refrigeration products from a
number of factories in Europe, Mexico
and Asia, as well as manufactures a
number of products in New York. A
significant part of FSI’s business is
value-added manufacturing conducted
by FSI in its Bronx facility. Value-added
manufacturing is the process of adding
or modifying components or finishes to
existing products in order to adapt these
appliances for sale to special markets
where few or no suitable products exist.
The above-referenced models are all
either built or modified in our Bronx
facility.
DOE’s test procedures are not
appropriate for the above-referenced
models because they fail to accurately
reflect the actual energy consumption of
the products during normal use. DOE
test procedures for residential
refrigeration (both the procedures in
effect currently and the proposed
procedures for 2014) require testing
products at an ambient temperature of
90°F. DOE selected that temperature (as
opposed to a more normal 70°F
ambient) to simulate the effects of door
openings and closings; such actions are
not performed during the testing. See 10
CFR § 430.23(a)(10) (The regulation
explains, ‘‘[t]he intent of the energy test
procedure is to simulate typical room
conditions (approximately 70°F (21°C))
with door openings, by testing at 90°F
(32.2°C) without door openings.’’).2
However, the above-listed FSI products
will be sold for uses where door
openings and closings are highly
infrequent.3 All these products will
consume far less energy during actual
use than is measured by the existing and
proposed testing procedures.
FSI seeks a waiver for the abovereferences products because:
(1) Test procedures do not provide a
fair and accurate representation of
actual energy use;
(2) The market size for each of these
products is quite small;
(3) The economic burden of
complying with DOE standards in effect
today, and the proposed standards for
2014, would place an undue economic
burden on FSI;
(4) There is an easily substituted
alternate test procedure for these
models;
(5) Withdrawing these products from
the marketplace would greatly limit
consumer choice, adversely impact
small business and, in some cases,
result in compelling customers to turn
to larger or less energy efficient
products that increase overall energy
consumption.
For these reasons, FSI respectfully
requests a waiver, pursuant to 10 CFR
§ 430.27, of the test procedures for
residential refrigerators provided in 10
CFR § 430, Subpart B, Appendix A.
1. Models for which a waiver is
requested.
This waiver request applies to the
following models:
• Keg Beer Coolers (Models SBC590,
SBC590OS, and SBC635M)
• Assisted Living Refrigerator-freezers
(Models ALBF44, ALBF68)
• Hotel Refrigerators (Models HTL2
and HTL3)
All of these models are intended for
uses distinct from the typical household
use whereby the doors on these
products are seldom opened and closed.
2. Manufacturers of other basic
models marketed in the United States
are known by FSI to incorporate
similar design characteristics.
Manufacturers of other basic models
marketed in the United States and
known to FSI that incorporate similar
design characteristics are included in
Attachment A.
3. Alternate test procedures are
known to FSI to evaluate accurately
energy consumption of the listed basic
models.
FSI has extensive data that
demonstrates that a single change to the
test procedure will result in measuring
energy consumption in a manner far
more representative of actual use.
Testing the basic models listed in this
petition at an ambient temperature of
70°F or 72°F, rather than 90°F will
measure energy consumption in a
manner significantly more
representative of actual use than using
the DOE prescribed test procedures,
both under current standards and those
proposed for implementation on
September 15, 2014.
2 See 10 CFR 10 CFR § 430.23(a)(10) (identifying
70°F as being representative of typical room
temperature).
3 It is important to note that the overwhelming
majority of compact appliances sold today fall into
the categories of dormitory type or office type
refrigerator-freezers. FSI could not find statistics on
door openings for these products, but since these
types of units would be shared by multiple users,
it is logical to assume their use would be similar
to conventional refrigerators, as opposed to the
special use models in this waiver petition.
Background
DOE acknowledges in 10 CFR
§ 430.23(a)(10) that ‘‘[t]he intent of the
energy test procedure is to simulate
typical room conditions (approximately
70°F (21°C)) with door openings, by
testing at 90°F (32.2°C) without door
openings.’’
DOE uses 90°F as a surrogate for
running tests at typical ambient
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temperature to simulate the impact of
opening and closing refrigerator and
freezer doors. This standard is
incorporated into the AHAM test
procedures used by DOE in both the
current standards and the upcoming
2014 standards. This temperature
selection is at least 30 years old and is
referenced in ANSI–AHAM HRF–1
(1979).4
Several studies have attempted to
validate this information. For example,
one study showed that household
refrigerators-freezers had a median of 48
fresh-food door openings and 10 freezer
door openings per 24 hours.5 A study
based on this number of door openings
concluded that 90°F overstated energy
consumption by 8.3% to 15.9%.6
Several other studies corroborate these
results.7 For example, a study by the
Florida Solar Energy Center measured
door openings and closings in two
person households and found an
average of 42 openings per day.8
A National Institute of Standards
(‘‘NIST’’) study, commissioned by DOE,
also demonstrated that when testing is
performed at 90°F, as little as a 2 degree
difference in ambient temperature can
result in a dramatic difference in
measured energy consumption. 9 Alan
4 American National Standard on Household
Refrigerators and Household Freezers, ANSI/AHAM
HRF–1–1979 at 51–52, available at: https://
law.resource.org/pub/us/cfr/ibr/001/aham.HRF1.1979.pdf.
5 See Danny S. Parker & Ted C. Stedman,
Measured Electricity Savings of Refrigerator
Replacement: Case Study and Analysis, Florida
Solar Energy Center FSEC–PF–239–92 (1992) (citing
Chang, Y.L., and R.A. Grot. 1979. Field performance
of residential refrigerators and combination
refrigerator-freezers. NBSIR 79–1781).
6 James Y. Kao & George E. Kelly, Factors
Affecting the Energy Consumption of Two
Refrigerator-Freezers, SA–96–7–1 at 9 available at:
https://fire.nist.gov/bfrlpubs/build96/PDF/
b96070.pdf.
7 See e.g., NIST Study (citing Alan Meier and
Richard Jansky, Field Performance of Residential
Refrigerators: A Comparison with the Laboratory
Test, LBL–31795 UC 150 (May 1991) available at:
https://www.osti.gov/scitech/servlets/purl/6142295;
Meier, A., et al. 1993; The New York refrigerator
monitoring project: final report. Report No. LBL–
33708. Berkeley, California: Lawrence Berkeley
Laboratory; KEMA–XENERGY, Inc., Final report
measurement and evaluation study of 2002
statewide residential appliance recycling program,
8–1—8z–8 (2004); Wong, M.T., W.R. Jones, B.T.
Howell, and D.L. Long. 1995. Energy consumption
testing of innovative refrigerator-freezer. ASHRAE
Transactions 101(2).)
8 Danny S. Parker & Ted C. Stedman, Measured
Electricity Savings of Refrigerator Replacement:
Case Study and Analysis, Florida Solar Energy
Center FSEC–PF–239–92 (1992).
9 David A. Yashar, Repeatability of Energy
Consumption Test Results for Compact
Refrigerators, U.S. Dept. of Commerce, Technology
Administration National Institute of Standards and
Technology at 7–8, 14 (September 2002), available
at: https://fire.nist.gov/bfrlpubs/build00/PDF/
b00055.pdf.
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Meier, an associate American Society of
Heating, Refrigerating and AirConditioning Engineers (‘‘ASHRAE’’)
member, conducted a more exhaustive
study of this correlation and found that
for two groups of refrigerators
extensively monitored, actual energy
use averaged 13% and 15% less than
the results from the yellow Energy
Guide (which is based on AHAM
procedures).10 Mr. Meier reported that
families typically open and close the
doors of their refrigerators an average of
50 times daily. The study observed,
‘‘[r]elatively modest ambient
temperature variations led to 50%
changes in energy use.’’
Another study by P.K. Bansal, also an
ASHRAE member, states that,
Elevated ambient temperatures used in
most test procedures crudely simulate the
heat loads from door openings. . . . This
process fails to produce satisfactory results
that could be representative of an in-situ real
world refrigerator performance 11
Even a 2010 study by the Energy
Analysis Department of the Lawrence
Berkeley Laboratory, CA, supported by
DOE, stated, ‘‘[i]n many cases the test
procedures do not reflect field
usage[.]’’ 12
These studies provide clear evidence
that when refrigerator doors are opened
infrequently, the AHAM procedures
using 90°F as the ambient temperature
will overstate energy consumption.
Most of these studies were done on
typical household refrigerator-freezers.
FSI found no comparable data for
compact refrigerators or, more
specifically, on any of the type of
products for which a waiver is sought in
this petition. Indeed, DOE’s own
Technical Support Document,
acknowledged that:
‘‘DOE found no data on the typical field
energy consumption of compact refrigeration
products. It therefore assumed that the
average field energy use of compact
refrigerators and freezers of a given size the
same as the maximum energy use allowed by
the DOE standard as measured in the DOE
test procedure. In effect, DOE assumed that
variation in the field energy use of compact
appliances is a function solely of volume.’’ 13
The approximation ignores the
significantly important variable of the
number of door openings and closings
which greatly differs between a full size
refrigerator used by a family and a
specialty compact refrigerator used in a
secondary application.
FSI performed tests on four
representative models of refrigerators
and beer dispensers., running tests at
average 72°F (room) temperature and at
90°F. For one set of tests FSI opened
and closed the doors of each unit six
times per test, which exceeds the
frequency of typical door openings and
closings for these models. The second
set of tests was conducted with doors
remaining closed throughout the test.
These tests consistently showed that all
units at average 72°F (room
temperature) used over 40% less energy
than when run at 90°F. The tests with
doors closed had a weighted average of
48% lower energy consumption than at
90°F, and tests with door openings had
a weighted average of 46% lower energy
consumption. Door openings consistent
with actual use, or tests without door
openings, did not change the overall
results or the conclusions.
A summary of this data is presented
in the following tables.
TABLE 1—TESTS WITH APPROPRIATE DOOR OPENINGS AND CLOSINGS
Energy use at ambient
Type
No. tests
Energy use at 90°F
With doors opened/closed
Beer Dispenser .......................................................
Hotel Refrigerator ...................................................
Assisted Living Unit 1 .............................................
Assisted Living Unit 2 .............................................
2
4
3
6
1.16
1.04
0.91
1.10
kWh/day
kWh/day
kWh/day
kWh/day
.........................
.........................
.........................
.........................
0.68
0.59
0.51
0.55
kWh/day
kWh/day
kWh/day
kWh/day
Percent
decrease
.........................
.........................
.........................
.........................
41
43
44
50
TABLE 2—TESTS WITH DOORS CLOSED
Energy use at ambient
Type
No. tests
Beer Dispenser .......................................................
Hotel Refrigerator ...................................................
Assisted Living Unit 1 .............................................
Assisted Living Unit 2 .............................................
Discussion of Door Openings and
Closings for the Models in This Waiver
Petition
tkelley on DSK3SPTVN1PROD with NOTICES
The units in this waiver application
do not conform to the same usage as
typical household full-size refrigerators:
the doors on all of these basic units are
opened and closed significantly less
10 Alan K. Meier, Field performance of residential
refrigerators, ASHRAE Journal 36–40 (August
1999).
11 P.K. Bansal, Studies on algorithm development
for energy performance testing: study 2—study of
algorithms for domestic refrigeration appliances,
APEC#201–RE–01.11 at 19 (2001).
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Energy use at 90°F kWh/day
6
5
6
8
1.16
1.04
0.91
1.10
kWh/day
kWh/day
kWh/day
kWh/day
.........................
.........................
.........................
.........................
(no door
openings)
0.65
0.55
0.49
0.52
kWh/day
kWh/day
kWh/day
kWh/day
Percent
decrease
.........................
.........................
.........................
.........................
44
47
46
53
frequently than typical household
refrigeration equipment. The units in
this waiver petition also differ from the
majority of compact refrigerator-freezers
sold for dormitory or office use, which
are typically shared by a number of
users.
1. Keg Beer Coolers [Models SBC590,
SBC590OS, and SBC635M]
12 Jim Lutz, et al. How to make appliance
standards work: improving the energy and water
efficiency test procedures, Ernest Orlando Lawrence
Berkeley National Laboratory for Assistant
Secretary for Energy Efficiency and Renewable
Energy, Office of Building Technology, State and
Community Programs, of the U.S. Department of
Energy, LBNL#4961E at 1 (2010).
13 U.S. Dept. of Energy, Preliminary Technical
Support Document: Energy Efficiency Program for
Consumer Products: Refrigerators, RefrigeratorFreezers, and Freezers at 7–38 (Nov. 2009),
available at: https://www1.eere.energy.gov/
buildings/appliance_standards/residential/pdfs/
ref_frz_prenopr_prelim_tsd.pdf.
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Beer coolers, by their nature, have
their doors opened and closed only
when a keg needs to be changed.
Depending on usage, this may be once
weekly, once monthly, or even less
frequently. Beer in kegs is always
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provided in a chilled state, so in essence
the beer cooler is not working to bring
contents to the design temperature, but
is only maintaining steady state
conditions. The products in this waiver
petition do not have shelves and are
designed to store beer kegs only.
Furthermore, use and care guides
normally advise to turn off the
electricity to the beer cooler while
changing the keg, for both safety and
energy conservation.
2. Assisted Living Refrigerators [Models
ALBF44, ALBF68]
Refrigerators whose primary market is
assisted living centers generally do not
serve as a primary refrigerator.14 These
centers typically provide residents with
three full meals a day, along with snacks
during morning, afternoon, and evening
activities. As such, these units serve as
secondary storage that is opened and
closed less frequently than primary
household refrigerators. A limited
survey of residents in two of these
facilities done by FSI employees
showed that fresh food doors were
opened an average of 4 times daily, and
freezer doors less than once. The
refrigerators sold by FSI that are used in
these assisted living studio apartments
also differ from typical household or
dormitory type refrigerators in design.
They are usually frost free or partial
automatic defrost for the convenience of
an elderly population (compared to
typical ‘‘dormitory’’ refrigerators that
are usually manual defrost). Moreover,
they are usually only 4 to 6 cubic feet
compared to the 15 to 25 cubic feet
typically found in homes or apartments.
3. Ultra-Compact Hotel Refrigerators
[Models HTL2 and HTL3]
tkelley on DSK3SPTVN1PROD with NOTICES
FSI’s proprietary ultra-compact
refrigerators (with compressors) for
hotel rooms are planned for
introduction in early 2014 and are
designed for guest convenience.15 These
refrigerators are priced at a premium,
very compact, and normally would be
14 Assisted living facilities generally include
meals as a standard feature. See e.g. Sunrise Senior
Living, Assisted Living available at: https://
www.sunriseseniorliving.com/care-and-services/
assisted-living.aspx (‘‘While services and amenities
may very by location, Sunrise assisted senior living
communities generally provide . . . [t]hree
delicious, well-balanced meals served daily[.]’’);
Friendship Assisted Living, Amenities available at:
https://friendship.us/assisted-living/amenities-2/
(‘‘Restaurant-style dining is available for three
meals everyday[.]’’); HelpGuide.org, Assisted Living
Facilities, available at: https://www.helpguide.org/
elder/assisted_living_facilities.htm (showing that
assisted living facilities typically provide three
meals a day).
15 Full size refrigerators used in hotel suites with
kitchenettes or extended stay hotels are not part of
the waiver application.
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marketed only to upscale hotels. FSI
estimates that guests will open and
close the door to these units
infrequently, if at all, since hotel rooms
are generally occupied primarily during
sleeping hours and meals are ordinarily
eaten outside the room, or delivered by
room service.16 In addition, these units
will not be in use when the hotel rooms
are vacant.
As demonstrated above, testing the
basic models in this waiver petition
under the current and proposed test
procedures would produce results that
are ‘‘unrepresentative of its true energy
consumption characteristics . . . as to
provide materially inaccurate
comparative data.’’ 10 C.F.R. § 430.27.
Based on the information presented,
FSI proposes the following
modifications be made to the DOE test
procedures for the models named in this
petition:
1. Beer dispensers (Models SBC590,
SBC590OS and SBC635M); be tested at
an ambient temperature of 70°F (per
DOE’s estimate of approximately 70°F as
typical room-temperature) with the
doors closed;
2. Hotel and assisting living
refrigerators (Models ALBF44, ALBF68,
ALBF68, HTL2 and HTL3) be tested at
72°F to account for the very small
number of daily door openings (where
2°F is 10% of the difference between
70°F and 90°F and door openings of
these products groups are no more than
10% of the typical household
refrigerators);
3. The units be tested for 24
continuous hours after stabilization to
account for any timers used in the
assisted living and hotel refrigerators;
and
4. All other test procedures are
conducted in accordance with AHAM
and DOE test procedures for residential
refrigerators.
