Consumer Products Safety Commission (CPSC) Approves Request for Information (RFI) on Gas Stoves.

On Wednesday, the Consumer Products Safety Commission (CPSC) announced that it voted 3-1 in favor of approving publication of the attached draft notice of a request for information (RFI) on the purported hazards of gas stoves.  Comments will be due 60 days after the notice is published in the Federal Register that should be issued within the next few weeks. The RFI provides the following:

• Seeks input from the public on chronic chemical hazards from gas ranges. Note, chemical hazards result in acute (short-term) or chronic (long-term) adverse health outcomes resulting from exposures to chemical substances.
•  Does not constitute or propose regulatory action, but rather is intended to inform the Commission and the public.

AGA staff is reviewing the questions listed in the RFI and will provide an assessment of information that may be potential responses to the request but there are clearly questions that would not be within our area of expertise or familiarity to respond. BECS Committee members are requested to review the RFI and provide us with feedback on the questions and information CPSC is seeking. 

AGA Responds to the EPA Proposed ENERGY STAR NextGen Certification for Commercial Buildings Promotes that “Electrification”.

As reported in the February 10th Update, the EPA is  proposing an additional ESTAR certification, “NextGen” program  that is  over and above the existing ESTAR program.  It includes “incentivized electrification” as a core principle to “encourage buildings to transition to efficient electric-powered heating, water heating, and cooking”.  Yesterday, AGA filed timely and extensive comments (attached)  in response to the EPA request.  In our response we noted that a major problem with the proposed program is that it is focused on a “Direct Emissions Target”, that is, site emissions.  This is a major departure from sourcecalculations in the existing ESTAR Portfolio Manager that is the correct metric to use when assessing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. We noted that since EPA is attempting to address climate change,  “source emissions is the metric that needs to be used”.  We disagree with the move to site emissions justified by the EPA comment that using source emissions is “very complex”  and also “might discourage electrification” and urged the EPA to return to using “source energy”.  Thanks to BECS members who provided comments on the AGA draft response. We will provide the EPA response when available.