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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 153 / Thursday, August 12, 2021 / Proposed Rules
For this proposed determination, DOE
considered the two product classes of microwave ovens prescribed in the current energy conservation standards:
1 Microwave-Only Ovens and Countertop Convection Microwave Ovens, and 2 Built-In and Over-theRange Convection Microwave Ovens.
Section IV.B.4 of this document describes the two product classes in additional detail.
As previously stated in section III.B of this document, for these two classes of microwave ovens, DOEs current test procedure measures the energy consumption in standby mode and off mode only. Consequently, DOEs current energy conservation standards for microwave ovens are also expressed in terms of standby mode and off mode power. There are currently no active mode energy conservation standards nor a prescribed test procedure for measuring the active mode energy use or efficiency e.g., cooking efficiency of microwave ovens.
GE Appliances stated that using the microwave oven standards to regulate combined cooking products would improperly regulate the non-microwave portion of the combined product. GE
Appliances, No. 5 at p. 2 AHAM stated that there is no technological method to accurately measure the standby mode and off mode power consumption of the microwave oven portion of a combined cooking product, as a combined cooking product typically has one power source.
AHAM, No. 6 at p. 4
In a final rule published on August 18, 2020 August 2020 TP Final Rule, DOE withdrew the test procedure for conventional cooking tops, determining that it was not representative of energy
use or efficiency during an average use cycle and was overly burdensome to conduct. 85 FR 50757. As part of the August 2020 TP Final Rule, DOE
removed provisions for measuring the energy use of combined cooking products, which are household cooking appliances that combine a cooking product with other appliance functionality e.g., microwave/
conventional cooking tops, microwave/
conventional ovens, and microwave/
conventional ranges. Id. The current test procedure for measuring standby mode and off mode power consumption for microwave ovens excludes the microwave oven component of a combined cooking product. Appendix I, Section 3.2.1.
DOE also received several comments related to microwave ovens equipped with connected functionality in response to the August 2019 RFI. EEI
stated that DOE should update the current microwave oven standby mode requirements to account for new technologies, including the integration of smart devices with demand response functionality. EEI, No. 4 at p.
2 EEI stated that, to the extent that energy use of a connected function is measured, the current energy conservation standards for microwave ovens may impede the inclusion of such functions. Id. EEI suggested DOE should revise the microwave oven standby power requirements to contain three categories of microwave oven operation:
standby and non-connected, standby and connected, and standby and disconnected. EEI, No. 3 at p. 2 AHAM
urged DOE not to revise the microwave oven test procedure or standards to
account for the energy consumed while performing connected functions to avoid stifling innovation and potential energy saving benefits. AHAM, No. 6 at p. 7 Based on a review of manufacturer websites and user manuals of various appliances, as well as testing conducted at DOE and third-party laboratories, connected features continue to be implemented in a variety of ways across different brands. Further, the design and operation of these features is continuously evolving as the market continues to grow for these products.
Because there are a lack of available data to establish a representative test configuration for assessing the energy consumption of network functionality for microwave ovens, DOE, in the August 2021 TP SNOPR, proposed explicit language to generally require network functions to be disabled during testing. 86 FR 41759. As such, DOE is not addressing energy consumption specific to connected functions in this proposed determination.
2. Technology Options To develop a list of technology options, DOE uses information about existing and past technology options and prototype designs to help identify technologies that manufacturers could use to meet and/or exceed a given set of energy conservation standards under consideration.
In the August 2019 RFI, DOE
identified several technology options that would be expected to reduce the energy consumption of microwave ovens in standby mode and off mode, as measured by the DOE test procedure. 84
FR 39980, 3998439985.

TABLE IV1MICROWAVE OVEN TECHNOLOGY OPTIONS
Mode Standby Standby Standby Standby
Technology option

Lower-power display technologies.
Cooking sensors with no standby power requirement.
Improved power supply and control board options.
Automatic power-down of most power-consuming components, including the clock display.

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3. Screening Analysis DOE uses the following five screening criteria to determine which technology options are suitable for further consideration in an energy conservation standards rulemaking:
1 Technological feasibility.
Technologies that are not incorporated in commercial products or in working prototypes will not be considered further.
2 Practicability to manufacture, install, and service. If it is determined that mass production and reliable
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installation and servicing of a technology in commercial products could not be achieved on the scale necessary to serve the relevant market at the time of the projected compliance date of the standard, then that technology will not be considered further.
3 Impacts on product utility or product availability. If it is determined that a technology would have significant adverse impact on the utility of the product to significant subgroups of consumers or would result in the
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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 United States at the time, it will not be considered further.
4 Adverse impacts on health or safety. If it is determined that a technology would have significant adverse impacts on health or safety, it will not be considered further.

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