DOE Issues a Notice of Proposed Determination, Public Meeting and Request for Comment Pertaining to Standards for Commercial Warm Air Furnaces.
Yesterday, the DOE issued a pre-publication Federal Register notice pertaining to energy conservation standards for commercial warm air furnaces (CWAFs) that includes natural gas commercial warm air furnaces. . The Energy Policy and Conservation Act (EPCA), prescribes standards for various consumer products and certain commercial and industrial equipment, including CWAFs. EPCA also requires DOE to periodically review standards. In this notification of proposed determination (NOPD), DOE has initially determined that it lacks clear and convincing evidence that amended energy conservation standards for CWAFs would be economically justified.  DOE is requesting comments on this proposed determination and will accept comments, data, and information regarding this NOPD until 60 days after date of publication in the Federal Register. DOE will send a follow-up e-mail once the notice publishes to announce the closing date of the comment period. Stakeholders can  submit comments identified by docket number EERE-2019-BT-STD-0042, by email ([email protected]), Federal eRulemaking portal (http://www.regulations.gov).
DOE will hold a webinar on Tuesday, June, 7, 2022, from 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. Click here to register for the webinar. Additional webinar registration information, participant instructions, and information about the capabilities available to webinar participants will be published on DOE’s website: https://energy.gov/eere/buildings/public-meetings-and-comment-deadlines . You can find product information for Commercial Warm Air Furnaces including current standards and test procedures, statutory authority, waivers, exceptions and contact information. AGA BECS staff will be reviewing the proposal and request BECS members to also do so on gas commercial warm air furnaces and we will include the item on the agenda for the May 11-12, 2022 BECS meeting in Salt Lake City. While the DOE is not proposing any changes to the current requirements for gas fired CWAF’s,  it is anticipated that other stakeholders will seek and recommend increases to the current requirements so its important to continue monitoring this proposal and to be prepared to address those proposals. One concern with the proposal is the DOE is shortening the public comment period from a require 75 days to 60 days despite the requirement that “Section 6(f)(2) of appendix A specifies that the length of the public comment period for a NOPR will not be less than 75 days. For this proposed determination, DOE has opted to instead provide a 60-day comment period.” This can set a precedent for future rulemakings and should be challenges.
Reminder of the Upcoming Building Energy Codes and Standards Committee (BECS) Committee Meeting on May 11-12, 2022 in Salt Lake City, UT.
As a reminder, the AGA BECS Committee is meeting on May 11-12, 2022, in Salt Lake City, UT.  There is no registration fee for this meeting, however registration is required.  Additional, detailed information including the comprehensive agenda is attached. Note that the agenda may be modified based on recommendations by the BECS Executive Committee but the timeframe for the meeting will remain the same.   For meeting registration click here: BECS Committee Meeting .
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.