Department of Energy August 17, 2023 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) proposes to amend the Federal test procedures for air-cooled commercial package air conditioners and heat pumps with a rated cooling capacity greater than or equal to 65,000 Btu/h, evaporatively-cooled commercial package air conditioners, and water-cooled commercial package air conditioners to incorporate by reference the latest versions of the applicable industry test standards. Specifically, DOE proposes: to amend the current test procedure for this equipment for measuring the current cooling and heating metricsintegrated energy efficiency ratio (IEER) and coefficient of performance (COP), respectively; and to establish a new test procedure for this equipment that would adopt two new metrics integrated ventilation, economizer, and cooling (IVEC) and integrated ventilation and heating efficiency (IVHE). Testing to the IVEC and IVHE metrics would not be required until such time as compliance is required with any amended energy conservation standard based on the new metrics. Additionally, DOE proposes to amend certain provisions of DOE's regulations related to representations and enforcement for the subject equipment. DOE welcomes written comments from the public on any subject within the scope of this document (including topics not raised in this proposal), as well as the submission of data and other relevant information.