For example, in the case of the
assisted living markets, withdrawing
specialty products from this small,
niche market may force facilities to
purchase larger refrigerators than
necessary, increasing overall energy
usage. The convenience and
accessibility of these compact products
is often more appropriate for assisted
living residents. If suitably sized
products are not available, facilities
might be forced to remodel a kitchenette
when a refrigerator needs replacing.
In the case of the hotel industry,
hotels (excluding extended stay hotels
or suite type hotels) often use
refrigerators that are driven by an
absorption cooling system or by a
thermoelectric cooling system (also
called heat pipe systems). These cooling
systems use significantly more energy
than compressor systems, but are
chosen by hotels for their low noise
levels. It is important to note that these
basic units may not be covered products
for DOE because their design does not
always allow them to reach the 39°F
threshold and, therefore, may not be
considered a refrigerator per the
statutory definition. [See 10 C.F.C.
§ 430.2 (defining an electric refrigerator
as ‘‘a cabinet designed for the
refrigerated storage of food, designed to
be capable of achieving storage
temperatures above 32°F (0°C) and
below 39°F (3.9°C), and having a source
of refrigeration requiring single phase,
alternating current electric energy input
only.’’)]. Consequently, by excluding
FSI compressor models from competing
in this market, hotels will use models
with absorption or thermoelectric
systems which use substantially more
energy than the excluded products.
Additional Reasons in Support of
Granting This Waiver
FSI targets niche markets with many
models, including those referenced
herein, where the overall sales volume
is too limited to appeal to manufacturers
driven by mass production and
economies of scale. In some cases, not
allowing products that address certain
size or use needs to market will have the
unintended consequences of
substantially reducing consumer choice
and driving energy consumption up
through a switch to larger models.
Failure to grant these basic models
waivers from test procedures would
have severe economic consequences for
FSI.
Very large, multi-national
corporations dominate the appliance
market, led by Whirlpool and General
Electric, whose sales are in the billions
of dollars. Foreign companies with
appliance sales in the billions of dollars
and with a large U.S. presence include
Electrolux (Frigidaire), LG, Samsung,
Daiwoo, Bosch, Liebherr, Miele, AGAMarvel, Bertazoni, Smeg, Haier, and
Midea. FSI cannot compete with these
companies’ mass markets, with huge
economies of scale on production, and
distribution and insignificant
compliance testing costs. FSI
predominantly markets specialty
16 See American Hotel & Lodging Association,
Eco-Friendly Case Studies, available at: https://
www.ahla.com/Green.aspx?id=21756 (The Radisson
Hotel Cleveland decided to unplug hotel room
mini-refrigerators because ‘‘a majority of hotel
guests did not use them during their stay.’’).
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Economic Burden of the Regulations on
Small Business in General and FSI in
Particular
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appliances that respond to niche market
demands and customer choice.
In response to DOE 2014 test
procedures, FSI is working very hard to
modify the vast majority of its
residential refrigerator and freezer
product line to comply with the new
procedures. But in a number of niche
markets with very small sales, the
feasibility and costs of compliance are
highly disproportionate for FSI to make
a business case and will not result in
energy savings. This results in an undue
burden on FSI, for which these niche
products form the nucleus of FSI’s
manufacturing operations and are the
driver of job creation in disadvantaged
economic development areas. Unlike
the large companies mentioned above
who can spread the cost of meeting
current DOE and upcoming DOE 2014
standards and, in particular, test
procedures over a base of millions,
hundreds of thousands, or tens of
thousands of units, a small business like
FSI does not have this option.
DOE has acknowledged the
difficulties faced by both small
manufacturers and the compact
refrigeration industry dealing with
standards. FSI falls into both categories
and 90% of FSI’s refrigeration business
is restricted to compact classes. DOE
reports that compact appliances only
account for 2.5% of total energy
consumed by all refrigeration
products.17 FSI’s assumption is that at
least 75% of that small number is
consumed by college dormitory/office
type products, meaning that less than
1% of total refrigeration energy use is
consumed by ‘‘specialty’’ compact
appliances, such as those listed in this
petition. FSI’s market share even in
these small niche markets is quite
limited. The appliances in this waiver
application are a negligible part of that
tiny subset and any energy consumption
impacts from this waiver are highly de
minimis at most. DOE recognizes the
limited options available to compact
appliance manufacturers, ‘‘[b]ecause of
small production volumes, the impact of
new standards on these manufacturers
is relatively severe.’’ 18 This is especially
true ahead of DOE 2014 requirements,
which mandate a 20% reduction of
usage and few affordable alternatives for
reducing energy consumption in niche
appliances that meet consumer demand.
Conclusions
The waiver process clearly is
intended for situations where test
procedures do not provide an accurate
representation of actual energy
consumption. FSI has demonstrated that
the test procedures specified by DOE do
not provide representative measure of
the basic models in this waiver
application, whose doors are opened
and closed significantly less than
typical household use.
FSI has demonstrated that:
• The use of 90°F is designed to
simulate an average of 40 to 50 door
openings per day and, even at that level,
may overstate energy usage;
• The models listed in this waiver
application have their doors opened and
closed infrequently, and certainly
significantly less than the simulation
average;
• An alternate test procedure is
readily available consisting of testing
the products at 70°F or 72°F, over a 24
hour period, and holding all other test
procedures in accordance with AHAM
Procedures and 10 CFR § 430, Subpart
B, Appendix A and Appendix A1.
• Failure to grant this waiver will
cause severe economic hardship to FSI,
a small business, and likely will cause
switch to higher energy consuming
replacement products.
FSI respectfully requests DOE waive the
test procedures for the products listed in
the petition as these ‘‘test procedures
may evaluate [these product] . . . in a
manner so unrepresentative of [their]
true energy consumption characteristics
. . . as to provide materially inaccurate
comparative data.’’ 10 C.F.R. § 430.27.
All of these basic units have materially
different uses than the average products
subject to the test procedures. The
proposed alternative procedures will
provide an accurate representation of
actual energy use. For these reasons, FSI
respectfully requests that DOE
substitute our proposed test procedures
and waive the test procedures at 10 CFR
§ 430, Subpart B, Appendix A for FSI’s
beer coolers, assisted living refrigeratorfreezers and hotel refrigerators.
Respectfully submitted,
Paul Storch, President
Summit Appliance Div. Felix Storch,
Inc.
770 Garrison Ave. Bronx, NY 10474
USA
PH. 718–893–3900
FAX: 718–842–3093
Attachment A
COMPANIES WITH PRODUCTS SIMILAR TO FSI
Automatic defrost or frost free beer coolers (excluding beer coolers that convert into refrigerators)
tkelley on DSK3SPTVN1PROD with NOTICES
Nostalgia Products Group LLC
1471 Partnership Dr
Green Bay, WI 54304–5685
Sears
5333 Beverly Road
Hoffman Estates, IL 60192
Avanti Products
10880 NW 30th Street
Miami, FL 33172
Fisher & Paykel Appliance USA
Holdings Inc.
5900 Skylab Rd
Huntington Beach, CA 92647 USA
December 12, 2013
17 See Federal Register Vol. 62 No. 81, Page
23111, April 28, 1997.
18:45 Mar 14, 2014
Minibar North America
7340 Westmore Road
Rockville, MD 20850
Dometic Corporation
13128 State Rt 226
Big Prairie, OH 44611
Jkt 232001
4 to 6 c.f. frost-free refrigerators
Avanti Products
10880 NW 30th Street
Miami, FL 33172
Absocold Corporation.
1122 NW T Street
Richmond, IN 47374
Energy Efficiency and Renewable
Energy
U.S. Department of Energy
Dr. David Danielson
Assistant Secretary
VerDate Mar<15>2010
Refrigerators designed specifically for hotels
1000 Independence Ave., SW
Washington, DC 20585
18 Id.
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Re: Application for Interim Waiver
pursuant to 10 C.F.R. § 431.401 for basic
Summit models:
• Keg Beer Coolers (Models SBC590,
SBC590OS, and SBC635M)
• Assisted Living Refrigerator-freezers
(Models ALBF44, ALBF68)
• Hotel Refrigerators (Models HTL2
and HTL3)
Felix Storch, Inc. (FSI) through this
Application for Interim Waiver will
demonstrate likely success of the
petition for waiver and address what
economic hardship and/or competitive
disadvantage is likely to result, absent a
favorable determination on the
Application for Interim Waiver.
This application for interim waiver
applies to the following models:
• Keg Beer Coolers (Models SBC590,
SBC590OS, and SBC635M)
• Assisted Living Refrigerator-freezers
(Models ALBF44, ALBF68)
• Hotel Refrigerators (Models HTL2
and HTL3)
Jointly, these models are referred to
throughout as ‘refrigerators’. Further
information to support this application
is contained in the Petition for Waiver
filed simultaneously to this application.
tkelley on DSK3SPTVN1PROD with NOTICES
Confidential Business information:
Felix Storch, Inc. is not asking for any
part of this interim waiver request to be
redacted.
Likelihood of Success on the Merits
FSI markets a wide range of
refrigeration equipment for sale into
specialty and niche markets. These
refrigerators need to comply with energy
efficiency standards issued and
enforced by the Department of Energy
(DOE). DOE relies on a single test
procedure for all residential refrigerators
and freezers. While the test procedure
will change slightly on Sept. 15, 2014,
the basic method of conducting the test
will remain unchanged. FSI can
conclusively demonstrate that for the
specific products in this waiver petition,
both test procedures are ‘‘so
unrepresentative of its true energy
consumption characteristics . . . as to
provide materially inaccurate
comparative data.’’ See 10 CFR § 430,
subpart B, appendix A1, and 10 CFR
§ 430, subpart B, appendix A.
These test procedures will result in
reported energy usage that is
substantially higher than actual energy
consumption and fail to represent real
world operating conditions. As such, we
believe that it is highly likely that we
will succeed on the merits of the waiver
petition. The products listed above meet
DOE’s intent in creating the waiver
petition process and the criteria for
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18:45 Mar 14, 2014
Jkt 232001
establishing test procedures that enable
DOE to evaluate products in a manner
representative of true energy
consumption and provide for accurate
comparative data. FSI’s approach to
developing more representative test
procedures is supported throughout the
studies cited in the waiver petition and
FSI in-situ testing.
Need for an interim waiver
The residential appliance business is
a highly competitive business.
Companies that specialize in niche
products with low annual sales,
cumulative and for any given product,
inherently have higher unit costs for a
number of reasons, including:
• The cost of manufacturing the
product is high, and there is less
efficiency of scale;
• The cost of marketing and
distributing niche products is higher
than mass market products;
• Small companies have to divide
fixed overhead by relatively low unit
sales.
This is exacerbated by the costs to
register and comply with energy
efficiency standards. When divided over
only dozens or hundreds of units sold
annually, testing costs can add 5% to
25% or more to a product’s selling
price, and could be the determinative
factor between profit and loss. As a
consequence, it is vitally important that
energy testing be done in a manner that
is representative of actual energy
consumption and does not unduly drive
up the costs to comply with standards
that provide inaccurate test
measurements.
All of the products in this interim
waiver application are compact
refrigeration equipment. Compact
refrigerators are primarily designed for
situations where there are space
limitations (either height or width or
depth or a combination). As such,
compact appliances do not have the
options to decrease energy consumption
by increasing the dimensions and
adding additional insulating material.
Compact appliances also have far more
design limitations on the size and
placement of components such as
evaporators, condensers, compressors
and fans because there are much smaller
areas to work in.
Failure to obtain an interim waiver in
a timely manner will create severe
economic hardship to FSI. Products in
this waiver request will all serve
markets that have fewer choices than
mainstream markets, which all offer
increased consumer choice. None of the
subject products are the most common
‘dormitory’ or office type compact
refrigerators sold through mass market
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14693
retailers.19 Some of the products in this
waiver petition will serve markets
where competitive products either use
technology that uses much more energy
(yet are not considered ‘‘covered’’
products by DOE), or force customers to
use larger refrigerators than needed,
which also may use more energy than
needed.
FSI is developing new products that
will have many benefits and offer
consumers more energy efficient
choices, which will comply with DOE
standard in accordance with appropriate
test procedures. Yet, these products,
when measured by the current and
proposed DOE test procedures, will not
reflect their true energy consumption.
There are valid reasons why these
specialty refrigerators will be used in a
completely different manner than the
‘‘typical’’ residential refrigerator. When
energy consumption is measured in a
representative manner, all are energy
efficient and will comply with
applicable DOE standards. All will
contribute to the value added
manufacturing done in our South Bronx
facility. And all are intended to meet
market demand in very small markets,
and offer consumers a more suitable
alternative to general purpose
refrigerators. FSI has demonstrated that
a single change to the test procedure
will produce representative data, and
allow FSI to market niche products that
are the most suitable for some consumer
applications.
The new DOE residential standards
that take effect Sept. 15, 2014 will force
significant industry wide changes.
Smaller companies such as FSI will be
the most adversely impacted as many
products that cannot meet the new
standards will be withdrawn from the
market. With many FSI products only
selling a few hundred units annually or
even fewer, the R&D and design changes
needed to reduce energy consumption
are cost prohibitive. Without a stream of
new products to hold revenue steady,
companies such as FSI will suffer severe
revenue loss, employment loss and are
threatened.
The failure to issue this interim
waiver will not only deprive FSI of the
revenue and gross profit from this group
of products, but it will weaken our
competitive position in the marketplace.
In the waiver application, FSI identifies
about a dozen major players in the
appliance marketplace we compete
with, all of whom have over a billion
dollars in annual revenue. All but two
19 It is important to note that the overwhelming
majority of compact appliances sold today fall into
the categories of dormitory type or office type
refrigerator-freezers. Dorm and office refrigerators
are not the subject of this petition.
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are foreign companies with large
manufacturing operations. All, in
varying degrees, compete with FSI. On
common products, FSI is at a huge
competitive disadvantage given all their
economies of scale. FSI competes
successfully because our niche products
allow us to be more valuable to our
resellers, and a certain amount of
‘‘common’’ products are sold alongside.
Absent the niche products, our
commodity products will suffer greatly
as well.
As a consequence of these
circumstances, FSI would suffer serious
economic hardship, and would be at a
competitive disadvantage unless an
interim waiver is granted for the
products in this petition.
tkelley on DSK3SPTVN1PROD with NOTICES
Conclusion
FSI initiated a petition for waiver for
the list of specialty refrigerators that are
designed to provide consumer choice in
niche markets. These products differ
substantially in their use from typical
household or dormitory type
refrigerators. The current test
procedures measure energy use in a
manner that is so unrepresentative of
these products’ true energy
consumption that they provide
materially inaccurate comparative data.
FSI respectfully requests that you grant
an interim waiver of the test procedures
of 10 CFR § 430, subpart B, appendix A1
and the proposed 10 CFR § 430, subpart
B, appendix A to the procedure outlined
in our waiver request, so that it may
avoid severe economic hardship while
DOE processes the petition.
Respectfully submitted,
Paul Storch
Summit Appliance Div. Felix Storch,
Inc.
70 Garrison Ave. Bronx, NY 10474 USA
PH. 718–893–3900
FAX: 718–842–3093
Email: paul@summitappliance.com
December 17, 2013
Building Technologies Program
U.S. Department of Energy
Test Procedure Waiver
1000 Independence Ave., SW
Mailstop EE–2J
Washington, DC 20585–0121
RE: Petition for Waiver of Test
Procedures proposed for September
15, 2014 (10 CFR § 430, Subpart B,
Appendix A) pursuant to 10 CFR.
§ 430.27(a)(1) for Summit brand
appliances as follows:
• Keg Beer Coolers (Models SBC490B
and SBC570R);
• Assisted Living Refrigerators
(Models FF71TB, FF73, FF74,
AL650R, ALB651BR, AL652BR,
ALB653BR, CT66RADA,
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CT67RADA, AL750R, ALB751R,
AL752BR, and ALB753LBR); and
• Ultra-Compact, Hotel Refrigerators
(Models FF28LH, FF29BKH,
FFAR21H, and FFAR2H).
Introduction
The Department of Energy (‘‘DOE’’)
provides a waiver process for
refrigeration products when ‘‘the
prescribed [10 CFR § 430, Subpart B,
Appendix A1 currently and the
proposed 10 CFR § 430, Subpart B,
Appendix A] test procedures may
evaluate [a product] . . . in a manner so
unrepresentative of its true energy
consumption characteristics . . . as to
provide materially inaccurate
comparative data.’’ 10 CFR § 430.27.
This petition seeks such a waiver for the
above-referenced products from 2014
and forward test procedures for
residential refrigerators provided in 10
CFR § 430, Subpart B, Appendix A.
