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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 127 / Wednesday, July 7, 2021 / Proposed Rules
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6 Public comment and hearing. The length of the public comment period for preNOPR rulemaking documents will be determined on a case-by-case basis and may vary depending upon the circumstances of the particular rulemaking. For pre-NOPR
documents, DOE will determine whether a public hearing is appropriate.
7 Revisions based on comments. Based on consideration of the comments received, any necessary changes to the engineering analysis, life-cycle cost analysis, or the candidate standard levels will be made.
b NOPR Stage. 1 Documentation of decisions on proposed standard selection.
The Department will publish a NOPR in the Federal Register that proposes standard levels and explains the basis for the selection of those proposed levels, and DOE will post on its website a draft TSD documenting the analysis of impacts. The draft TSD will also be posted in the appropriate docket at https www.regulations.gov. As required by 42 U.S.C. 6295p1 of EPCA, the NOPR also will describe the maximum improvement in energy efficiency or maximum reduction in energy use that is technologically feasible and, if the proposed standards would not achieve these levels, the reasons for proposing different standards.
2 Public comment and hearing. There will be not less than 60 days for public comment on the NOPR, with at least one public hearing or workshop. 42 U.S.C.
6295p2 and 42 U.S.C. 6306
3 Revisions to impact analyses and selection of final standard. Based on the public comments received, DOE will review the proposed standard and impact analyses, and make modifications as necessary. If major changes to the analyses are required at this stage, DOE will publish a Supplemental Notice of Proposed Rulemaking SNOPR, when required. DOE may also publish a NODA or RFI, where appropriate.
c Final Rule Stage. The Department will publish a Final Rule in the Federal Register that promulgates standard levels, responds to public comments received on the NOPR and SNOPR if applicable, and explains how the selection of those standards meets the statutory requirement that any new or amended energy conservation standard produces the maximum improvement in energy efficiency that is both technologically feasible and economically justified and constitutes significant energy savings, accompanied by a final TSD.
7. Policies on Selection of Standards a Purpose. 1 Section 6 describes the process that will be used to consider new or revised energy efficiency standards and lists a number of factors and analyses that will be considered at specified points in the process.
Department policies concerning the selection of new or revised standards, and decisions preliminary thereto, are described in this section. These policies are intended to elaborate on the statutory criteria provided in 42 U.S.C. 6295.
2 The procedures described in this section are intended to assist the Department in making the determinations required by EPCA and do not preclude DOEs consideration of any other information
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consistent with the relevant statutory criteria.
The Department will consider pertinent information in determining whether a new or revised standard is consistent with the statutory criteria.
b Screening design options. These factors will be considered as follows in determining whether a design option will receive any further consideration:
1 Technological feasibility. Technologies that are not incorporated in commercial products or in commercially viable, existing prototypes will not be considered further.
2 Practicability to manufacture, install and service. If it is determined that mass production of a technology in commercial products and reliable installation and servicing of the technology could not be achieved on the scale necessary to serve the relevant market at the time of the compliance date of the standard, then that technology will not be considered further.
3 Impacts on product utility. If a technology is determined to have significant adverse impact on the utility of the product/
equipment to subgroups of consumers, or result in the unavailability of any covered product type with performance characteristics including reliability, features, sizes, capacities, and volumes that are substantially the same as products generally available in the U.S. at the time, it will not be considered further.
4 Safety of technologies. If it is determined that a technology will have significant adverse impacts on health or safety, it will not be considered further.
5 Unique-pathway proprietary technologies. If a technology has proprietary protection and represents a unique pathway to achieving a given efficiency level, it will not be considered further, due to the potential for monopolistic concerns.
c Identification of candidate standard levels. Based on the results of the engineering and cost/benefit analyses of design options, DOE will identify the candidate standard levels for further analysis. Candidate standard levels will be selected as follows:
1 Costs and savings of design options.
Design options that have payback periods that exceed the median life of the product or which result in life-cycle cost increases relative to the base case, using typical fuel costs, usage, and private discount rates, will not be used as the basis for candidate standard levels.
2 Further information on factors used for screening design options. If further information or analysis leads to a determination that a design option, or a combination of design options, has unacceptable impacts under the policies stated in this Appendix, that design option or combination of design options will not be included in a candidate standard level.
3 Selection of candidate standard levels.
Candidate standard levels, which will be identified in the pre-NOPR documents and on which impact analyses will be conducted, will be based on the remaining design options.
i The range of candidate standard levels will typically include:
A The most energy-efficient combination of design options;

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B The combination of design options with the lowest life-cycle cost; and C A combination of design options with a payback period of not more than three years.
ii Candidate standard levels that incorporate noteworthy technologies or fill in large gaps between efficiency levels of other candidate standard levels also may be selected.
d Pre-NOPR Stage. New information provided in public comments on any preNOPR documents will be considered to determine whether any changes to the candidate standard levels are needed before proceeding to the analysis of impacts.
e1 Selection of proposed standard.
Based on the results of the analysis of impacts, DOE will select a standard level to be proposed for public comment in the NOPR. As required under 42 U.S.C.
6295o2A, any new or revised standard must be designed to achieve the maximum improvement in energy efficiency that is determined to be both technologically feasible and economically justified.
2 Statutory policies. The fundamental policies concerning the selection of standards include:
i A trial standard level will not be proposed or promulgated if the Department determines that it is not both technologically feasible and economically justified. 42
U.S.C. 6295o2A and 42 U.S.C.
6295o3B For a trial standard level to be economically justified, the Secretary must determine that the benefits of the standard exceed its burdens by, to the greatest extent practicable, considering the factors listed in 42 U.S.C. 6295o2Bi. A standard level is subject to a rebuttable presumption that it is economically justified if the payback period is three years or less. 42 U.S.C.
6295o2Biii ii If the Department determines that interested persons have established by a preponderance of the evidence that a standard level is likely to result in the unavailability in the United States of any covered product/equipment type or class with performance characteristics including reliability, features, sizes, capacities, and volumes that are substantially the same as products generally available in the U.S. at the time of the determination, then that standard level will not be proposed. 42 U.S.C.
6295o4
iii If the Department determines that a standard level would not result in significant conservation of energy, that standard level will not be proposed. 42 U.S.C.
6295o3B
f Selection of a final standard. New information provided in the public comments on the NOPR and any analysis by the Department of Justice concerning impacts on competition of the proposed standard will be considered to determine whether issuance of a new or amended energy conservation standard produces the maximum improvement in energy efficiency that is both technologically feasible and economically justified and still constitutes significant energy savings or whether any change to the proposed standard level is needed before proceeding to the final rule. The same
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