AGA Comments on the DOE RFI on Developing a National Definition for a Zero Emissions Building – Proposing No On-Site Emissions. As previously provided in the January 12, 2024 BECS Update on End Use Codes and Standards we reported that on January 2, 2024 the DOE’s Building Technologies Office (BTO) released a Request for Information (RFI) to “solicit feedback from industry, academia, research laboratories, government agencies, and other stakeholders on Part 1 of a draft National Definition for a Zero Emissions Building. As proposed, the definition in Part 1 of the RFI that includes, “Free of on-site emissions from energy use” is a major concern for natural gas applications. The RFI requested comments by this past Monday, February 5, 2024.  On January 19, 2024, AGA, APGA and NPGA filed a request for a 30-day extension for filing comments, but we did not receive a response from DOE.  To respond to the DOE request, AGA decided to submit the attached letter and answers to the questions in the RFI directly to the DOE Secretary of Energy Granholm and Jeff Marootian, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for EERE outlining the specific concerns with the proposal and to respond to the questions.  We believe that with the short comment period that DOE established on this extremely important action, that this would be the most effective way to express our concerns with this proposed definition.  We appreciate the feedback from BECS Committee members on the RFI and will report on DOE’s response when available.

DOE Issues Pre-publication of a Direct Final Rule for Consumer Cooking Products Including Gas Cooking Tops and Ovens.
On January 31, DOE issued via its webpage,  a Direct Final Rule on  Cooking Tops and also has posted a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NOPR) on cooktops as well. This tracks with DOE’s statutory authority on Direct Final Rules which requires the issuances of a NOPR with the Direct Final Rule (below). The official notification of this NOPR has not been issued by DOE in the Federal Register. Recall that in the September 15, 2023 BECS Committee Update on End Use Codes and Standards, we reported that the Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers (AHAM) announced an agreement on home appliance minimum efficiency home appliance standards including residential gas cooking products and clothes dryers, with the following groups: American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy, Alliance for Water Efficiency, Appliance Standards Awareness Project, Consumer Federation of America, Consumer Reports, Earthjustice, National Consumer Law Center, Natural Resources Defense Council, and Northwest Energy Efficiency Alliance. The minimum efficiency level for gas cooking tops proposed by DOE of 1770 kBtus/year is the same as the level recommended in the AHAM agreement with the environmental/conservation groups and is considerably less restrictive than the 1204 kBtus/year that DOE originally proposed in its February 1, 2023 ANOPR in the Federal Register Notice. ( AGA’s April 17, 2023 comments on the February 1, 2023 ANOPR are attached).   That minimum efficiency level would have severely impacted the availability of gas cooking tops that utilize “high intensity burners” that are prominent on commercial style residential gas cooking types. The proposed level of 1770 kBtus/year will permit the availability of the majority of gas cooking tops as standalone or as part of a complete range. But some BECS Committee members have questioned the benefit of requiring a minimum efficiency level on gas cooking tops at all based on the extremely low energy savings, if any and the added cost of compliance testing manufacturers will have to conduct annually, according to a sampling plan that will require a number of units be tested, record keeping, etc., whose cost to consumers would be added to the gas cooking tops being included in the final rule.  It has also been pointed out that there are no proposals to include a minimum efficiency requirement electric coil top cooking tops in the NOPR thus they would besides not be having to meet a minimum efficiency requirement, would not be subjected to compliance testing by manufacturers.  Additionally, there is a concern that DOE provides no clear, information on design options for gas cooking tops in the Technical Support Document (TSD) that provides the specific improvements that DOE applied to the gas cooking tops to attain the proposed minimum efficiency level. Note also that once this NOPR is published , if an adverse public comment(s) is filed the Secretary then decides if there is a reasonable basis for withdrawing the direct final rule under based on DOE’s criteria for prescribing new or amended standards under the 42 U.S.C. 6295(o) and 42 U.S.C. 6313(a)(6)(B), e.g., technologically feasible and economically justified. AGA staff is continuing its review of the NOPR and the TSD and request the BECS Committee also review the documents and provide us with feedback on the justification for the proposed minimum efficiency level for gas cooking tops. Finally, the AGA Press Release on the DOE Pre-publication NOPR can be viewed here.

Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC)  NOPR and Opportunity for Oral Presentations on a Proposed Safety Standard for Gas Furnaces and Boilers Scheduled for February 21 at 10 am EST.

Yesterday, the CPSC published at Federal Register Notice of proposed rulemaking and an opportunity for oral presentation. for interested parties to make oral presentations on the notice of proposed rulemaking (NPR) the Commission issued regarding a safety standard for residential gas furnaces and boilers. Presentations will be part of the rulemaking record. According to the notice, a ”hybrid hearing will be held in person at CPSC’s headquarters and remotely via webinar and will begin at 10 a.m. Eastern Standard Time (EST) on February 21, 2024. Recall that in the BECS Committee October 27, 2023 Update on End Use Codes and Standards, we reported that the CPSC published a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NOPR)  Federal Register Notice on a proposed safety standard for residential gas furnaces, boilers, wall furnaces and floor furnaces. 2024. The CPSC notice states that “This hearing will be held as a hybrid hearing—in person at CPSC’s headquarters and remotely via webinar. For individuals attending in person, the meeting will be held at CPSC’s headquarters, located at 4330 East West Highway, 4th Floor—Hearing Room, Bethesda, MD 20814. Individuals who plan to attend the meeting remotely should pre-register for the webinar at the CPSC site listed in the Federal Register notice.  The notice announcement also requires that “Requests to make oral presentations—in person or remotely—and the written text of any oral presentations must be received by the Office of the Secretary no later than 5 p.m. EST on February 14, 2024.” The CPSC docket for this NOPR can be found here and includes all the comments that have been submitted thus far on the proposal.

State Codes Activity Update.

Attached is a weekly feature of the “Friday Update” covering state code calendar activities as presented by the online utility “Fiscal Note,” which is sponsored by APGA and AGA Code and Standards. Please review the update and determine if there are state code activities that impact your service territory or organization.