Felix Storch, Inc. (‘‘FSI’’) is a small
business engaged in importing,
manufacturing, and distributing
appliances to niche markets in the
household, commercial, hospitality,
institutional and medical community, as
well as distributing household cooking
and laundry appliances. Located in the
South Bronx, New York, FSI employs
approximately 150 individuals engaged
in manufacturing, material handling,
trucking, engineering, marketing, sales,
shipping, clerical services and customer
service. FSI, under the Summit brand
name, imports refrigeration products
from a number of factories in Europe,
Mexico and Asia, as well as
manufactures a number of products in
New York. A significant part of FSI’s
business is value-added manufacturing
conducted by FSI in its Bronx facility.
Value-added manufacturing is the
process of adding or modifying
components or finishes to existing
products in order to adapt these
appliances for sale to special markets
where few or no suitable products exist.
The above-referenced models are all
either built or modified in our Bronx
facility.
DOE’s test procedures are not
appropriate for the above-referenced
models because they fail to accurately
reflect the actual energy consumption of
the products during normal use. DOE
test procedures for residential
refrigeration (both the procedures in
effect currently and the proposed
procedures for 2014) require testing
products at an ambient temperature of
90°F. DOE selected that temperature (as
opposed to a more normal 70°F
ambient) to simulate the effects of door
openings and closings; such actions are
not performed during the testing. See 10
PO 00000
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CFR § 430.23(a)(10) (The regulation
explains, ‘‘[t]he intent of the energy test
procedure is to simulate typical room
conditions (approximately 70°F (21°C))
with door openings, by testing at 90°F
(32.2°C) without door openings.’’).20
However, the above-listed FSI products
will be sold for uses where door
openings and closings are highly
infrequent.21 All these products will
consume far less energy during actual
use than is measured by the existing and
proposed testing procedures.
FSI seeks a waiver for the abovereferences products because:
(1) Test procedures do not provide a
fair and accurate representation of
actual energy use;
(2) The market size for each of these
products is quite small;
(3) The economic burden of
complying with DOE standards in effect
today, and the proposed standards for
2014, would place an undue economic
burden on FSI;
(4) There is an easily substituted
alternate test procedure for these
models;
(5) Withdrawing these products from
the marketplace would greatly limit
consumer choice, adversely impact
small business and, in some cases,
result in compelling customers to turn
to larger or less energy efficient
products that increase overall energy
consumption.
For these reasons, FSI respectfully
requests a waiver, pursuant to 10 C.F.R.
§ 430.27, of the test procedures for
residential refrigerators provided in 10
CFR § 430, Subpart B, Appendix A.
1. Models for which a waiver is
requested.
This waiver request applies to the
following models:
• Keg Beer Coolers (Models SBC490B;
SBC570R);
• Assisted Living Refrigerators:
(Models FF71TB, FF73, FF74, AL650R,
ALB651BR, AL652BR, ALB653BR,
CT66RADA, CT67RADA, AL750R,
ALB751R, AL752BR, and ALB753LBR);
• Ultra-Compact, Hotel Refrigerators
(Models FF28LH, FF29BKH, FFAR21H,
and FFAR2H).
All of these models are intended for
uses distinct from the typical household
use whereby the doors on these
products are seldom opened and closed.
20 See 10 CFR 10 CFR § 430.23(a)(10) (identifying
70°F as being representative of typical room
temperature).
21 It is important to note that the overwhelming
majority of compact appliances sold today fall into
the categories of dormitory type or office type
refrigerator-freezers. FSI could not find statistics on
door openings for these products, but since these
types of units would be shared by multiple users,
it is logical to assume their use would be similar
to conventional refrigerators, as opposed to the
special use models in this waiver petition.
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2. Manufacturers of other basic
models marketed in the United States
are known by FSI to incorporate similar
design characteristics.
Manufacturers of other basic models
marketed in the United States and
known to FSI that incorporate similar
design characteristics are included in
Attachment A.
3. Alternate test procedures are
known to FSI to evaluate accurately
energy consumption of the listed basic
models.
FSI has extensive data that
demonstrates that a single change to the
test procedure will result in measuring
energy consumption in a manner far
more representative of actual use.
Testing the basic models listed in this
petition at an ambient temperature of
70°F or 72°F, rather than 90°F will
measure energy consumption in a
manner significantly more
representative of actual use than using
the DOE prescribed test procedures,
both under current standards and those
proposed for implementation on
September 15, 2014.
Background
tkelley on DSK3SPTVN1PROD with NOTICES
DOE acknowledges in 10 CFR
§ 430.23(a)(10) that ‘‘[t]he intent of the
energy test procedure is to simulate
typical room conditions (approximately
70°F (21°C)) with door openings, by
testing at 90°F (32.2°C) without door
openings.’’
DOE uses 90°F as a surrogate for
running tests at typical ambient
temperature to simulate the impact of
opening and closing refrigerator and
freezer doors. This standard is
incorporated into the AHAM test
procedures used by DOE in both the
current standards and the upcoming
2014 standards. This temperature
selection is at least 30 years old and is
referenced in ANSI–AHAM HRF–1
(1979).22
Several studies have attempted to
validate this information. For example,
one study showed that household
refrigerators-freezers had a median of 48
fresh-food door openings and 10 freezer
door openings per 24 hours.23 A study
based on this number of door openings
concluded that 90°F overstated energy
22 American National Standard on Household
Refrigerators and Household Freezers, ANSI/AHAM
HRF–1–1979 at 51–52, available at: https://
law.resource.org/pub/us/cfr/ibr/001/aham.HRF1.1979.pdf.
23 See Danny S. Parker & Ted C. Stedman,
Measured Electricity Savings of Refrigerator
Replacement: Case Study and Analysis, Florida
Solar Energy Center FSEC–PF–239–92 (1992) (citing
Chang, Y.L., and R.A. Grot. 1979. Field performance
of residential refrigerators and combination
refrigerator-freezers. NBSIR 79–1781).
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consumption by 8.3% to 15.9%.24
Several other studies corroborate these
results.25 For example, a study by the
Florida Solar Energy Center measured
door openings and closings in two
person households and found an
average of 42 openings per day. 26
A National Institute of Standards
(‘‘NIST’’) study, commissioned by DOE,
also demonstrated that when testing is
performed at 90°F, as little as a 2 degree
difference in ambient temperature can
result in a dramatic difference in
measured energy consumption.27 Alan
Meier, an associate American Society of
Heating, Refrigerating and AirConditioning Engineers (‘‘ASHRAE’’)
member, conducted a more exhaustive
study of this correlation and found that
for two groups of refrigerators
extensively monitored, actual energy
use averaged 13% and 15% less than
the results from the yellow Energy
Guide (which is based on AHAM
procedures).28 Mr. Meier reported that
families typically open and close the
doors of their refrigerators an average of
50 times daily. The study observed,
‘‘[r]elatively modest ambient
temperature variations led to 50%
changes in energy use.’’
Another study by P.K. Bansal, also an
ASHRAE member, states that,
Elevated ambient temperatures used in most
test procedures crudely simulate the heat
loads from door openings. . . . This process
fails to produce satisfactory results that could
be representative of an in-situ real world
refrigerator performance 29
24 James Y. Kao & George E. Kelly, Factors
Affecting the Energy Consumption of Two
Refrigerator-Freezers, SA–96–7–1 at 9 available at:
https://fire.nist.gov/bfrlpubs/build96/PDF/
b96070.pdf.
25 See e.g., NIST Study (citing Alan Meier and
Richard Jansky, Field Performance of Residential
Refrigerators: A Comparison with the Laboratory
Test, LBL–31795 UC 150 (May 1991) available at:
https://www.osti.gov/scitech/servlets/purl/6142295;
Meier, A., et al. 1993; The New York refrigerator
monitoring project: final report. Report No. LBL–
33708. Berkeley, California: Lawrence Berkeley
Laboratory; KEMA-XENERGY, Inc., Final report
measurement and evaluation study of 2002
statewide residential appliance recycling program,
8–1—8–8 (2004); Wong, M.T., W.R. Jones, B.T.
Howell, and D.L. Long. 1995. Energy consumption
testing of innovative refrigerator-freezer. ASHRAE
Transactions 101(2).)
26 Danny S. Parker & Ted C. Stedman, Measured
Electricity Savings of Refrigerator Replacement:
Case Study and Analysis, Florida Solar Energy
Center FSEC–PF–239–92 (1992).
27 David A. Yashar, Repeatability of Energy
Consumption Test Results for Compact
Refrigerators, U.S. Dept. of Commerce, Technology
Administration National Institute of Standards and
Technology at 7–8, 14 (September 2002), available
at: https://fire.nist.gov/bfrlpubs/build00/PDF/
b00055.pdf.
28 Alan K. Meier, Field performance of residential
refrigerators, ASHRAE Journal 36–40 (August
1999).
29 P.K. Bansal, Studies on algorithm development
for energy performance testing: study 2—study of
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14695
Even a 2010 study by the Energy
Analysis Department of the Lawrence
Berkeley Laboratory, CA, supported by
DOE, stated, ‘‘[i]n many cases the test
procedures do not reflect field
usage[.]’’ 30
These studies provide clear evidence
that when refrigerator doors are opened
infrequently, the AHAM procedures
using 90°F as the ambient temperature
will overstate energy consumption.
All of these studies were done on
typical household refrigerator-freezers.
FSI found no comparable data for
compact refrigerators or, more
specifically, on any of the type of
products for which a waiver is sought in
this petition. Indeed, DOE’s own
Technical Support Document,
acknowledged that:
‘‘DOE found no data on the typical field
energy consumption of compact refrigeration
products. It therefore assumed that the
average field energy use of compact
refrigerators and freezers of a given size is the
same as the maximum energy use allowed by
the DOE standard as measured in the DOE
test procedure. In effect, DOE assumed that
variation in the field energy use of compact
appliances is a function solely of volume’’.31
The approximation ignores the
significantly important variable of the
number of door openings and closings
which greatly differs between a full size
refrigerator used by a family and a
specialty compact refrigerator used in a
secondary application.
FSI performed tests on four
representative models of refrigerators
and beer dispensers, running tests at
average 72°F (room) temperature and at
90°F. For one set of tests FSI opened
and closed the doors of each unit six
times per test, which exceeds the
frequency of typical door openings and
closings for these models. The second
set of tests was conducted with doors
remaining closed throughout the test.
These tests consistently showed that all
units at average 72°F (room
temperature) used over 40% less energy
than when run at 90°F. The tests with
doors closed had a weighted average of
48% lower energy consumption than at
algorithms for domestic refrigeration appliances,
APEC#201–RE–01.11 at 19 (2001).
30 Jim Lutz, et al. How to make appliance
standards work: improving the energy and water
efficiency test procedures, Ernest Orlando Lawrence
Berkeley National Laboratory for Assistant
Secretary for Energy Efficiency and Renewable
Energy, Office of Building Technology, State and
Community Programs, of the U.S. Department of
Energy, LBNL#4961E at 1 (2010).
31 U.S. Dept. of Energy, Preliminary Technical
Support Document: Energy Efficiency Program for
Consumer Products: Refrigerators, RefrigeratorFreezers, and Freezers at 7–38 (Nov. 2009),
available at: https://www1.eere.energy.gov/
buildings/appliance_standards/residential/pdfs/
ref_frz_prenopr_prelim_tsd.pdf .
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90°F, and tests with door openings had
a weighted average of 46% lower energy
consumption. Door openings consistent
with actual use, or tests without door
openings, did not change the overall
results or the conclusions.
A summary of this data is presented
in the following tables.
TABLE 1—TESTS WITH APPROPRIATE DOOR OPENINGS AND CLOSINGS
Energy use at ambient
Type
No. tests
Energy use at 90°F
With doors opened/closed
Beer Dispenser .............................................
Hotel Refrigerator ..........................................
Assisted Living Unit 1 ....................................
Assisted Living Unit 2 ....................................
2
4
3
6
1.16
1.04
0.91
1.10
kWh/day
kWh/day
kWh/day
kWh/day
..............................
..............................
..............................
..............................
0.68
0.59
0.51
0.55
kWh/day
kWh/day
kWh/day
kWh/day
..............................
..............................
..............................
..............................
Percent
decrease
41
43
44
50
TABLE 2—TESTS WITH DOORS CLOSED
Type
Beer Dispenser .............................................
Hotel Refrigerator ..........................................
Assisted Living Unit 1 ....................................
Assisted Living Unit 2 ....................................
Discussion of Door Openings and
Closings for the Models in This Waiver
Petition
The units in this waiver application
do not conform to the same usage as
typical household full-size refrigerators:
The doors on all of these basic units are
opened and closed significantly less
frequently than typical household
refrigeration equipment. The units in
this waiver petition also differ from the
majority of compact refrigerator-freezers
sold for dormitory or office use, which
are typically shared by a number of
users.
tkelley on DSK3SPTVN1PROD with NOTICES
1. Keg Beer Coolers [Models SBC490B
and SBC570R]
Beer coolers, by their nature, have
their doors opened and closed only
when a keg needs to be changed.
Depending on usage, this may be once
weekly, once monthly, or even less
frequently. Beer in kegs is always
provided in a chilled state, so in essence
the beer cooler is not working to bring
contents to the design temperature, but
is only maintaining steady state
conditions. The products in this waiver
petition do not have shelves and are
designed to store beer kegs only.
Furthermore, use and care guides
normally advise to turn off the
electricity to the beer cooler while
changing the keg, for both safety and
energy conservation.
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6
5
6
8
1.16
1.04
0.91
1.10
kWh/day
kWh/day
kWh/day
kWh/day
..............................
..............................
..............................
..............................
2. Assisted Living Refrigerators [Models
FF71TB, FF73, FF74, AL650R,
ALB651BR, AL652BR, ALB653BR,
CT66RADA, CT67RADA, AL750R,
ALB751R, AL752BR, and ALB753LBR)]
Refrigerators whose primary market is
assisted living centers generally do not
serve as a primary refrigerator.32 These
centers typically provide residents with
three full meals a day, along with snacks
during morning, afternoon, and evening
activities. As such, these units serve as
secondary storage that is opened and
closed less frequently than primary
household refrigerators. A limited
survey of residents in two of these
facilities done by FSI employees
showed that fresh food doors were
opened an average of 4 times daily, and
freezer doors less than once. The
refrigerators sold by FSI that are used in
these assisted living studio apartments
also differ from typical household or
dormitory type refrigerators in design.
They are usually frost free or partial
automatic defrost for the convenience of
an elderly population (compared to
typical ‘‘dormitory’’ refrigerators that
are usually manual defrost). Moreover,
32 Assisted living facilities generally include
meals as a standard feature. See e.g. Sunrise Senior
Living, Assisted Living available at: https://
www.sunriseseniorliving.com/care-and-services/
assisted-living.aspx (‘‘While services and amenities
may vary by location, Sunrise assisted senior living
communities generally provide . . . [t]hree
delicious, well-balanced meals served daily[.]’’);
Friendship Assisted Living, Amenities available at:
https://friendship.us/assisted-living/amenities-2/
(‘‘Restaurant-style dining is available for three
meals every day[.]’’); HelpGuide.org, Assisted
Living Facilities, available at: https://
www.helpguide.org/elder/assisted_living_
facilities.htm (showing that assisted living facilities
typically provide three meals a day).
PO 00000
Energy use at ambient
Energy use at 90°F
kWh/day
No. tests
Frm 00039
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Sfmt 4703
(no door openings)
0.65
0.55
0.49
0.52
kWh/day
kWh/day
kWh/day
kWh/day
..............................
..............................
..............................
..............................
Percent
decrease
44
47
46
53
they are usually only 4 to 6 cubic feet
compared to the 15 to 25 cubic feet
typically found in homes or apartments.
3. Ultra-Compact Hotel Refrigerators
[Models FF28LH, FF29BKH, FFAR21H,
and FFAR2H]
FSI’s proprietary ultra-compact
refrigerators (with compressors) for
hotel rooms are planned for
introduction in early 2014 and are
designed for guest convenience.33 These
refrigerators are priced at a premium,
very compact, and normally would be
marketed only to upscale hotels. FSI
estimates that guests will open and
close the door to these units
infrequently, if at all, since hotel rooms
are generally occupied primarily during
sleeping hours and meals are ordinarily
eaten outside the room, or delivered by
room service.34 In addition, these units
will not be in use when the hotel rooms
are vacant.
As demonstrated above, testing the
basic models in this waiver petition
under the current and proposed test
procedures would produce results that
are ‘‘unrepresentative of its true energy
consumption characteristics . . . as to
provide materially inaccurate
comparative data.’’ 10 CFR § 430.27.
Based on the information presented,
FSI proposes the following
modifications be made to the DOE test
33 Full size refrigerators used in hotel suites with
kitchenettes or extended stay hotels are not part of
the waiver application.
