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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 209 / Tuesday, November 2, 2021 / Proposed Rules NEMA/ALA, No. 12 at p. 1 NEMA/
ALA also raised the issue of double regulations, stating that many devices, including commercial devices, whose energy use or energy efficiency is already regulated under EPCA, contain ports that provide power as an ancillary function. NEMA/ALA, No. 12 at pp.
12 NEMA/ALA suggested creating a definition for a non-primary power supply, or a similar term, that would encompass devices with power conversion as an ancillary function and exclude such devices from the definition of an EPS. NEMA/ALA, No.
12 at pp. 23 NEMA/ALA also suggested amending the definition of an EPS to explicitly state that the presence of a USB, HDMI, or RJ45 port or similar as a secondary or ancillary feature does not qualify the product as an EPS. NEMA/ALA, No. 12 at pp.
56
As discussed in section I.A of this document, EPCA defines EPS broadly as an external power supply circuit that is used to convert household electric current into DC current or lower-voltage AC current to operate a consumer product. 42 U.S.C. 629136Ai The use of the term external power supply circuit in the proposed amendment to allow non-EPS functions to be disconnected would not change the scope of EPS regulations.
In response to the May 2020 RFIs solicitation for comment on devices with power conversion as an auxiliary function, The Power Tool Institute PTI and, separately, a collaboration of various industry commenters consisting of The Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers AHAM, Information Technology Industry Council ITI, Plumbing Manufacturers International PMI, and PTI collectively, the Joint Commenters asserted that such devices fall out of the scope of EPS
regulations and should not be subject to regulations unless DOE were to prescribe a standard specific to the enduse product. Docket No. EERE2020
BTSTD0006, PTI, No. 4 at p. 1; Docket No. EERE2020BTSTD0006, Joint Commenters, No. 10 at p. 2 The Joint Commenters further opposed the development of regulations for EPSs that are components of a product.
Docket No. EERE2020BTSTD0006, Joint Commenters, No. 10 at p. 2
In related comments received in response to the May 2020 RFI, the Northwest Energy Efficiency Alliance NEEA, Natural Resource Defense Council NRDC, and the Appliance Standards Awareness Project ASAP
hereafter, NEEA/NRDC/ASAP and the CA IOUs commented that devices
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with power conversion as an auxiliary function are becoming increasingly more common on the market. Docket No. EERE2020BTSTD0006, NEEA/
NRDC/ASAP, No. 6 at p. 12; Docket No.
EERE2020BTSTD0006, CA IOUs, No. 7 at pp. 89 NEEA/NRDC/ASAP
asserted that these types of devices should be subject to EPS regulations.
Docket No. EERE2020BTSTD0006, NEEA/NRDC/ASAP, No. 6 at p. 13
Additionally, NEEA/NRDC/ASAP stated that power supplies serving an auxiliary function in a device could consume significantly more energy in active and/
or no-load modes as a result of these devices not being subject to EPS
regulations. Docket No. EERE2020
BTSTD0006, NEEA/NRDC/ASAP, No.
6 at pp. 1213 The CA IOUs recommended that DOE evaluate the overall potential for covering products with power conversion as a secondary function and that DOE conduct a verification study to compare the energy performance of these types of devices to EPSs that are not included in a finished product as a secondary component.
Docket No. EERE2020BTSTD0006, CA IOUs, No. 7 at pp. 89
As discussed in section I.A of this document, EPCA defines external power supply as an external power supply circuit that is used to convert household electric current into DC
current or lower-voltage AC current to operate a consumer product. 42 U.S.C.
629126Ai. The term does not include a power supply circuit, driver, or device that is designed exclusively to be connected to, and power: lightemitting diodes providing illumination;
organic light-emitting diodes providing illumination; or ceiling fans using direct current motors. 42 U.S.C.
629126Aii.
The proposed amendment in the December 2019 NOPR regarding the disconnection of components and circuits unrelated to the EPS
functionality is for the purpose of providing additional instruction for the testing of EPSs that are currently subject to testing and that provide other functions unrelated to the power supply function. 84 FR 67106, 67115 December 6, 2019. Use of the term circuit in the proposed direction that any functionality that is unrelated to the external power supply circuit may be disconnected during testing is consistent with the EPCA definition of an EPS. In the December 2019 NOPR, by way of example, DOE discussed an EPS
that also provides the function of a surge protector with USB output ports as an example of an EPS with other major functions that may be disconnected during testing as long as
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that disconnection does not impact the functionality of the EPS itself. Id. DOE
is maintaining the proposal as presented in the December 2019 NOPR.
In reviewing the comments to the NOPR as well as questions received via the Compliance Certification Management System, DOE also understands there may be uncertainty as to the devices subject to the test procedure. As noted, the test procedure applies to EPSs subject to the energy conservation standards at 10 CFR
430.32w1. There are devices that are covered by the definition of EPS but that are not subject to the energy conservation standards and were not considered in the establishment of the energy conservation standards e.g., a television that has a USB port that also provides converted power. In order to provide further instruction regarding the scope of the test procedure, in addition to the proposed instruction regarding the disconnection of components and circuits unrelated to the EPS
functionality, DOE proposes to add instructions as to certain devices excluded from the test procedure.
Specifically, DOE proposes to specify that devices for which the primary load of the converted voltage within the device is not delivered to a separate end use product are not subject to the test procedure.
DOE intends for this proposed amendment to clarify that devices that provide power conversion only as an auxiliary operation e.g., televisions, laptop computers, and home appliances with USB output ports are not subject to the test procedure. Devices containing USB output ports would remain in scope to the extent the USB
output port represents the primary load of the device that houses the USB
output port. Examples of such a device could include a surge protector with USB output ports, power-over-ethernet injectors, and wall outlets with USB
output ports. As stated, DOE does not intend for this proposed amendment to change the existing scope but to instead provide manufacturers with additional certainty regarding those EPSs for which testing is required.
DOE requests comment on the proposed clarification in appendix Z to exclude explicitly those devices for which the primary load of the converted voltage within the device is not delivered to a separate end use product.
Specifically, whether it adequately clarifies which devices are subject to the test procedure, and if not, how the test procedure could be further modified to provide further clarity regarding its scope.

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