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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 58 / Monday, March 29, 2021 / Rules and Regulations which may not yet have an average use or be in common use, which could stifle innovation. Similarly, GEA commented that regulating the already small energy consumption of connected features risks stifling innovation, including the further development of energy saving features.
AHAM, No. 13 at pp. 8; GEA at No. 18, pp. 2 GEA reiterated these sentiments in comments on the energy conservation standards ECS Preliminary Analysis.
GEA, Preliminary Analysis, No. 26 at p.
2 ASAP, the Joint Commenters, and NEAA expressed concern that testing units with network capabilities with network settings disabled for all operating modes would significantly underrepresent energy consumption.
They asserted that this would result in non-representative efficiency ratings.
ASAP commented that units with network capabilities may consume additional power continuously in all operating modes. ASAP, Public Meeting Transcript, No. 12 at pp. 12, 8081; Joint Commenters, No. 15 at p.
3; NEAA, No. 16 at pp. 56
As stated in the June 2020 NOPR, DOE is not aware of any data regarding how often consumers use these features or how much energy the features consume during an average representative use cycle, and commenters did not provide any such data. Absent consumer usage data, DOE
is unable at this time to evaluate potential test procedure provisions related to network capabilities.
Similarly, DOE declined to adopt provisions to account for energy consumption associated with network functionality in the January 2011 Final Rule due to the lack of information about room ACs with network functionality. 76 FR 971, 983984 Jan.
6, 2011. The test procedure adopted, however, did not affirmatively require that network capabilities of units under test be disabled. As a result, due to the growth in the number of networkenabled models of room ACs on the market, it has become increasingly likely that the test procedure adopted in January 2011 Final Rule may unintentionally capture energy use attributable to network functions. The amendment adopted in this rule precludes this possibility by reinforcing the intent of the January 2011 Final Rule.
While there are a number of connected room ACs on the market with varying implementations of connected features, DOE is not aware of any data available, nor did interested parties provide any such data, regarding the consumer use of connected features.
Without this data, DOE is unable to
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establish a representative test configuration for assessing the energy consumption of connected functionality for room ACs. DOE therefore maintains its proposal to test room ACs with network capabilities disabled. DOE is specifying in Section 3.1.4 of appendix F that units with network capabilities must be tested with the network settings disabled, and that those network settings remain disabled for all tested operating modes i.e., cooling mode, standby mode, and off mode.
H. Demand Response The current U.S. Environmental Protection Agencys EPAs ENERGY
STAR Product Specification for Room Air Conditioners Version 4.1 42 specifies optional criteria for room ACs designed to provide additional functionality to consumers, such as alerts and messages, remote control and energy information, as well as demand response DR
capabilities, which support the inclusion of room ACs in smart grid applications hereafter connected room ACs. These capabilities are network capabilities, as they require the room AC maintain communication continuously or intermittently with a server; however, DR functionality is a unique subset that enables smart grid communication and active modified operation in response to DR signals from an electric utility.
On June 7, 2017, DOE and EPA
published the final ENERGY STAR
Program Requirements Product Specification for Room Air Conditioners: Test Method to Validate Demand Response hereafter the June 2017 ENERGY STAR Test Method.
This test method validates that a unit complies with ENERGY STARs DR
requirements, which are designed to reduce energy consumption upon receipt of a DR signal. However, DOE
notes that the June 2017 ENERGY STAR
Test Method does not measure the total energy consumption or average power while a unit responds to a DR signal.
DOE noted in the June 2020 NOPR that no connected room ACs were available at that time on the market that complied with the full set of ENERGY STAR
Version 4.1 connected criteria, and therefore, the energy consumption could not be determined for a range of products and manufacturers. 85 FR
35700, 35731 Jun. 11, 2020. DOE also stated that there is little available information indicating the frequency of received DR signals that are specified in 42 The ENERGY STAR Certification Criteria V4.1
is available at https www.energystar.gov/sites/
default/files/ENERGY%20STAR%
20Version%204.0%20Room%20Air%20
Conditioners%20Program%20Requirements.pdf.

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the ENERGY STAR connected criteria, and as a result, it is not possible to determine annual energy use attributed to DR signals. Id. Given the issues raised in the September 17, 2018 emerging smart technologies RFI, the lack of available connected room ACs on the market, and the lack of energy consumption and usage data regarding the DR signals, DOE did not propose to amend its room AC test procedure to measure energy consumption while a connected room AC is responding to a DR signal. Id.
AHAM supported DOEs proposal, stating that products are continuously evolving with new features and with greater functionality. AHAM stated that these new features, including connectivity, are in the early stages of development and consumers are only beginning to use and understand them.
AHAM commented that there are not yet adequate consumer use data to justify amending the room AC test procedure to include energy consumption while a connected room AC responds to a DR signal. AHAM
further commented that consumer use and understanding of new technologies continues to evolve and to inform manufacturers designs. As DOE
evaluates potential changes, AHAM
recommended that DOE be mindful that it will take time before many new features, designs, and technologies lend themselves to a representative average consumer use. AHAM further recommended that DOE ensure that the room AC test procedure does not prematurely address new designs which may not yet have an average use or be in common use, as doing so could stifle innovation. AHAM, No. 13 at p. 8
AHAM reiterated these points in comments on the ECS Preliminary Analysis. AHAM, Preliminary Analysis, No. 19 at pp. 1516
DOE continues to find that there are insufficient consumer usage data to support amending the room AC test procedure to include connected energy consumption, and that the test procedure should not prematurely address new technologies absent sufficient average use data. Therefore, DOE is not amending the DOE test procedure for room ACs to include energy consumption while a connected room AC responds to a DR signal.
I. Combined Energy Efficiency Ratio The room AC energy efficiency metric, CEER, accounts for the cooling provided by the room AC in cooling mode as a function of the total energy consumption in cooling mode and inactive mode or off mode. In the June 2020 NOPR, DOE proposed to maintain
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