34 See American Hotel & Lodging Association,
Eco-Friendly Case Studies, available at: https://
www.ahla.com/Green.aspx?id=21756 (The Radisson
Hotel Cleveland decided to unplug hotel room
mini-refrigerators because ‘‘a majority of hotel
guests did not use them during their stay.’’).
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tkelley on DSK3SPTVN1PROD with NOTICES
procedures for the models named in this
petition:
1. Beer dispensers (Models SBC490B
and SBC570R); be tested at an ambient
temperature of 70°F (per DOE’s estimate
of approximately 70°F as typical roomtemperature) with the doors closed;
2. Hotel and assisting living
refrigerators (Models FF71TB, FF73,
FF74, AL650R, ALB651BR, AL652BR,
ALB653BR, CT66RADA, CT67RADA,
AL750R, ALB751R, AL752BR,
ALB753LBR. FF28LH, FF29BKH,
FFAR21H, and FFAR2H) be tested at
72°F to account for the very small
number of daily door openings (where
2°F is 10% of the difference between
70°F and 90°F and door openings of
these products groups are no more than
10% of the typical household
refrigerators);
3. The units be tested for 24
continuous hours after stabilization to
account for any timers used in the
assisted living and hotel refrigerators;
and
4. All other test procedures be
conducted in accordance with AHAM
and DOE test procedures for residential
refrigerators.
Additional Arguments for Granting
This Waiver
FSI targets niche markets with many
models, including those referenced
herein, where the overall sales volume
is too limited to appeal to manufacturers
driven by mass production and
economies of scale. In some cases, not
allowing products that address certain
size or use needs to market will have the
unintended consequences of
substantially reducing consumer choice
and driving energy consumption up
through a switch to larger models.
For example, in the case of the
assisted living markets, withdrawing
specialty products from this small,
niche market may force facilities to
purchase larger refrigerators than
necessary, increasing overall energy
usage. The convenience and
accessibility of these compact products
is often more appropriate for assisted
living residents. If suitably sized
products are not available, facilities
might be forced to remodel a kitchenette
when a refrigerator needs replacing.
In the case of the hotel industry,
hotels (excluding extended stay hotels
or suite type hotels) often use
refrigerators that are driven by an
absorption cooling system or by a
thermoelectric cooling system (also
called heat pipe systems). These cooling
systems use significantly more energy
than compressor systems, but are
chosen by hotels for their low noise
levels. It is important to note that these
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basic units may not be covered products
for DOE because their design does not
always allow them to reach the 39°F
threshold and, therefore, may not be
considered a refrigerator per the
statutory definition. [See 10 CFC § 430.2
(defining an electric refrigerator as ‘‘a
cabinet designed for the refrigerated
storage of food, designed to be capable
of achieving storage temperatures above
32°F (0°C) and below 39°F (3.9°C), and
having a source of refrigeration
requiring single phase, alternating
current electric energy input only.’’)].
Consequently, by excluding FSI
compressor models from competing in
this market, hotels will use models with
absorption or thermoelectric systems
which use substantially more energy
than the excluded products.
Economic Burden of the Regulations on
Small Business in General and FSI in
Particular
Failure to grant these basic models
waivers from test procedures would
have severe economic consequences for
FSI.
Very large, multi-national
corporations dominate the appliance
market, led by Whirlpool and General
Electric, whose sales are in the billions
of dollars. Foreign companies with
appliance sales in the billions of dollars
and with a large U.S. presence include
Electrolux (Frigidaire), LG, Samsung,
Daiwoo, Bosch, Liebherr, Miele, AGAMarvel, Bertazoni, Smeg, Haier, and
Midea. FSI cannot compete with these
companies’ mass markets, with huge
economies of scale on production, and
distribution and insignificant
compliance testing costs. FSI
predominantly markets specialty
appliances that respond to niche market
demands and customer choice.
In response to DOE 2014 test
procedures, FSI is working very hard to
modify the vast majority of its
residential refrigerator and freezer
product line to comply with the new
procedures. But in a number of niche
markets with very small sales, the
feasibility and costs of compliance are
highly disproportionate for FSI to make
a business case and will not result in
energy savings. This results in an undue
burden on FSI, for which these niche
products form the nucleus of FSI’s
manufacturing operations and are the
driver of job creation in disadvantaged
economic development areas. Unlike
the large companies mentioned above
who can spread the cost of meeting
current DOE and upcoming DOE 2014
standards and, in particular, test
procedures over a base of millions,
hundreds of thousands, or tens of
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14697
thousands of units, a small business like
FSI does not have this option.
DOE has acknowledged the
difficulties faced by both small
manufacturers and the compact
refrigeration industry dealing with
standards. FSI falls into both categories
and 90% of FSI’s refrigeration business
is restricted to compact classes. DOE
reports that compact appliances only
account for 2.5% of total energy
consumed by all refrigeration
products.35 FSI’s assumption is that at
least 75% of that small number is
consumed by college dormitory/office
type products, meaning that less than
1% of total refrigeration energy use is
consumed by ‘‘specialty’’ compact
appliances, such as those listed in this
petition. FSI’s market share even in
these small niche markets is quite
limited. The appliances in this waiver
application are a negligible part of that
tiny subset and any energy consumption
impacts from this waiver are highly de
minimis at most. DOE recognizes the
limited options available to compact
appliance manufacturers, ‘‘[b]ecause of
small production volumes, the impact of
new standards on these manufacturers
is relatively severe.’’36 This is especially
true ahead of DOE 2014 requirements,
which mandate a 20% reduction of
usage and few affordable alternatives for
reducing energy consumption in niche
appliances that meet consumer demand.
FSI greatly appreciates DOE’s prompt
attention to this petition for waiver, to
allow for proper planning and avoiding
additional, unnecessary economic
hardship and financial burdens on FSI.
Design changes to existing models and
new product introductions routinely
take 8 to 12 months for appliances.
Without a prompt response to this
petition for waiver, FSI cannot
effectively plan its product line in a
manner compliant with the new
procedures and standards that take
effect on September 15, 2014. For a
small business manufacturer such as
FSI, who specializes in niche product
markets, uncertainty over test
procedures will cause unnecessary costs
without delivering any energy benefits
or savings.
DOE in its guidance on waivers
commits to act promptly on waiver
requests37.
‘‘First, the Department commits to act
promptly on waiver requests and to update
35 See Federal Register Vol. 62 No. 81, Page
23111, April 28, 1997.
36 Id.
37 GC Enforcement Guidance on the Application
of Waivers and on the Waiver Process Issued:
December 23, 2010, see https://energy.gov/sites/
prod/files/gcprod/documents/LargeCapacityRCW_
guidance_122210.pdf
E:\FR\FM\17MRN1.SGM
17MRN1
14698
Federal Register / Vol. 78, No. 51 / Monday, March 17, 2014 / Notices
its test procedures to address granted waivers
going forward. Second, to prevent the
administrative waiver process from delaying
or deterring the introduction of novel,
innovative products into the marketplace, the
Department, as a matter of enforcement
policy, will refrain from enforcement actions
related to pending waiver requests’’.
tkelley on DSK3SPTVN1PROD with NOTICES
FSI appreciates DOE’s recognition of
the need to act promptly on these
waiver requests and hopes DOE will
take such an approach in responding to
this petition in a manner that does not
impose additional economic burdens on
FSI. The objective is to assure that all
test procedures result in representative
indication of a product’s true energy
consumption, without imposing
unnecessary costs on small business
appliance manufacturers such as FSI.
Conclusions
The waiver process clearly is
intended for situations where test
procedures do not provide an accurate
representation of actual energy
consumption. FSI has demonstrated that
the test procedures specified by DOE do
not provide representative measure of
the basic models in this waiver
application, whose doors are opened
and closed significantly less than
typical household use.
FSI has demonstrated that:
• The use of 90°F is designed to
simulate an average of 40 to 50 door
openings per day and, even at that level,
may overstate energy usage;
• The models listed in this waiver
application have their doors opened and
closed infrequently, and certainly
significantly less than the simulation
average;
• An alternate test procedure is
readily available consisting of testing
the products at 70°F or 72°F, over a 24
hour period, and holding all other test
procedures in accordance with AHAM
Procedures and 10 CFR § 430, Subpart
B, Appendix A;
• Failure to grant this waiver will
cause severe economic hardship to FSI,
and in some cases, will cause energy
consumption to be higher than if the
waiver were granted.
FSI respectfully requests DOE waive the
test procedures for the products listed in
the petition as these ‘‘test procedures
may evaluate [these product] . . . in a
manner so unrepresentative of [their]
true energy consumption characteristics
. . . as to provide materially inaccurate
comparative data.’’ 10 C.F.R. § 430.27.
All of these basic units have materially
different uses than the average products
subject to the test procedures. The
proposed alternative procedures will
provide an accurate representation of
actual energy use. For these reasons, FSI
VerDate Mar<15>2010
18:45 Mar 14, 2014
Jkt 232001
respectfully requests that DOE
substitute our proposed test procedures
and waive the test procedures at 10 CFR
§ 430, Subpart B, Appendix A for FSI’s
beer coolers, assisted living refrigeratorfreezers and hotel refrigerators.
Respectfully submitted,
Paul Storch, President
Summit Appliance Div. Felix Storch,
Inc.
770 Garrison Ave. Bronx, NY 10474
USA
PH. 718–893–3900
FAX: 718–842–3093
[FR Doc. 2014–05778 Filed 3–14–14; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6450–01–P
DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
Federal Energy Regulatory
Commission
[Project No. 1025–084]
Safe Harbor Water Power Corporation;
Notice of Application Accepted for
Filing, Soliciting Comments, Motions
To Intervene, and Protests
Take notice that the following
hydroelectric application has been filed
with the Commission and is available
for public inspection:
a. Application Type: Amendment of
License.
b. Project No.: 1025–084.
c. Date Filed: January 31, 2014.
d. Applicant: Safe Harbor Water
Power Corporation.
e. Name of Project: Safe Harbor
Hydroelectric Project.
f. Location: Susquehanna River in
Lancaster and York Counties,
Pennsylvania.
g. Filed Pursuant to: Federal Power
Act, 16 U.S.C. 791a-825r.
h. Applicant Contact: Ted Rineer,
Safe Harbor Water Power Corporation, 1
Powerhouse Road, Conestoga, PA, (717)
872–0273.
i. FERC Contact: Rebecca Martin,
(202) 502–6012,
Rebecca.Martin@ferc.gov.
j. Deadline for filing comments,
motions to intervene, and protests: April
9, 2014.
All documents may be filed
electronically via the Internet. See, 18
CFR 385.2001(a)(1)(iii) and the
instructions on the Commission’s Web
site at https://www.ferc.gov/docs-filing/
efiling.asp. Commenters can submit
brief comments up to 6,000 characters,
without prior registration, using the
eComment system at https://
www.ferc.gov/docs-filing/
ecomment.asp. You must include your
name and contact information at the end
of your comments. For assistance,
PO 00000
Frm 00041
Fmt 4703
Sfmt 4703
please contact FERC Online Support at
FERCOnlineSupport@ferc.gov, or toll
free at 1–866–208–3676, or for TTY,
(202) 502–8659. In lieu of electronic
filing please send a paper copy to:
Secretary, Federal Energy Regulatory
Commission, 888 First Street NE.,
Washington, DC 20426. Please include
the project number (P–1025–084) on any
comments or motions filed.
The Commission’s Rules of Practice
and Procedure require all intervenors
filing documents with the Commission
to serve a copy of that document on
each person whose name appears on the
official service list for the project.
Further, if an intervenor files comments
or documents with the Commission
relating to the merits of an issue that
may affect the responsibilities of a
particular resource agency, they must
also serve a copy of the document on
that resource agency.
k. Description of Application: The
licensee requests Commission approval
to permanently raise the normal
maximum water surface elevation of
Lake Clarke from 227.2 feet to 227.6 feet
during April 15 to October 15. In
addition the licensee requests
authorization to temporarily adjust the
April 15 to October 15 normal
maximum water surface elevation
higher (up to elevation 228.0 feet), if the
results of the Safe Harbor annual spring
mudflat surveys demonstrate that the
minimum area of shorebird habitat can
be maintained, pursuant to Article 49,
and if a fish stranding survey pursuant
to Article 47 shows that the higher
normal maximum level would not result
in a substantial increase in fish
stranding in Lake Clarke.
l. Locations of the Application: A
copy of the application is available for
inspection and reproduction at the
Commission’s Public Reference Room,
located at 888 First Street NE., Room
2A, Washington, DC 20426, or by calling
(202) 502–8371. This filing may also be
viewed on the Commission’s Web site at
https://www.ferc.gov using the
‘‘eLibrary’’ link. Enter the docket
number excluding the last three digits in
the docket number field (P–1025) to
access the document. You may also
register online at https://www.ferc.gov/
docs-filing/esubscription.asp to be
notified via email of new filings and
issuances related to this or other
pending projects. A copy is also
available for inspection and
reproduction at the address in item (h)
above.
m. Individuals desiring to be included
on the Commission’s mailing list should
so indicate by writing to the Secretary
of the Commission.
E:\FR\FM\17MRN1.SGM
17MRN1
]]>Agencies
[Federal Register Volume 79, Number 51 (Monday, March 17, 2014)]
[Notices]
[Pages 14686-14698]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2014-05778]
=======================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy
[Case No. RF-038]
Petition for Waiver of Felix Storch, Inc. (FSI) From the
Department of Energy Residential Refrigerator and Refrigerator-Freezer
Test Procedure and Grant of Interim Waiver
AGENCY: Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Department of
Energy.
ACTION: Notice of Petition for Waiver, Notice of Granting Application
for Interim Waiver, and Request for Public Comments.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: This notice announces receipt of a petition for waiver from
Felix Storch, Inc. (FSI) seeking an exemption from specified portions
of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) test procedure for determining
the energy consumption of certain electric refrigerators and
refrigerator-freezers. FSI asks that it be permitted to use an
alternate test procedure to account for the energy consumption of its
specific models of its Keg Beer Coolers, Assisted
[[Page 14687]]
Living Refrigerator-freezers and Ultra-Compact Hotel Refrigerators in
place of the currently applicable DOE test procedure. DOE solicits
comments, data, and information concerning FSI's petition and the
suggested alternate test procedure. Today's notice also declines to
grant FSI with an interim waiver from the electric refrigerator-
freezers test procedure, for the reasons described in this notice. The
waiver request pertains to the basic models set forth in FSI's
petition.
DATES: DOE will accept comments, data, and information with respect to
the FSI Petition until April 16, 2014.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, identified by case number ``RF-
038,'' by any of the following methods:
Federal eRulemaking Portal: https://www.regulations.gov.
Follow the instructions for submitting comments.
Email: AS_Waiver_Requests@ee.doe.gov. Include the case
number [Case No. RF-038] in the subject line of the message.
Mail: Ms. Brenda Edwards, U.S. Department of Energy,
Building Technologies Office, Mailstop EE-5B/1000 Independence Avenue
SW., Washington, DC 20585-0121. Telephone: (202) 586-2945. Please
submit one signed original paper copy.
Hand Delivery/Courier: Ms. Brenda Edwards, U.S. Department
of Energy, Building Technologies Program, 950 L'Enfant Plaza SW., Suite
600, Washington, DC 20024. Please submit one signed original paper
copy.
Docket: For access to the docket to review the background documents
relevant to this matter, you may visit the U.S. Department of Energy,
950 L'Enfant Plaza SW., Washington, DC 20024; (202) 586-2945, between
9:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m., Monday through Friday, except Federal
holidays. Available documents include the following items: (1) This
notice; (2) public comments received; (3) the petition for waiver and
application for interim waiver; and (4) prior DOE rulemakings regarding
similar refrigerator-freezers. Please call Ms. Brenda Edwards at the
above telephone number for additional information.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. Bryan Berringer, U.S. Department
of Energy, Building Technologies Office, Mail Stop EE-5B, Forrestal
Building, 1000 Independence Avenue SW., Washington, DC 20585-0121.
Telephone: (202) 586-0371. Email: Bryan.Berringer@ee.doe.gov.
Mr. Michael Kido, U.S. Department of Energy, Office of the General
Counsel, Mail Stop GC-71, Forrestal Building, 1000 Independence Avenue
SW., Washington, DC 20585-0103. Telephone: (202) 586-8145. Email:
Michael.Kido@hq.doe.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Background and Authority
Title III, Part B of the Energy Policy and Conservation Act of 1975
(EPCA), Public Law 94-163 (42 U.S.C. 6291-6309, as codified,
established the Energy Conservation Program for Consumer Products Other
Than Automobiles, a program covering most major household appliances,
which includes the electric refrigerators and refrigerator-freezers
that are the focus of this notice.\1\ Part B includes definitions, test
procedures, labeling provisions, energy conservation standards, and the
authority to require information and reports from manufacturers.
