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khammond on DSKJM1Z7X2PROD with PROPOSALS3

Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 127 / Wednesday, July 7, 2021 / Proposed Rules efficiency, energy use, or estimated annual operating cost of covered equipment during a representative average use cycle and requires that test procedures not be unduly burdensome to conduct. 42 U.S.C. 6314a2
EPCA requires that the test procedures for commercial package air conditioning and heating equipment be those generally accepted industry testing procedures or rating procedures developed or recognized by the AirConditioning, Heating, and Refrigeration Institute AHRI or by the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers ASHRAE, as referenced in ASHRAE Standard 90.1, Energy Standard for Buildings Except Low-Rise Residential Buildings ASHRAE Standard 90.1. 42 U.S.C.
6314a4A Further, if such an industry test procedure is amended, DOE must update its test procedure to be consistent with the amended industry test procedure, unless DOE
determines, by rule published in the Federal Register and supported by clear and convincing evidence, that such amended test procedure would not meet the requirements in 42 U.S.C. 6314a2
and 3, related to representative use and test burden. 42 U.S.C.
6314a4B
EPCA also requires that, at least once every seven years, DOE evaluate test procedures for each type of covered equipment, including commercial package air conditioning and heating equipment to determine whether amended test procedures would more accurately or fully comply with the requirements for the test procedures not to be unduly burdensome to conduct and be reasonably designed to produce test results that reflect energy efficiency, energy use, and estimated operating costs during a representative average use cycle. 42 U.S.C. 6314a13 In addition, if DOE determines that a test procedure amendment is warranted, it must publish proposed test procedures in the Federal Register and afford interested persons an opportunity of not less than 45 days duration to present oral and written data, views, and arguments on the proposed test procedures. 42 U.S.C. 6314b If DOE
determines that test procedure revisions are not appropriate, DOE must publish in the Federal Register its determination not to amend the test procedures. 42 U.S.C. 6314a1Aii A test procedure for a subset of DX
DOASes i.e., DDXDOASes, was first specified by ASHRAE Standard 90.1 in the 2016 edition ASHRAE Standard 90.12016. Pursuant to 42 U.S.C.
6314a4B, and following updates to the relevant test procedures which were
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referenced in ASHRAE Standard 90.1, DOE is publishing this NOPR proposing to establish a test procedure for DDX
DOASes in satisfaction of its aforementioned obligations under EPCA.
3. Description and Estimate of Small Entities Regulated For manufacturers of small, large, and very large air-conditioning and heating equipment including DDXDOASes, commercial warm-air furnaces, and commercial water heaters, the Small Business Administration SBA has set a size threshold which defines those entities classified as small businesses for the purposes of the statute. DOE
used the SBAs small business size standards to determine whether any small entities would be subject to the requirements of this rule. See 13 CFR
part 121. The equipment covered by this rule are classified under North American Industry Classification System NAICS code 333415,37 AirConditioning and Warm Air Heating Equipment and Commercial and Industrial Refrigeration Equipment Manufacturing. In 13 CFR 121.201, the SBA sets a threshold of 1,250 employees or fewer for an entity to be considered as a small business for this category.
In reviewing the DDXDOAS market, DOE used company websites, marketing research tools, product catalogues, and other public information to identify companies that manufacture DDX
DOASes. DOE identified 16
manufacturers of DDXDOASes affected by this rulemaking. Out of these 16
manufacturers, DOE determined that three are domestic small businesses.
DOE used subscription-based business information tools to determine headcount and revenue of the small businesses.
Issue16: DOE invites comment on the number of domestic small businesses producing DDXDOASes for the U.S. market.
4. Description and Estimate of Compliance Requirements EPCA requires DOE to adopt test procedures for small, large, and very large commercial package air conditioning and heating equipment consistent with the amended industry test procedures developed or recognized by AHRI as referenced in ASHRAE
Standard 90.1, unless the Secretary determines that, supported by clear and convincing evidence, to do so would not meet the requirements for test 37 The size standards are listed by NAICS code and industry description and are available at www.sba.gov/document/support--table-sizestandards Last accessed on April 20, 2021.

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procedures to be reasonably designed to produce results that reflect energy efficiency, energy use, and estimated operating costs during a representative average use cycle and not be unduly burdensome to conduct. 42 U.S.C.
6314a4B In this NOPR, DOE
proposes to establish a test procedure for DDXDOASes, which belong to a category of small, large, and very large commercial package air conditioning and heating equipment. DOE is proposing to establish a test procedure that incorporates by reference the applicable industry consensus test methods including the energy efficiency descriptors and that establishes representation requirements.
Although AHRI 9202020 is not yet referenced as the applicable test procedure in ASHRAE Standard 90.1, it provides revised test methods that update ANSI/AHRI 9202015, which is the referenced industry test standard.
For these reasons, DOE has tentatively concluded that the methods in AHRI
9202020 reflect the intention for prevalent industry practice: It is likely that manufacturers will use AHRI 920
2020 in the future.
In its review of AHRI 9202020, DOE
estimated the cost for third-party lab testing of basic models to range from $10,000 to $23,500 depending on validation class, equipment capacity, and equipment configuration. However, manufactures are not required to perform laboratory testing on all basic models. DOE proposes to allow DDX
DOAS manufacturers to use alternative energy-efficiency determination methods AEDMs for determining the ISMRE2 and ISCOP2 if applicable in accordance with 10 CFR 429.70. An AEDM is a computer modeling or mathematical tool that predicts the performance of non-tested basic models.
These computer modeling and mathematical tools, when properly developed, can provide a relatively straight-forward and reasonably accurate means to predict the energy usage or efficiency characteristics of a basic model of a given covered product or equipment and reduce the burden and cost associated with testing.
DOE researched manufacturer DDX
DOAS offerings and estimated the cost to rate basic models according to the proposed DOE test procedure which is not expected to have any additional cost over AHRI 9202020 38. Using 38 DOE has tentatively determined that the proposed modifications to AHRI 9202020 would be unlikely to significantly increase burden, given that DOE is referencing the prevailing industry test procedure. So, presuming widespread usage of AHRI 9202020, its adoption as part of the Federal
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