Department of Energy January 2015 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Energy Policy and Conservation Act of 1975 (EPCA), as amended, prescribes energy conservation standards for various consumer products and certain commercial and industrial equipment, including several classes of commercial heating, air-conditioning, and water- heating equipment. EPCA also requires that each time the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) Standard 90.1 is amended with respect to the standard levels or design requirements applicable to that equipment, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) must adopt amended uniform national standards for this equipment equivalent to those in ASHRAE Standard 90.1, unless DOE determines that there is clear and convincing evidence showing that more-stringent, amended standards would be technologically feasible and economically justified, and would save a significant additional amount of energy. ASHRAE most recently amended Standard 90.1 on October 9, 2013. Based upon its analysis of the energy savings potential of amended energy conservation standards and the lack of clear and convincing evidence to support more-stringent standards, DOE is proposing to adopt the amended standards in ASHRAE Standard 90.1 for: Small three-phase commercial air-cooled air conditioners (single package only) and heat pumps (single package and split system) less than 65,000 Btu/h; water-source heat pumps; and commercial oil-fired storage water heaters. DOE is also making a proposed determination that the standards for small three-phase commercial air-cooled air conditioners (split system) do not need to be amended. Finally, DOE is proposing updates to the current Federal test procedures to incorporate by reference the most current version of the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) Z21.47, Gas-fired central furnaces, specified in ASHRAE Standard 90.1 applicable to commercial warm-air furnaces, and to the most current version of ASHRAE 103, Method of Testing for Annual Fuel Utilization Efficiency of Residential Central Furnaces and Boilers. This document also announces a public meeting to receive comment on these proposed standards and associated analyses and results, as well as the proposed test procedure provisions.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) proposes to clarify its energy conservation standards and test procedures for fluorescent lamp ballasts established under the Energy Policy and Conservation Act. DOE proposes to reorganize, reformat, correct, and clarify the scope of the energy conservation standards. In addition, DOE proposes to remove the outdated test procedure at Appendix Q and redesignate the current test procedure at Appendix Q1 as Appendix Q. DOE also proposes clarifications to supplement the test procedure setup at redesignated Appendix Q. Finally, DOE proposes to revise the laboratory accreditation language and provide clarification on the process for evaluating compliance with standards.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is revising its regulations governing DOE verification testing of industrial equipment covered by EPCA rated with alternative efficiency determination methods (AEDMs). These regulations arose from a negotiated rulemaking effort on issues regarding the certification of commercial heating, ventilating, air-conditioning (HVAC), water heating (WH), and refrigeration equipment.