Further, Part B authorizes the Secretary of Energy to prescribe test
procedures that are reasonably designed to produce results that measure
the energy efficiency, energy use, or estimated annual operating costs
of a covered product, and that are not unduly burdensome to conduct.
(42 U.S.C. 6293(b)(3)) The currently applicable test procedure for
electric refrigerators and electric refrigerator-freezers is contained
in 10 CFR part 430, subpart B, appendix A1. The test procedure that
will be required for certifying that products comply with Federal
standards beginning on September 15, 2014 is contained in 10 CFR part
430, subpart B, appendix A.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ For editorial reasons, upon codification in the U.S. Code,
Part B was re-designated Part A.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
The regulations set forth in 10 CFR part 430.27 contain provisions
that enable a person to seek a waiver from the test procedure
requirements for covered products. The Assistant Secretary for Energy
Efficiency and Renewable Energy (the Assistant Secretary) will grant a
waiver if it is determined that the basic model for which the petition
for waiver was submitted contains one or more design characteristics
that prevents testing of the basic model according to the prescribed
test procedures, or if the prescribed test procedures may evaluate the
basic model in a manner so unrepresentative of its true energy
consumption characteristics as to provide materially inaccurate
comparative data. 10 CFR 430.27(l). Petitioners must include in their
petition any alternate test procedures known to the petitioner to
evaluate the basic model in a manner representative of its energy
consumption. The Assistant Secretary may grant the waiver subject to
conditions, including adherence to alternate test procedures. 10 CFR
430.27(l). Waivers remain in effect pursuant to the provisions of 10
CFR 430.27(m).
The waiver process also allows the Assistant Secretary to grant an
interim waiver from test procedure requirements to manufacturers that
have petitioned DOE for a waiver of such prescribed test procedures. 10
CFR 430.27(g). An interim waiver remains in effect for 180 days or
until DOE issues its determination on the petition for waiver,
whichever occurs earlier. DOE may extend an interim waiver for an
additional 180 days. 10 CFR 430.27(h).
II. Petition for Waiver of Test Procedure
On December 12 and 17, 2013, FSI submitted a petition for waiver
from the test procedure applicable to residential electric
refrigerators and refrigerator-freezers set forth in 10 CFR part 430,
subpart B, appendices A and A1. In its petition, FSI asserts that its
products could not be tested and rated for energy consumption on a
basis representative of their true energy consumption characteristics.
The DOE test procedure for residential refrigeration (both the
procedure that is required currently and the procedure that will be
required beginning on September 15, 2014) require testing products at
an ambient temperature of 90[deg]F. DOE selected that temperature to
simulate the effects of door openings and closings, which are not
performed during the testing. See 10 CFR Sec. 430.23(a)(10) (The
regulation explains, ``[t]he intent of the energy test procedure is to
simulate typical room conditions (approximately 70 [deg]F (21 [deg]C))
with door openings, by testing at 90 [deg]F (32.2 [deg]C) without door
openings.''). FSI contends that the products addressed by its waiver
petition will be sold for uses where door openings and closings are
highly infrequent. As a result, in its view, testing these products in
accordance with the DOE test procedure conditions would result in
measurements of energy use that are unrepresentative of the actual
energy use of these products under their conditions of expected use by
consumers.
As an alternative, FSI submitted to DOE an alternate test procedure
to account for the energy consumption of its Keg Beer Coolers, Assisted
Living Refrigerator-freezers and Ultra-Compact Hotel Refrigerators.
That procedure would test these units at 70[deg]F or 72[deg]F over a
24-hour period instead of the required 90[deg]F ambient temperature
condition. FSI believes its alternate test procedure will allow for the
accurate measurement of the energy use of these products as required by
the current DOE test procedure.
[[Page 14688]]
FSI also requests an interim waiver from the existing DOE test
procedure for the models listed in its December 12, 2013 petition. An
interim waiver may be granted if it is determined that the applicant
will experience economic hardship if the application for interim waiver
is denied, if it appears likely that the petition for waiver will be
granted, and/or the Assistant Secretary determines that it would be
desirable for public policy reasons to grant immediate relief pending a
determination of the petition for waiver. See 10 CFR 430.27(g).
DOE has determined that FSI's application for interim waiver does
not provide sufficient market, equipment price, shipments and other
manufacturer impact information to permit DOE to evaluate the economic
hardship FSI might experience absent a favorable determination on its
application for interim waiver. DOE understands, based upon FSI's
petition, that absent an interim waiver, FSI's products could not be
tested and rated for energy consumption on a basis representative of
their true energy consumption characteristics. However, DOE has found
that FSI's petition provides insufficient information for DOE to
determine whether the alternative test procedure that FSI proposes to
use is likely to provide a measurement of the energy use of these
products that is representative of their operation under conditions of
expected consumer use. Since DOE has found it unlikely that FSI's
waiver petition will be granted in its current form and has determined
that it is not desirable for public policy reasons to grant FSI
immediate relief, DOE is declining to grant an interim waiver and is
seeking additional information on the underlying basis for FSI's
proposed alternative.
DOE notes that the existing test procedures, as well as recent test
procedure waivers, contain a method for addressing certain types of
products for which less frequent door openings occur. Specifically, the
test procedure for residential freezers applies an adjustment factor to
account for the relatively fewer expected door openings of upright and
chest freezers, each of which has a corresponding adjustment factor for
the overall energy use. (See appendix B to subpart B of 10 CFR part
430, section 5.2.1.) Further, DOE has also granted a test procedure
waiver for a combination wine cooler-refrigerator on the basis of the
manufacturer's claim that the product would be subjected to fewer door
openings in typical use, which used the same adjustment factor as is
applied to upright freezers. 78 FR 35894 (Sept. 17, 2013). DOE also
requests comment on whether such an approach would be more appropriate
for testing these models.
For the reasons stated above, before DOE will authorize the use of
an alternative test procedure for testing of the specific models listed
in the waiver petitions, DOE is seeking comment from interested
stakeholders on whether FSI's proposed test is likely to be
representative of the energy use of the products that are the subjects
of the waiver petition or whether another alternative may be more
appropriate.
DOE makes decisions on waivers and interim waivers for only those
models specifically set out in the petition, not future models that may
be manufactured by the petitioner. FSI may submit a new or amended
petition for waiver and request for grant of interim waiver, as
appropriate, for additional models of refrigerator-freezers for which
it seeks a waiver from the DOE test procedure. In addition, DOE notes
that granting of an interim waiver or waiver does not release a
petitioner from the certification requirements set forth at 10 CFR part
429.
III. Summary and Request for Comments
Through today's notice, DOE announces receipt of FSI's December 12,
2013 and December 17, 2013 petitions for waiver from the specified
portions of the test procedure applicable to FSI's line of Keg Beer
Coolers, Assisted Living Refrigerator-freezers and Ultra-Compact Hotel
Refrigerators and declines to grant FSI an interim waiver from those
same portions of the test procedure for the models specified in its
December 12, 2013 request for interim waiver. The petition includes a
suggested alternate test procedure to determine the energy consumption
of FSI's specified refrigerator-freezers. DOE may consider including
this alternate procedure in a subsequent Decision and Order. However,
at this time, DOE cannot establish whether the alternative procedure
proposed by FSI is an appropriate means for measuring the energy use of
these products based solely on the information provided in the waiver
petition.
DOE solicits comments from interested parties on all aspects of the
petition, including the suggested alternate test procedure and
calculation methodology. Pursuant to 10 CFR 430.27(d), any person
submitting written comments to DOE must also send a copy of such
comments to the petitioner. The contact information for the petitioner
is: Paul Storch, President, Summit Appliance Div., Felix Storch, Inc.,
770 Garrison Ave., Bronx, NY 10474. All submissions received must
include the agency name and case number for this proceeding. Submit
electronic comments in WordPerfect, Microsoft Word, Portable Document
Format (PDF), or text (American Standard Code for Information
Interchange (ASCII)) file format and avoid the use of special
characters or any form of encryption. Wherever possible, include the
electronic signature of the author. DOE does not accept telefacsimiles
(faxes).
Issued in Washington, DC, on March 11, 2014.
Kathleen B. Hogan,
Deputy Assistant Secretary for Energy Efficiency, Energy Efficiency and
Renewable Energy.
December 12, 2013
Building Technologies Program
U.S. Department of Energy
Test Procedure Waiver
1000 Independence Ave. SW
Mailstop EE-2J
Washington, DC 20585-0121
RE: Petition for Waiver of Test Procedures in use currently (10 CFR
Sec. 430, subpart B, appendix A1) and proposed for September 15, 2014
(10 CFR Sec. 430, subpart B, appendix A) pursuant to 10 CFR. Sec.
430.27(a)(1) for Summit brand appliances as follows:
Keg Beer Coolers (Models SBC590, SBC590OS, and SBC635M)
Assisted Living Refrigerator-freezers (Models ALBF44,
ALBF68)
Hotel Refrigerators (Models HTL2 and HTL3)
Introduction
The Department of Energy (``DOE'') provides a waiver process for
refrigeration products when ``the prescribed [10 CFR Sec. 430, Subpart
B, Appendix A1 currently and the proposed 10 CFR Sec. 430, Subpart B,
Appendix A] test procedures may evaluate [a product] . . . in a manner
so unrepresentative of its true energy consumption characteristics . .
. as to provide materially inaccurate comparative data.'' 10 CFR Sec.
430.27. This petition seeks such a waiver for the above-referenced
products.
Felix Storch, Inc. (``FSI'') is a small business engaged in
importing, manufacturing, and distributing appliances to niche markets
in the household, commercial, hospitality, institutional, and medical
community, as well as distributing household cooking and laundry
appliances. Located in the South Bronx, New York, FSI employs
approximately 150 individuals engaged in manufacturing, material
handling, trucking,
[[Page 14689]]
engineering, marketing, sales, shipping, clerical services, and
customer service. FSI, under the Summit brand name, imports
refrigeration products from a number of factories in Europe, Mexico and
Asia, as well as manufactures a number of products in New York. A
significant part of FSI's business is value-added manufacturing
conducted by FSI in its Bronx facility. Value-added manufacturing is
the process of adding or modifying components or finishes to existing
products in order to adapt these appliances for sale to special markets
where few or no suitable products exist. The above-referenced models
are all either built or modified in our Bronx facility.
DOE's test procedures are not appropriate for the above-referenced
models because they fail to accurately reflect the actual energy
consumption of the products during normal use. DOE test procedures for
residential refrigeration (both the procedures in effect currently and
the proposed procedures for 2014) require testing products at an
ambient temperature of 90[deg]F. DOE selected that temperature (as
opposed to a more normal 70[deg]F ambient) to simulate the effects of
door openings and closings; such actions are not performed during the
testing. See 10 CFR Sec. 430.23(a)(10) (The regulation explains,
``[t]he intent of the energy test procedure is to simulate typical room
conditions (approximately 70[deg]F (21[deg]C)) with door openings, by
testing at 90[deg]F (32.2[deg]C) without door openings.'').\2\ However,
the above-listed FSI products will be sold for uses where door openings
and closings are highly infrequent.\3\ All these products will consume
far less energy during actual use than is measured by the existing and
proposed testing procedures.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\2\ See 10 CFR 10 CFR Sec. 430.23(a)(10) (identifying 70[deg]F
as being representative of typical room temperature).
\3\ It is important to note that the overwhelming majority of
compact appliances sold today fall into the categories of dormitory
type or office type refrigerator-freezers. FSI could not find
statistics on door openings for these products, but since these
types of units would be shared by multiple users, it is logical to
assume their use would be similar to conventional refrigerators, as
opposed to the special use models in this waiver petition.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
FSI seeks a waiver for the above-references products because:
(1) Test procedures do not provide a fair and accurate
representation of actual energy use;
(2) The market size for each of these products is quite small;
(3) The economic burden of complying with DOE standards in effect
today, and the proposed standards for 2014, would place an undue
economic burden on FSI;
(4) There is an easily substituted alternate test procedure for
these models;
(5) Withdrawing these products from the marketplace would greatly
limit consumer choice, adversely impact small business and, in some
cases, result in compelling customers to turn to larger or less energy
efficient products that increase overall energy consumption.
For these reasons, FSI respectfully requests a waiver, pursuant to
10 CFR Sec. 430.27, of the test procedures for residential
refrigerators provided in 10 CFR Sec. 430, Subpart B, Appendix A.
1. Models for which a waiver is requested.
This waiver request applies to the following models:
Keg Beer Coolers (Models SBC590, SBC590OS, and SBC635M)
Assisted Living Refrigerator-freezers (Models ALBF44,
ALBF68)
Hotel Refrigerators (Models HTL2 and HTL3)
All of these models are intended for uses distinct from the typical
household use whereby the doors on these products are seldom opened and
closed.
2. Manufacturers of other basic models marketed in the United
States are known by FSI to incorporate similar design characteristics.
Manufacturers of other basic models marketed in the United States
and known to FSI that incorporate similar design characteristics are
included in Attachment A.
3. Alternate test procedures are known to FSI to evaluate
accurately energy consumption of the listed basic models.
FSI has extensive data that demonstrates that a single change to
the test procedure will result in measuring energy consumption in a
manner far more representative of actual use.
Testing the basic models listed in this petition at an ambient
temperature of 70[deg]F or 72[deg]F, rather than 90[deg]F will measure
energy consumption in a manner significantly more representative of
actual use than using the DOE prescribed test procedures, both under
current standards and those proposed for implementation on September
15, 2014.
Background
DOE acknowledges in 10 CFR Sec. 430.23(a)(10) that ``[t]he intent
of the energy test procedure is to simulate typical room conditions
(approximately 70[deg]F (21[deg]C)) with door openings, by testing at
90[deg]F (32.2[deg]C) without door openings.''
DOE uses 90[deg]F as a surrogate for running tests at typical
ambient temperature to simulate the impact of opening and closing
refrigerator and freezer doors. This standard is incorporated into the
AHAM test procedures used by DOE in both the current standards and the
upcoming 2014 standards. This temperature selection is at least 30
years old and is referenced in ANSI-AHAM HRF-1 (1979).\4\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\4\ American National Standard on Household Refrigerators and
Household Freezers, ANSI/AHAM HRF-1-1979 at 51-52, available at:
https://law.resource.org/pub/us/cfr/ibr/001/aham.HRF-1.1979.pdf.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Several studies have attempted to validate this information. For
example, one study showed that household refrigerators-freezers had a
median of 48 fresh-food door openings and 10 freezer door openings per
24 hours.\5\ A study based on this number of door openings concluded
that 90[deg]F overstated energy consumption by 8.3% to 15.9%.\6\
Several other studies corroborate these results.\7\ For example, a
study by the Florida Solar Energy Center measured door openings and
closings in two person households and found an average of 42 openings
per day.\8\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\5\ See Danny S. Parker & Ted C. Stedman, Measured Electricity
Savings of Refrigerator Replacement: Case Study and Analysis,
Florida Solar Energy Center FSEC-PF-239-92 (1992) (citing Chang,
Y.L., and R.A. Grot. 1979. Field performance of residential
refrigerators and combination refrigerator-freezers. NBSIR 79-1781).
\6\ James Y. Kao & George E. Kelly, Factors Affecting the Energy
Consumption of Two Refrigerator-Freezers, SA-96-7-1 at 9 available
at: https://fire.nist.gov/bfrlpubs/build96/PDF/b96070.pdf.
\7\ See e.g., NIST Study (citing Alan Meier and Richard Jansky,
Field Performance of Residential Refrigerators: A Comparison with
the Laboratory Test, LBL-31795 UC 150 (May 1991) available at:
https://www.osti.gov/scitech/servlets/purl/6142295; Meier, A., et al.
1993; The New York refrigerator monitoring project: final report.
Report No. LBL-33708. Berkeley, California: Lawrence Berkeley
Laboratory; KEMA-XENERGY, Inc., Final report measurement and
evaluation study of 2002 statewide residential appliance recycling
program, 8-1--8z-8 (2004); Wong, M.T., W.R. Jones, B.T. Howell, and
D.L. Long. 1995. Energy consumption testing of innovative
refrigerator-freezer. ASHRAE Transactions 101(2).)
\8\ Danny S. Parker & Ted C. Stedman, Measured Electricity
Savings of Refrigerator Replacement: Case Study and Analysis,
Florida Solar Energy Center FSEC-PF-239-92 (1992).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
A National Institute of Standards (``NIST'') study, commissioned by
DOE, also demonstrated that when testing is performed at 90[deg]F, as
little as a 2 degree difference in ambient temperature can result in a
dramatic difference in measured energy consumption. \9\ Alan
[[Page 14690]]
Meier, an associate American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-
Conditioning Engineers (``ASHRAE'') member, conducted a more exhaustive
study of this correlation and found that for two groups of
refrigerators extensively monitored, actual energy use averaged 13% and
15% less than the results from the yellow Energy Guide (which is based
on AHAM procedures).\10\ Mr. Meier reported that families typically
open and close the doors of their refrigerators an average of 50 times
daily. The study observed, ``[r]elatively modest ambient temperature
variations led to 50% changes in energy use.''
