Department of Energy December 13, 2019 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

On November 15, 2019, the U.S. Department of Energy (``DOE'') published a request for information (``RFI'') to solicit information from the public to help DOE determine whether amended standards for consumer refrigerators, refrigerator-freezers, and freezers would result in a significant amount of additional energy savings and whether those standards would be technologically feasible and economically justified. The November 15, 2019 RFI also stated that public comments will be accepted until December 30, 2019. On November 21, 2019, the DOE received a request from the Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers (AHAM) to extend the public comment period by 60 days. DOE has reviewed this request and will be granting a 45 day extinction of the public comment period to allow public comments to be summited until February 13, 2020.

This document announces receipt of and publishes a petition for waiver from GD Midea Air Conditioning Equipment Co. LTD. (``Midea''), which seeks an exemption from the U.S. Department of Energy (``DOE'') test procedure when determining the efficiency of listed room air conditioner basic models. Midea seeks to use an alternate test procedure to address issues involved in testing the basic models listed in its petition. According to Midea, the current DOE test procedure for room air conditioners, which provides for testing at full-load performance only, does not take into account the benefits of room air conditioners that use variable-speed compressors (``variable-speed room air conditioners''), with their part-load performance characteristics, and misrepresents their actual energy consumption. Midea requests that DOE permit Midea to test the basic models listed in its petition using the alternate test procedure in the interim waiver granted to LG Electronics USA, Inc. (``LG'') on June 29, 2018, which requires testing units at four rating conditions instead of a single rating condition and calculating each test unit's weighted- average combined energy efficiency ratio (``CEER''), which is compared to the expected performance of a theoretical comparable single-speed room air conditioner across the same four rating conditions. The measured performance of the variable-speed room air conditioner when tested under the high-temperature rating condition of the DOE test procedure for room air conditioners would be scaled by the same relative performance improvement to determine the test unit's final rated CEER value. DOE grants Midea an interim waiver from DOE's room air conditioner test procedure for the basic models listed in the Interim Waiver Order, subject to use of the alternate test procedure as set forth in the Interim Waiver Order. DOE solicits comments, data, and information concerning Midea's petition and its suggested alternate test procedure to inform its final decision on Midea's waiver request.