Department of Energy August 31, 2023 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Energy Policy and Conservation Act, as amended (EPCA), prescribes energy conservation standards for various consumer products and certain commercial and industrial equipment, including consumer boilers. DOE previously proposed amended energy conservation standards for consumer boilers in a notice of proposed rulemaking (NOPR) published in the Federal Register on August 14, 2023, which also announced a public meeting via webinar to receive input on these proposed standards and associated analyses and results. On August 15, 2023, DOE received a letter from the Air-Conditioning, Heating & Refrigeration Institute (AHRI) asking the Department to extend the NOPR comment period by 30 days and also to hold an in-person public meeting regarding the NOPR. In this document, DOE grants AHRI's request for an in-person meeting and announces that the public meeting will now be held in person, in addition to being broadcast as a webinar. DOE is denying AHRI's request for a comment period extension for the reasons explained in this document.

The U.S. Department of Energy (``DOE'') published a direct final rule to establish new energy conservation standards for air cleaners in the Federal Register on April 11, 2023. DOE has determined that the comments received in response to the direct final rule do not provide a reasonable basis for withdrawing the direct final rule. Therefore, DOE provides this document confirming adoption of the energy conservation standards established in the direct final rule and announcing the effective date of those standards.