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\9\ David A. Yashar, Repeatability of Energy Consumption Test
Results for Compact Refrigerators, U.S. Dept. of Commerce,
Technology Administration National Institute of Standards and
Technology at 7-8, 14 (September 2002), available at: https://fire.nist.gov/bfrlpubs/build00/PDF/b00055.pdf.
\10\ Alan K. Meier, Field performance of residential
refrigerators, ASHRAE Journal 36-40 (August 1999).
Another study by P.K. Bansal, also an ASHRAE member, states
that,
Elevated ambient temperatures used in most test procedures
crudely simulate the heat loads from door openings. . . . This
process fails to produce satisfactory results that could be
representative of an in-situ real world refrigerator performance
\11\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\11\ P.K. Bansal, Studies on algorithm development for energy
performance testing: study 2--study of algorithms for domestic
refrigeration appliances, APEC201-RE-01.11 at 19 (2001).
Even a 2010 study by the Energy Analysis Department of the Lawrence
Berkeley Laboratory, CA, supported by DOE, stated, ``[i]n many cases
the test procedures do not reflect field usage[.]'' \12\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\12\ Jim Lutz, et al. How to make appliance standards work:
improving the energy and water efficiency test procedures, Ernest
Orlando Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory for Assistant
Secretary for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Office of
Building Technology, State and Community Programs, of the U.S.
Department of Energy, LBNL4961E at 1 (2010).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
These studies provide clear evidence that when refrigerator doors
are opened infrequently, the AHAM procedures using 90[deg]F as the
ambient temperature will overstate energy consumption.
Most of these studies were done on typical household refrigerator-
freezers. FSI found no comparable data for compact refrigerators or,
more specifically, on any of the type of products for which a waiver is
sought in this petition. Indeed, DOE's own Technical Support Document,
acknowledged that:
``DOE found no data on the typical field energy consumption of
compact refrigeration products. It therefore assumed that the
average field energy use of compact refrigerators and freezers of a
given size the same as the maximum energy use allowed by the DOE
standard as measured in the DOE test procedure. In effect, DOE
assumed that variation in the field energy use of compact appliances
is a function solely of volume.'' \13\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\13\ U.S. Dept. of Energy, Preliminary Technical Support
Document: Energy Efficiency Program for Consumer Products:
Refrigerators, Refrigerator-Freezers, and Freezers at 7-38 (Nov.
2009), available at: https://www1.eere.energy.gov/buildings/appliance_standards/residential/pdfs/ref_frz_prenopr_prelim_tsd.pdf.
The approximation ignores the significantly important variable of
the number of door openings and closings which greatly differs between
a full size refrigerator used by a family and a specialty compact
refrigerator used in a secondary application.
FSI performed tests on four representative models of refrigerators
and beer dispensers., running tests at average 72[deg]F (room)
temperature and at 90[deg]F. For one set of tests FSI opened and closed
the doors of each unit six times per test, which exceeds the frequency
of typical door openings and closings for these models. The second set
of tests was conducted with doors remaining closed throughout the test.
These tests consistently showed that all units at average 72[deg]F
(room temperature) used over 40% less energy than when run at 90[deg]F.
The tests with doors closed had a weighted average of 48% lower energy
consumption than at 90[deg]F, and tests with door openings had a
weighted average of 46% lower energy consumption. Door openings
consistent with actual use, or tests without door openings, did not
change the overall results or the conclusions.
A summary of this data is presented in the following tables.
Table 1--Tests With Appropriate Door Openings and Closings
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Energy use at ambient
------------------------- Percent
Type No. tests Energy use at 90[deg]F With doors opened/ decrease
closed
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Beer Dispenser...................... 2 1.16 kWh/day........... 0.68 kWh/day........... 41
Hotel Refrigerator.................. 4 1.04 kWh/day........... 0.59 kWh/day........... 43
Assisted Living Unit 1.............. 3 0.91 kWh/day........... 0.51 kWh/day........... 44
Assisted Living Unit 2.............. 6 1.10 kWh/day........... 0.55 kWh/day........... 50
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Table 2--Tests With Doors Closed
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Energy use at ambient
Type No. tests Energy use at 90[deg]F ------------------------- Percent
kWh/day (no door openings) decrease
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Beer Dispenser...................... 6 1.16 kWh/day........... 0.65 kWh/day........... 44
Hotel Refrigerator.................. 5 1.04 kWh/day........... 0.55 kWh/day........... 47
Assisted Living Unit 1.............. 6 0.91 kWh/day........... 0.49 kWh/day........... 46
Assisted Living Unit 2.............. 8 1.10 kWh/day........... 0.52 kWh/day........... 53
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Discussion of Door Openings and Closings for the Models in This Waiver
Petition
The units in this waiver application do not conform to the same
usage as typical household full-size refrigerators: the doors on all of
these basic units are opened and closed significantly less frequently
than typical household refrigeration equipment. The units in this
waiver petition also differ from the majority of compact refrigerator-
freezers sold for dormitory or office use, which are typically shared
by a number of users.
1. Keg Beer Coolers [Models SBC590, SBC590OS, and SBC635M]
Beer coolers, by their nature, have their doors opened and closed
only when a keg needs to be changed. Depending on usage, this may be
once weekly, once monthly, or even less frequently. Beer in kegs is
always
[[Page 14691]]
provided in a chilled state, so in essence the beer cooler is not
working to bring contents to the design temperature, but is only
maintaining steady state conditions. The products in this waiver
petition do not have shelves and are designed to store beer kegs only.
Furthermore, use and care guides normally advise to turn off the
electricity to the beer cooler while changing the keg, for both safety
and energy conservation.
2. Assisted Living Refrigerators [Models ALBF44, ALBF68]
Refrigerators whose primary market is assisted living centers
generally do not serve as a primary refrigerator.\14\ These centers
typically provide residents with three full meals a day, along with
snacks during morning, afternoon, and evening activities. As such,
these units serve as secondary storage that is opened and closed less
frequently than primary household refrigerators. A limited survey of
residents in two of these facilities done by FSI employees showed that
fresh food doors were opened an average of 4 times daily, and freezer
doors less than once. The refrigerators sold by FSI that are used in
these assisted living studio apartments also differ from typical
household or dormitory type refrigerators in design. They are usually
frost free or partial automatic defrost for the convenience of an
elderly population (compared to typical ``dormitory'' refrigerators
that are usually manual defrost). Moreover, they are usually only 4 to
6 cubic feet compared to the 15 to 25 cubic feet typically found in
homes or apartments.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\14\ Assisted living facilities generally include meals as a
standard feature. See e.g. Sunrise Senior Living, Assisted Living
available at: https://www.sunriseseniorliving.com/care-and-services/assisted-living.aspx (``While services and amenities may very by
location, Sunrise assisted senior living communities generally
provide . . . [t]hree delicious, well-balanced meals served
daily[.]''); Friendship Assisted Living, Amenities available at:
https://friendship.us/assisted-living/amenities-2/ (``Restaurant-
style dining is available for three meals everyday[.]'');
HelpGuide.org, Assisted Living Facilities, available at: https://www.helpguide.org/elder/assisted_living_facilities.htm (showing
that assisted living facilities typically provide three meals a
day).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
3. Ultra-Compact Hotel Refrigerators [Models HTL2 and HTL3]
FSI's proprietary ultra-compact refrigerators (with compressors)
for hotel rooms are planned for introduction in early 2014 and are
designed for guest convenience.\15\ These refrigerators are priced at a
premium, very compact, and normally would be marketed only to upscale
hotels. FSI estimates that guests will open and close the door to these
units infrequently, if at all, since hotel rooms are generally occupied
primarily during sleeping hours and meals are ordinarily eaten outside
the room, or delivered by room service.\16\ In addition, these units
will not be in use when the hotel rooms are vacant.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\15\ Full size refrigerators used in hotel suites with
kitchenettes or extended stay hotels are not part of the waiver
application.
\16\ See American Hotel & Lodging Association, Eco-Friendly Case
Studies, available at: https://www.ahla.com/Green.aspx?id=21756 (The
Radisson Hotel Cleveland decided to unplug hotel room mini-
refrigerators because ``a majority of hotel guests did not use them
during their stay.'').
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
As demonstrated above, testing the basic models in this waiver
petition under the current and proposed test procedures would produce
results that are ``unrepresentative of its true energy consumption
characteristics . . . as to provide materially inaccurate comparative
data.'' 10 C.F.R. Sec. 430.27.
Based on the information presented, FSI proposes the following
modifications be made to the DOE test procedures for the models named
in this petition:
1. Beer dispensers (Models SBC590, SBC590OS and SBC635M); be tested
at an ambient temperature of 70[deg]F (per DOE's estimate of
approximately 70[deg]F as typical room-temperature) with the doors
closed;
2. Hotel and assisting living refrigerators (Models ALBF44, ALBF68,
ALBF68, HTL2 and HTL3) be tested at 72[deg]F to account for the very
small number of daily door openings (where 2[deg]F is 10% of the
difference between 70[deg]F and 90[deg]F and door openings of these
products groups are no more than 10% of the typical household
refrigerators);
3. The units be tested for 24 continuous hours after stabilization
to account for any timers used in the assisted living and hotel
refrigerators; and
4. All other test procedures are conducted in accordance with AHAM
and DOE test procedures for residential refrigerators.
Additional Reasons in Support of Granting This Waiver
FSI targets niche markets with many models, including those
referenced herein, where the overall sales volume is too limited to
appeal to manufacturers driven by mass production and economies of
scale. In some cases, not allowing products that address certain size
or use needs to market will have the unintended consequences of
substantially reducing consumer choice and driving energy consumption
up through a switch to larger models.
For example, in the case of the assisted living markets,
withdrawing specialty products from this small, niche market may force
facilities to purchase larger refrigerators than necessary, increasing
overall energy usage. The convenience and accessibility of these
compact products is often more appropriate for assisted living
residents. If suitably sized products are not available, facilities
might be forced to remodel a kitchenette when a refrigerator needs
replacing.
In the case of the hotel industry, hotels (excluding extended stay
hotels or suite type hotels) often use refrigerators that are driven by
an absorption cooling system or by a thermoelectric cooling system
(also called heat pipe systems). These cooling systems use
significantly more energy than compressor systems, but are chosen by
hotels for their low noise levels. It is important to note that these
basic units may not be covered products for DOE because their design
does not always allow them to reach the 39[deg]F threshold and,
therefore, may not be considered a refrigerator per the statutory
definition. [See 10 C.F.C. Sec. 430.2 (defining an electric
refrigerator as ``a cabinet designed for the refrigerated storage of
food, designed to be capable of achieving storage temperatures above
32[deg]F (0[deg]C) and below 39[deg]F (3.9[deg]C), and having a source
of refrigeration requiring single phase, alternating current electric
energy input only.'')]. Consequently, by excluding FSI compressor
models from competing in this market, hotels will use models with
absorption or thermoelectric systems which use substantially more
energy than the excluded products.
Economic Burden of the Regulations on Small Business in General and FSI
in Particular
Failure to grant these basic models waivers from test procedures
would have severe economic consequences for FSI.
Very large, multi-national corporations dominate the appliance
market, led by Whirlpool and General Electric, whose sales are in the
billions of dollars. Foreign companies with appliance sales in the
billions of dollars and with a large U.S. presence include Electrolux
(Frigidaire), LG, Samsung, Daiwoo, Bosch, Liebherr, Miele, AGA-Marvel,
Bertazoni, Smeg, Haier, and Midea. FSI cannot compete with these
companies' mass markets, with huge economies of scale on production,
and distribution and insignificant compliance testing costs. FSI
predominantly markets specialty
[[Page 14692]]
appliances that respond to niche market demands and customer choice.
In response to DOE 2014 test procedures, FSI is working very hard
to modify the vast majority of its residential refrigerator and freezer
product line to comply with the new procedures. But in a number of
niche markets with very small sales, the feasibility and costs of
compliance are highly disproportionate for FSI to make a business case
and will not result in energy savings. This results in an undue burden
on FSI, for which these niche products form the nucleus of FSI's
manufacturing operations and are the driver of job creation in
disadvantaged economic development areas. Unlike the large companies
mentioned above who can spread the cost of meeting current DOE and
upcoming DOE 2014 standards and, in particular, test procedures over a
base of millions, hundreds of thousands, or tens of thousands of units,
a small business like FSI does not have this option.
DOE has acknowledged the difficulties faced by both small
manufacturers and the compact refrigeration industry dealing with
standards. FSI falls into both categories and 90% of FSI's
refrigeration business is restricted to compact classes. DOE reports
that compact appliances only account for 2.5% of total energy consumed
by all refrigeration products.\17\ FSI's assumption is that at least
75% of that small number is consumed by college dormitory/office type
products, meaning that less than 1% of total refrigeration energy use
is consumed by ``specialty'' compact appliances, such as those listed
in this petition. FSI's market share even in these small niche markets
is quite limited. The appliances in this waiver application are a
negligible part of that tiny subset and any energy consumption impacts
from this waiver are highly de minimis at most. DOE recognizes the
limited options available to compact appliance manufacturers,
``[b]ecause of small production volumes, the impact of new standards on
these manufacturers is relatively severe.'' \18\ This is especially
true ahead of DOE 2014 requirements, which mandate a 20% reduction of
usage and few affordable alternatives for reducing energy consumption
in niche appliances that meet consumer demand.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\17\ See Federal Register Vol. 62 No. 81, Page 23111, April 28,
1997.
\18\ Id.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Conclusions
The waiver process clearly is intended for situations where test
procedures do not provide an accurate representation of actual energy
consumption. FSI has demonstrated that the test procedures specified by
DOE do not provide representative measure of the basic models in this
waiver application, whose doors are opened and closed significantly
less than typical household use.
FSI has demonstrated that:
The use of 90[deg]F is designed to simulate an average of
40 to 50 door openings per day and, even at that level, may overstate
energy usage;
The models listed in this waiver application have their
doors opened and closed infrequently, and certainly significantly less
than the simulation average;
An alternate test procedure is readily available
consisting of testing the products at 70[deg]F or 72[deg]F, over a 24
hour period, and holding all other test procedures in accordance with
AHAM Procedures and 10 CFR Sec. 430, Subpart B, Appendix A and
Appendix A1.
Failure to grant this waiver will cause severe economic
hardship to FSI, a small business, and likely will cause switch to
higher energy consuming replacement products.
FSI respectfully requests DOE waive the test procedures for the
products listed in the petition as these ``test procedures may evaluate
[these product] . . . in a manner so unrepresentative of [their] true
energy consumption characteristics . . . as to provide materially
inaccurate comparative data.'' 10 C.F.R. Sec. 430.27. All of these
basic units have materially different uses than the average products
subject to the test procedures. The proposed alternative procedures
will provide an accurate representation of actual energy use. For these
reasons, FSI respectfully requests that DOE substitute our proposed
test procedures and waive the test procedures at 10 CFR Sec. 430,
Subpart B, Appendix A for FSI's beer coolers, assisted living
refrigerator-freezers and hotel refrigerators.
Respectfully submitted,
Paul Storch, President
Summit Appliance Div. Felix Storch, Inc.
770 Garrison Ave. Bronx, NY 10474 USA
PH. 718-893-3900
FAX: 718-842-3093
Attachment A
Companies with Products Similar to FSI
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Automatic defrost or frost free beer
coolers (excluding beer coolers that Refrigerators designed specifically for 4 to 6 c.f. frost-free
convert into refrigerators) hotels refrigerators
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Nostalgia Products Group LLC Minibar North America Avanti Products
1471 Partnership Dr 7340 Westmore Road 10880 NW 30th Street
Green Bay, WI 54304-5685 Rockville, MD 20850 Miami, FL 33172
Sears Dometic Corporation Absocold Corporation.
5333 Beverly Road 13128 State Rt 226 1122 NW T Street
Hoffman Estates, IL 60192 Big Prairie, OH 44611 Richmond, IN 47374
Avanti Products ........................................ ...........................
10880 NW 30th Street ........................................ ...........................
Miami, FL 33172 ........................................ ...........................
Fisher & Paykel Appliance USA ........................................ ...........................
Holdings Inc. ........................................ ...........................
5900 Skylab Rd ........................................ ...........................
Huntington Beach, CA 92647 USA ........................................ ...........................
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
December 12, 2013
Dr. David Danielson
Assistant Secretary
Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy
U.S. Department of Energy
1000 Independence Ave., SW
Washington, DC 20585
[[Page 14693]]
Re: Application for Interim Waiver pursuant to 10 C.F.R. Sec. 431.401
for basic Summit models:
Keg Beer Coolers (Models SBC590, SBC590OS, and SBC635M)
Assisted Living Refrigerator-freezers (Models ALBF44,
ALBF68)
Hotel Refrigerators (Models HTL2 and HTL3)
Felix Storch, Inc. (FSI) through this Application for Interim
Waiver will demonstrate likely success of the petition for waiver and
address what economic hardship and/or competitive disadvantage is
likely to result, absent a favorable determination on the Application
for Interim Waiver.
This application for interim waiver applies to the following
models:
Keg Beer Coolers (Models SBC590, SBC590OS, and SBC635M)
Assisted Living Refrigerator-freezers (Models ALBF44,
ALBF68)
Hotel Refrigerators (Models HTL2 and HTL3)
Jointly, these models are referred to throughout as
`refrigerators'. Further information to support this application is
contained in the Petition for Waiver filed simultaneously to this
application.
Confidential Business information:
Felix Storch, Inc. is not asking for any part of this interim
waiver request to be redacted.
Likelihood of Success on the Merits
FSI markets a wide range of refrigeration equipment for sale into
specialty and niche markets. These refrigerators need to comply with
energy efficiency standards issued and enforced by the Department of
Energy (DOE). DOE relies on a single test procedure for all residential
refrigerators and freezers. While the test procedure will change
slightly on Sept. 15, 2014, the basic method of conducting the test
will remain unchanged. FSI can conclusively demonstrate that for the
specific products in this waiver petition, both test procedures are
``so unrepresentative of its true energy consumption characteristics .
. . as to provide materially inaccurate comparative data.'' See 10 CFR
Sec. 430, subpart B, appendix A1, and 10 CFR Sec. 430, subpart B,
appendix A.
These test procedures will result in reported energy usage that is
substantially higher than actual energy consumption and fail to
represent real world operating conditions. As such, we believe that it
is highly likely that we will succeed on the merits of the waiver
petition. The products listed above meet DOE's intent in creating the
waiver petition process and the criteria for establishing test
procedures that enable DOE to evaluate products in a manner
representative of true energy consumption and provide for accurate
comparative data. FSI's approach to developing more representative test
procedures is supported throughout the studies cited in the waiver
petition and FSI in-situ testing.
Need for an interim waiver
The residential appliance business is a highly competitive
business. Companies that specialize in niche products with low annual
sales, cumulative and for any given product, inherently have higher
unit costs for a number of reasons, including:
The cost of manufacturing the product is high, and there
is less efficiency of scale;
The cost of marketing and distributing niche products is
higher than mass market products;
Small companies have to divide fixed overhead by
relatively low unit sales.
This is exacerbated by the costs to register and comply with energy
efficiency standards. When divided over only dozens or hundreds of
units sold annually, testing costs can add 5% to 25% or more to a
product's selling price, and could be the determinative factor between
profit and loss. As a consequence, it is vitally important that energy
testing be done in a manner that is representative of actual energy
consumption and does not unduly drive up the costs to comply with
standards that provide inaccurate test measurements.
All of the products in this interim waiver application are compact
refrigeration equipment. Compact refrigerators are primarily designed
for situations where there are space limitations (either height or
width or depth or a combination). As such, compact appliances do not
have the options to decrease energy consumption by increasing the
dimensions and adding additional insulating material. Compact
appliances also have far more design limitations on the size and
placement of components such as evaporators, condensers, compressors
and fans because there are much smaller areas to work in.
Failure to obtain an interim waiver in a timely manner will create
severe economic hardship to FSI. Products in this waiver request will
all serve markets that have fewer choices than mainstream markets,
which all offer increased consumer choice. None of the subject products
are the most common `dormitory' or office type compact refrigerators
sold through mass market retailers.\19\ Some of the products in this
waiver petition will serve markets where competitive products either
use technology that uses much more energy (yet are not considered
``covered'' products by DOE), or force customers to use larger
refrigerators than needed, which also may use more energy than needed.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\19\ It is important to note that the overwhelming majority of
compact appliances sold today fall into the categories of dormitory
type or office type refrigerator-freezers. Dorm and office
refrigerators are not the subject of this petition.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
FSI is developing new products that will have many benefits and
offer consumers more energy efficient choices, which will comply with
DOE standard in accordance with appropriate test procedures. Yet, these
products, when measured by the current and proposed DOE test
procedures, will not reflect their true energy consumption. There are
valid reasons why these specialty refrigerators will be used in a
completely different manner than the ``typical'' residential
refrigerator. When energy consumption is measured in a representative
manner, all are energy efficient and will comply with applicable DOE
standards. All will contribute to the value added manufacturing done in
our South Bronx facility. And all are intended to meet market demand in
very small markets, and offer consumers a more suitable alternative to
general purpose refrigerators. FSI has demonstrated that a single
change to the test procedure will produce representative data, and
allow FSI to market niche products that are the most suitable for some
consumer applications.
The new DOE residential standards that take effect Sept. 15, 2014
will force significant industry wide changes. Smaller companies such as
FSI will be the most adversely impacted as many products that cannot
meet the new standards will be withdrawn from the market. With many FSI
products only selling a few hundred units annually or even fewer, the
R&D and design changes needed to reduce energy consumption are cost
prohibitive. Without a stream of new products to hold revenue steady,
companies such as FSI will suffer severe revenue loss, employment loss
and are threatened.
The failure to issue this interim waiver will not only deprive FSI
of the revenue and gross profit from this group of products, but it
will weaken our competitive position in the marketplace. In the waiver
application, FSI identifies about a dozen major players in the
appliance marketplace we compete with, all of whom have over a billion
dollars in annual revenue. All but two
[[Page 14694]]
are foreign companies with large manufacturing operations. All, in
varying degrees, compete with FSI. On common products, FSI is at a huge
competitive disadvantage given all their economies of scale. FSI
competes successfully because our niche products allow us to be more
valuable to our resellers, and a certain amount of ``common'' products
are sold alongside. Absent the niche products, our commodity products
will suffer greatly as well.
As a consequence of these circumstances, FSI would suffer serious
economic hardship, and would be at a competitive disadvantage unless an
interim waiver is granted for the products in this petition.
Conclusion
FSI initiated a petition for waiver for the list of specialty
refrigerators that are designed to provide consumer choice in niche
markets. These products differ substantially in their use from typical
household or dormitory type refrigerators. The current test procedures
measure energy use in a manner that is so unrepresentative of these
products' true energy consumption that they provide materially
inaccurate comparative data. FSI respectfully requests that you grant
an interim waiver of the test procedures of 10 CFR Sec. 430, subpart
B, appendix A1 and the proposed 10 CFR Sec. 430, subpart B, appendix A
to the procedure outlined in our waiver request, so that it may avoid
severe economic hardship while DOE processes the petition.
Respectfully submitted,
Paul Storch
Summit Appliance Div. Felix Storch, Inc.
70 Garrison Ave. Bronx, NY 10474 USA
PH. 718-893-3900
FAX: 718-842-3093
Email: paul@summitappliance.com
December 17, 2013
Building Technologies Program
U.S. Department of Energy
Test Procedure Waiver
1000 Independence Ave., SW
Mailstop EE-2J
Washington, DC 20585-0121
RE: Petition for Waiver of Test Procedures proposed for September 15,
2014 (10 CFR Sec. 430, Subpart B, Appendix A) pursuant to 10 CFR.
Sec. 430.27(a)(1) for Summit brand appliances as follows:
Keg Beer Coolers (Models SBC490B and SBC570R);
Assisted Living Refrigerators (Models FF71TB, FF73, FF74,
AL650R, ALB651BR, AL652BR, ALB653BR, CT66RADA, CT67RADA, AL750R,
ALB751R, AL752BR, and ALB753LBR); and
Ultra-Compact, Hotel Refrigerators (Models FF28LH,
FF29BKH, FFAR21H, and FFAR2H).
Introduction
The Department of Energy (``DOE'') provides a waiver process for
refrigeration products when ``the prescribed [10 CFR Sec. 430, Subpart
B, Appendix A1 currently and the proposed 10 CFR Sec. 430, Subpart B,
Appendix A] test procedures may evaluate [a product] . . . in a manner
so unrepresentative of its true energy consumption characteristics . .
. as to provide materially inaccurate comparative data.'' 10 CFR Sec.
430.27. This petition seeks such a waiver for the above-referenced
products from 2014 and forward test procedures for residential
refrigerators provided in 10 CFR Sec. 430, Subpart B, Appendix A.
Felix Storch, Inc. (``FSI'') is a small business engaged in
importing, manufacturing, and distributing appliances to niche markets
in the household, commercial, hospitality, institutional and medical
community, as well as distributing household cooking and laundry
appliances. Located in the South Bronx, New York, FSI employs
approximately 150 individuals engaged in manufacturing, material
handling, trucking, engineering, marketing, sales, shipping, clerical
services and customer service. FSI, under the Summit brand name,
imports refrigeration products from a number of factories in Europe,
Mexico and Asia, as well as manufactures a number of products in New
York. A significant part of FSI's business is value-added manufacturing
conducted by FSI in its Bronx facility. Value-added manufacturing is
the process of adding or modifying components or finishes to existing
products in order to adapt these appliances for sale to special markets
where few or no suitable products exist. The above-referenced models
are all either built or modified in our Bronx facility.
DOE's test procedures are not appropriate for the above-referenced
models because they fail to accurately reflect the actual energy
consumption of the products during normal use. DOE test procedures for
residential refrigeration (both the procedures in effect currently and
the proposed procedures for 2014) require testing products at an
ambient temperature of 90[deg]F. DOE selected that temperature (as
opposed to a more normal 70[deg]F ambient) to simulate the effects of
door openings and closings; such actions are not performed during the
testing. See 10 CFR Sec. 430.23(a)(10) (The regulation explains,
``[t]he intent of the energy test procedure is to simulate typical room
conditions (approximately 70[deg]F (21[deg]C)) with door openings, by
testing at 90[deg]F (32.2[deg]C) without door openings.'').\20\
However, the above-listed FSI products will be sold for uses where door
openings and closings are highly infrequent.\21\ All these products
will consume far less energy during actual use than is measured by the
existing and proposed testing procedures.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\20\ See 10 CFR 10 CFR Sec. 430.23(a)(10) (identifying 70[deg]F
as being representative of typical room temperature).
\21\ It is important to note that the overwhelming majority of
compact appliances sold today fall into the categories of dormitory
type or office type refrigerator-freezers. FSI could not find
statistics on door openings for these products, but since these
types of units would be shared by multiple users, it is logical to
assume their use would be similar to conventional refrigerators, as
opposed to the special use models in this waiver petition.
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FSI seeks a waiver for the above-references products because:
(1) Test procedures do not provide a fair and accurate
representation of actual energy use;
(2) The market size for each of these products is quite small;
(3) The economic burden of complying with DOE standards in effect
today, and the proposed standards for 2014, would place an undue
economic burden on FSI;
(4) There is an easily substituted alternate test procedure for
these models;
(5) Withdrawing these products from the marketplace would greatly
limit consumer choice, adversely impact small business and, in some
cases, result in compelling customers to turn to larger or less energy
efficient products that increase overall energy consumption.
For these reasons, FSI respectfully requests a waiver, pursuant to
10 C.F.R. Sec. 430.27, of the test procedures for residential
refrigerators provided in 10 CFR Sec. 430, Subpart B, Appendix A.
1. Models for which a waiver is requested.
This waiver request applies to the following models:
Keg Beer Coolers (Models SBC490B; SBC570R);
Assisted Living Refrigerators: (Models FF71TB, FF73, FF74,
AL650R, ALB651BR, AL652BR, ALB653BR, CT66RADA, CT67RADA, AL750R,
ALB751R, AL752BR, and ALB753LBR);
Ultra-Compact, Hotel Refrigerators (Models FF28LH,
FF29BKH, FFAR21H, and FFAR2H).
All of these models are intended for uses distinct from the typical
household use whereby the doors on these products are seldom opened and
closed.
[[Page 14695]]
2. Manufacturers of other basic models marketed in the United
States are known by FSI to incorporate similar design characteristics.
Manufacturers of other basic models marketed in the United States
and known to FSI that incorporate similar design characteristics are
included in Attachment A.
3. Alternate test procedures are known to FSI to evaluate
accurately energy consumption of the listed basic models.
FSI has extensive data that demonstrates that a single change to
the test procedure will result in measuring energy consumption in a
manner far more representative of actual use.
Testing the basic models listed in this petition at an ambient
temperature of 70[deg]F or 72[deg]F, rather than 90[deg]F will measure
energy consumption in a manner significantly more representative of
actual use than using the DOE prescribed test procedures, both under
current standards and those proposed for implementation on September
15, 2014.
Background
DOE acknowledges in 10 CFR Sec. 430.23(a)(10) that ``[t]he intent
of the energy test procedure is to simulate typical room conditions
(approximately 70[deg]F (21[deg]C)) with door openings, by testing at
90[deg]F (32.2[deg]C) without door openings.''
DOE uses 90[deg]F as a surrogate for running tests at typical
ambient temperature to simulate the impact of opening and closing
refrigerator and freezer doors. This standard is incorporated into the
AHAM test procedures used by DOE in both the current standards and the
upcoming 2014 standards. This temperature selection is at least 30
years old and is referenced in ANSI-AHAM HRF-1 (1979).\22\
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\22\ American National Standard on Household Refrigerators and
Household Freezers, ANSI/AHAM HRF-1-1979 at 51-52, available at:
https://law.resource.org/pub/us/cfr/ibr/001/aham.HRF-1.1979.pdf.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Several studies have attempted to validate this information. For
example, one study showed that household refrigerators-freezers had a
median of 48 fresh-food door openings and 10 freezer door openings per
24 hours.\23\ A study based on this number of door openings concluded
that 90[deg]F overstated energy consumption by 8.3% to 15.9%.\24\
Several other studies corroborate these results.\25\ For example, a
study by the Florida Solar Energy Center measured door openings and
closings in two person households and found an average of 42 openings
per day. \26\
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\23\ See Danny S. Parker & Ted C. Stedman, Measured Electricity
Savings of Refrigerator Replacement: Case Study and Analysis,
Florida Solar Energy Center FSEC-PF-239-92 (1992) (citing Chang,
Y.L., and R.A. Grot. 1979. Field performance of residential
refrigerators and combination refrigerator-freezers. NBSIR 79-1781).
\24\ James Y. Kao & George E. Kelly, Factors Affecting the
Energy Consumption of Two Refrigerator-Freezers, SA-96-7-1 at 9
available at: https://fire.nist.gov/bfrlpubs/build96/PDF/b96070.pdf.
\25\ See e.g., NIST Study (citing Alan Meier and Richard Jansky,
Field Performance of Residential Refrigerators: A Comparison with
the Laboratory Test, LBL-31795 UC 150 (May 1991) available at:
https://www.osti.gov/scitech/servlets/purl/6142295; Meier, A., et al.
1993; The New York refrigerator monitoring project: final report.
Report No. LBL-33708. Berkeley, California: Lawrence Berkeley
Laboratory; KEMA-XENERGY, Inc., Final report measurement and
evaluation study of 2002 statewide residential appliance recycling
program, 8-1--8-8 (2004); Wong, M.T., W.R. Jones, B.T. Howell, and
D.L. Long. 1995. Energy consumption testing of innovative
refrigerator-freezer. ASHRAE Transactions 101(2).)
\26\ Danny S. Parker & Ted C. Stedman, Measured Electricity
Savings of Refrigerator Replacement: Case Study and Analysis,
Florida Solar Energy Center FSEC-PF-239-92 (1992).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
A National Institute of Standards (``NIST'') study, commissioned by
DOE, also demonstrated that when testing is performed at 90[deg]F, as
little as a 2 degree difference in ambient temperature can result in a
dramatic difference in measured energy consumption.\27\ Alan Meier, an
associate American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-
Conditioning Engineers (``ASHRAE'') member, conducted a more exhaustive
study of this correlation and found that for two groups of
refrigerators extensively monitored, actual energy use averaged 13% and
15% less than the results from the yellow Energy Guide (which is based
on AHAM procedures).\28\ Mr. Meier reported that families typically
open and close the doors of their refrigerators an average of 50 times
daily. The study observed, ``[r]elatively modest ambient temperature
variations led to 50% changes in energy use.''
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\27\ David A. Yashar, Repeatability of Energy Consumption Test
Results for Compact Refrigerators, U.S. Dept. of Commerce,
Technology Administration National Institute of Standards and
Technology at 7-8, 14 (September 2002), available at: https://fire.nist.gov/bfrlpubs/build00/PDF/b00055.pdf.
\28\ Alan K. Meier, Field performance of residential
refrigerators, ASHRAE Journal 36-40 (August 1999).
Another study by P.K. Bansal, also an ASHRAE member, states that,
Elevated ambient temperatures used in most test procedures crudely
simulate the heat loads from door openings. . . . This process fails
to produce satisfactory results that could be representative of an
in-situ real world refrigerator performance \29\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\29\ P.K. Bansal, Studies on algorithm development for energy
performance testing: study 2--study of algorithms for domestic
refrigeration appliances, APEC201-RE-01.11 at 19 (2001).
Even a 2010 study by the Energy Analysis Department of the Lawrence
Berkeley Laboratory, CA, supported by DOE, stated, ``[i]n many cases
the test procedures do not reflect field usage[.]'' \30\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\30\ Jim Lutz, et al. How to make appliance standards work:
improving the energy and water efficiency test procedures, Ernest
Orlando Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory for Assistant
Secretary for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Office of
Building Technology, State and Community Programs, of the U.S.
Department of Energy, LBNL4961E at 1 (2010).
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These studies provide clear evidence that when refrigerator doors
are opened infrequently, the AHAM procedures using 90[deg]F as the
ambient temperature will overstate energy consumption.
All of these studies were done on typical household refrigerator-
freezers. FSI found no comparable data for compact refrigerators or,
more specifically, on any of the type of products for which a waiver is
sought in this petition. Indeed, DOE's own Technical Support Document,
acknowledged that:
``DOE found no data on the typical field energy consumption of
compact refrigeration products. It therefore assumed that the
average field energy use of compact refrigerators and freezers of a
given size is the same as the maximum energy use allowed by the DOE
standard as measured in the DOE test procedure. In effect, DOE
assumed that variation in the field energy use of compact appliances
is a function solely of volume''.\31\
\31\ U.S. Dept. of Energy, Preliminary Technical Support
Document: Energy Efficiency Program for Consumer Products:
Refrigerators, Refrigerator-Freezers, and Freezers at 7-38 (Nov.
2009), available at: https://www1.eere.energy.gov/buildings/appliance_standards/residential/pdfs/ref_frz_prenopr_prelim_tsd.pdf .
The approximation ignores the significantly important variable of
the number of door openings and closings which greatly differs between
a full size refrigerator used by a family and a specialty compact
refrigerator used in a secondary application.
FSI performed tests on four representative models of refrigerators
and beer dispensers, running tests at average 72[deg]F (room)
temperature and at 90[deg]F. For one set of tests FSI opened and closed
the doors of each unit six times per test, which exceeds the frequency
of typical door openings and closings for these models. The second set
of tests was conducted with doors remaining closed throughout the test.
These tests consistently showed that all units at average 72[deg]F
(room temperature) used over 40% less energy than when run at 90[deg]F.
The tests with doors closed had a weighted average of 48% lower energy
consumption than at
[[Page 14696]]
90[deg]F, and tests with door openings had a weighted average of 46%
lower energy consumption. Door openings consistent with actual use, or
tests without door openings, did not change the overall results or the
conclusions.
A summary of this data is presented in the following tables.
Table 1--Tests With Appropriate Door Openings and Closings
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Energy use at ambient
------------------------- Percent
Type No. tests Energy use at 90[deg]F With doors opened/ decrease
closed
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Beer Dispenser...................... 2 1.16 kWh/day........... 0.68 kWh/day........... 41
Hotel Refrigerator.................. 4 1.04 kWh/day........... 0.59 kWh/day........... 43
Assisted Living Unit 1.............. 3 0.91 kWh/day........... 0.51 kWh/day........... 44
Assisted Living Unit 2.............. 6 1.10 kWh/day........... 0.55 kWh/day........... 50
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Table 2--Tests With Doors Closed
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Energy use at ambient
Type No. tests Energy use at 90[deg]F ------------------------- Percent
kWh/day (no door openings) decrease
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Beer Dispenser...................... 6 1.16 kWh/day........... 0.65 kWh/day........... 44
Hotel Refrigerator.................. 5 1.04 kWh/day........... 0.55 kWh/day........... 47
Assisted Living Unit 1.............. 6 0.91 kWh/day........... 0.49 kWh/day........... 46
Assisted Living Unit 2.............. 8 1.10 kWh/day........... 0.52 kWh/day........... 53
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Discussion of Door Openings and Closings for the Models in This Waiver
Petition
The units in this waiver application do not conform to the same
usage as typical household full-size refrigerators: The doors on all of
these basic units are opened and closed significantly less frequently
than typical household refrigeration equipment. The units in this
waiver petition also differ from the majority of compact refrigerator-
freezers sold for dormitory or office use, which are typically shared
by a number of users.
1. Keg Beer Coolers [Models SBC490B and SBC570R]
Beer coolers, by their nature, have their doors opened and closed
only when a keg needs to be changed. Depending on usage, this may be
once weekly, once monthly, or even less frequently. Beer in kegs is
always provided in a chilled state, so in essence the beer cooler is
not working to bring contents to the design temperature, but is only
maintaining steady state conditions. The products in this waiver
petition do not have shelves and are designed to store beer kegs only.
Furthermore, use and care guides normally advise to turn off the
electricity to the beer cooler while changing the keg, for both safety
and energy conservation.
2. Assisted Living Refrigerators [Models FF71TB, FF73, FF74, AL650R,
ALB651BR, AL652BR, ALB653BR, CT66RADA, CT67RADA, AL750R, ALB751R,
AL752BR, and ALB753LBR)]
Refrigerators whose primary market is assisted living centers
generally do not serve as a primary refrigerator.\32\ These centers
typically provide residents with three full meals a day, along with
snacks during morning, afternoon, and evening activities. As such,
these units serve as secondary storage that is opened and closed less
frequently than primary household refrigerators. A limited survey of
residents in two of these facilities done by FSI employees showed that
fresh food doors were opened an average of 4 times daily, and freezer
doors less than once. The refrigerators sold by FSI that are used in
these assisted living studio apartments also differ from typical
household or dormitory type refrigerators in design. They are usually
frost free or partial automatic defrost for the convenience of an
elderly population (compared to typical ``dormitory'' refrigerators
that are usually manual defrost). Moreover, they are usually only 4 to
6 cubic feet compared to the 15 to 25 cubic feet typically found in
homes or apartments.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\32\ Assisted living facilities generally include meals as a
standard feature. See e.g. Sunrise Senior Living, Assisted Living
available at: https://www.sunriseseniorliving.com/care-and-services/assisted-living.aspx (``While services and amenities may vary by
location, Sunrise assisted senior living communities generally
provide . . . [t]hree delicious, well-balanced meals served
daily[.]''); Friendship Assisted Living, Amenities available at:
https://friendship.us/assisted-living/amenities-2/ (``Restaurant-
style dining is available for three meals every day[.]'');
HelpGuide.org, Assisted Living Facilities, available at: https://www.helpguide.org/elder/assisted_living_facilities.htm (showing
that assisted living facilities typically provide three meals a
day).
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3. Ultra-Compact Hotel Refrigerators [Models FF28LH, FF29BKH, FFAR21H,
and FFAR2H]
FSI's proprietary ultra-compact refrigerators (with compressors)
for hotel rooms are planned for introduction in early 2014 and are
designed for guest convenience.\33\ These refrigerators are priced at a
premium, very compact, and normally would be marketed only to upscale
hotels. FSI estimates that guests will open and close the door to these
units infrequently, if at all, since hotel rooms are generally occupied
primarily during sleeping hours and meals are ordinarily eaten outside
the room, or delivered by room service.\34\ In addition, these units
will not be in use when the hotel rooms are vacant.
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\33\ Full size refrigerators used in hotel suites with
kitchenettes or extended stay hotels are not part of the waiver
application.
\34\ See American Hotel & Lodging Association, Eco-Friendly Case
Studies, available at: https://www.ahla.com/Green.aspx?id=21756 (The
Radisson Hotel Cleveland decided to unplug hotel room mini-
refrigerators because ``a majority of hotel guests did not use them
during their stay.'').
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As demonstrated above, testing the basic models in this waiver
petition under the current and proposed test procedures would produce
results that are ``unrepresentative of its true energy consumption
characteristics . . . as to provide materially inaccurate comparative
data.'' 10 CFR Sec. 430.27.
Based on the information presented, FSI proposes the following
modifications be made to the DOE test
[[Page 14697]]
procedures for the models named in this petition:
1. Beer dispensers (Models SBC490B and SBC570R); be tested at an
ambient temperature of 70[deg]F (per DOE's estimate of approximately
70[deg]F as typical room-temperature) with the doors closed;
2. Hotel and assisting living refrigerators (Models FF71TB, FF73,
FF74, AL650R, ALB651BR, AL652BR, ALB653BR, CT66RADA, CT67RADA, AL750R,
ALB751R, AL752BR, ALB753LBR. FF28LH, FF29BKH, FFAR21H, and FFAR2H) be
tested at 72[deg]F to account for the very small number of daily door
openings (where 2[deg]F is 10% of the difference between 70[deg]F and
90[deg]F and door openings of these products groups are no more than
10% of the typical household refrigerators);
3. The units be tested for 24 continuous hours after stabilization
to account for any timers used in the assisted living and hotel
refrigerators; and
4. All other test procedures be conducted in accordance with AHAM
and DOE test procedures for residential refrigerators.
Additional Arguments for Granting This Waiver
FSI targets niche markets with many models, including those
referenced herein, where the overall sales volume is too limited to
appeal to manufacturers driven by mass production and economies of
scale. In some cases, not allowing products that address certain size
or use needs to market will have the unintended consequences of
substantially reducing consumer choice and driving energy consumption
up through a switch to larger models.
For example, in the case of the assisted living markets,
withdrawing specialty products from this small, niche market may force
facilities to purchase larger refrigerators than necessary, increasing
overall energy usage. The convenience and accessibility of these
compact products is often more appropriate for assisted living
residents. If suitably sized products are not available, facilities
might be forced to remodel a kitchenette when a refrigerator needs
replacing.
In the case of the hotel industry, hotels (excluding extended stay
hotels or suite type hotels) often use refrigerators that are driven by
an absorption cooling system or by a thermoelectric cooling system
(also called heat pipe systems). These cooling systems use
significantly more energy than compressor systems, but are chosen by
hotels for their low noise levels. It is important to note that these
basic units may not be covered products for DOE because their design
does not always allow them to reach the 39[deg]F threshold and,
therefore, may not be considered a refrigerator per the statutory
definition. [See 10 CFC Sec. 430.2 (defining an electric refrigerator
as ``a cabinet designed for the refrigerated storage of food, designed
to be capable of achieving storage temperatures above 32[deg]F
(0[deg]C) and below 39[deg]F (3.9[deg]C), and having a source of
refrigeration requiring single phase, alternating current electric
energy input only.'')]. Consequently, by excluding FSI compressor
models from competing in this market, hotels will use models with
absorption or thermoelectric systems which use substantially more
energy than the excluded products.
Economic Burden of the Regulations on Small Business in General and FSI
in Particular
Failure to grant these basic models waivers from test procedures
would have severe economic consequences for FSI.
Very large, multi-national corporations dominate the appliance
market, led by Whirlpool and General Electric, whose sales are in the
billions of dollars. Foreign companies with appliance sales in the
billions of dollars and with a large U.S. presence include Electrolux
(Frigidaire), LG, Samsung, Daiwoo, Bosch, Liebherr, Miele, AGA-Marvel,
Bertazoni, Smeg, Haier, and Midea. FSI cannot compete with these
companies' mass markets, with huge economies of scale on production,
and distribution and insignificant compliance testing costs. FSI
predominantly markets specialty appliances that respond to niche market
demands and customer choice.
In response to DOE 2014 test procedures, FSI is working very hard
to modify the vast majority of its residential refrigerator and freezer
product line to comply with the new procedures. But in a number of
niche markets with very small sales, the feasibility and costs of
compliance are highly disproportionate for FSI to make a business case
and will not result in energy savings. This results in an undue burden
on FSI, for which these niche products form the nucleus of FSI's
manufacturing operations and are the driver of job creation in
disadvantaged economic development areas. Unlike the large companies
mentioned above who can spread the cost of meeting current DOE and
upcoming DOE 2014 standards and, in particular, test procedures over a
base of millions, hundreds of thousands, or tens of thousands of units,
a small business like FSI does not have this option.
DOE has acknowledged the difficulties faced by both small
manufacturers and the compact refrigeration industry dealing with
standards. FSI falls into both categories and 90% of FSI's
refrigeration business is restricted to compact classes. DOE reports
that compact appliances only account for 2.5% of total energy consumed
by all refrigeration products.\35\ FSI's assumption is that at least
75% of that small number is consumed by college dormitory/office type
products, meaning that less than 1% of total refrigeration energy use
is consumed by ``specialty'' compact appliances, such as those listed
in this petition. FSI's market share even in these small niche markets
is quite limited. The appliances in this waiver application are a
negligible part of that tiny subset and any energy consumption impacts
from this waiver are highly de minimis at most. DOE recognizes the
limited options available to compact appliance manufacturers,
``[b]ecause of small production volumes, the impact of new standards on
these manufacturers is relatively severe.''\36\ This is especially true
ahead of DOE 2014 requirements, which mandate a 20% reduction of usage
and few affordable alternatives for reducing energy consumption in
niche appliances that meet consumer demand.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\35\ See Federal Register Vol. 62 No. 81, Page 23111, April 28,
1997.
\36\ Id.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
FSI greatly appreciates DOE's prompt attention to this petition for
waiver, to allow for proper planning and avoiding additional,
unnecessary economic hardship and financial burdens on FSI. Design
changes to existing models and new product introductions routinely take
8 to 12 months for appliances. Without a prompt response to this
petition for waiver, FSI cannot effectively plan its product line in a
manner compliant with the new procedures and standards that take effect
on September 15, 2014. For a small business manufacturer such as FSI,
who specializes in niche product markets, uncertainty over test
procedures will cause unnecessary costs without delivering any energy
benefits or savings.
DOE in its guidance on waivers commits to act promptly on waiver
requests\37\.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\37\ GC Enforcement Guidance on the Application of Waivers and
on the Waiver Process Issued: December 23, 2010, see https://energy.gov/sites/prod/files/gcprod/documents/LargeCapacityRCW_guidance_122210.pdf
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
``First, the Department commits to act promptly on waiver requests
and to update
[[Page 14698]]
its test procedures to address granted waivers going forward.
Second, to prevent the administrative waiver process from delaying
or deterring the introduction of novel, innovative products into the
marketplace, the Department, as a matter of enforcement policy, will
refrain from enforcement actions related to pending waiver
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
requests''.
FSI appreciates DOE's recognition of the need to act promptly on
these waiver requests and hopes DOE will take such an approach in
responding to this petition in a manner that does not impose additional
economic burdens on FSI. The objective is to assure that all test
procedures result in representative indication of a product's true
energy consumption, without imposing unnecessary costs on small
business appliance manufacturers such as FSI.
Conclusions
The waiver process clearly is intended for situations where test
procedures do not provide an accurate representation of actual energy
consumption. FSI has demonstrated that the test procedures specified by
DOE do not provide representative measure of the basic models in this
waiver application, whose doors are opened and closed significantly
less than typical household use.
FSI has demonstrated that:
The use of 90[deg]F is designed to simulate an average of
40 to 50 door openings per day and, even at that level, may overstate
energy usage;
The models listed in this waiver application have their
doors opened and closed infrequently, and certainly significantly less
than the simulation average;
An alternate test procedure is readily available
consisting of testing the products at 70[deg]F or 72[deg]F, over a 24
hour period, and holding all other test procedures in accordance with
AHAM Procedures and 10 CFR Sec. 430, Subpart B, Appendix A;
Failure to grant this waiver will cause severe economic
hardship to FSI, and in some cases, will cause energy consumption to be
higher than if the waiver were granted.
FSI respectfully requests DOE waive the test procedures for the
products listed in the petition as these ``test procedures may evaluate
[these product] . . . in a manner so unrepresentative of [their] true
energy consumption characteristics . . . as to provide materially
inaccurate comparative data.'' 10 C.F.R. Sec. 430.27. All of these
basic units have materially different uses than the average products
subject to the test procedures. The proposed alternative procedures
will provide an accurate representation of actual energy use. For these
reasons, FSI respectfully requests that DOE substitute our proposed
test procedures and waive the test procedures at 10 CFR Sec. 430,
Subpart B, Appendix A for FSI's beer coolers, assisted living
refrigerator-freezers and hotel refrigerators.
Respectfully submitted,
Paul Storch, President
Summit Appliance Div. Felix Storch, Inc.
770 Garrison Ave. Bronx, NY 10474 USA
PH. 718-893-3900
FAX: 718-842-3093
[FR Doc. 2014-05778 Filed 3-14-14; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6450-01-P
