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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 223 / Tuesday, November 23, 2021 / Rules and Regulations
energy conservation standard that required use of condensing technology would further exacerbate the estimated impacts of amended standards as determined in the prior determinations, DOE did not include condensing technology in its engineering analysis beyond that considered in the prior engineering analysis conducted for the October 2016 final determination. 81 FR
71325, 7132771328 Oct. 17, 2016.
In response to the December 2020
NOPD, CA IOUs stated that DOE has not presented information to suggest that electronic ignition could not be included in gas floor vented heaters, and encouraged DOE to complete a thorough analysis that appropriately considers electronic ignition technology. CA IOUs, No. 17 at p. 3 As stated, DOE has determined that standards do not need to be amended based on the continued likelihood that amending the vented heater energy conservation standards would impose a substantial burden on manufacturers of vented heaters, particularly to small manufacturers. As discussed in sections III.B.3.g and III.B.3.i, vented heater shipments have declined since the April 2010 final rule and one of the two manufacturers of gas floor vented heaters is a small business while it is unclear whether the other manufacturer remains a small business after acquiring another small business manufacturers gas floor vented heater brand. Gas floor vented heaters are also the smallest product class by model count. As such, DOE did not include electronic ignition in its engineering analysis.
The Joint Advocates asserted that some models of vented heaters meet the current energy conservation standards but still have standing pilot lights, and that pilot lights left burning year-round can consume 6.8 MMBtu of fuel per year, which would account for around 25 percent of total annual gas consumption for vented heaters. Joint Advocates, No. 16 at p. 1 DOE has identified vented heaters on the market
with standing pilot lights that meet the current energy conservation standards.
The energy conservation standards established in the April 2010 final rule were set at a level attainable by units that use standing pilot lights as evidenced by the technology options listed for each efficiency level in chapter 5 of the TSD for the April 2010
final rule.
Manufacturer Production Costs After establishing the efficiency levels in the April 2010 final rule, DOE
estimated the manufacturer production cost MPC of attaining each efficiency level based on the technology options identified for that level. The MPC takes into account the costs for material, labor, depreciation, and overhead.
These values were developed based on product teardowns that generated bills of materials for all components and manufacturing processes required to manufacture vented heaters at a given efficiency level for each product class.
DOE uses these bills of material, along with information on material and component prices, costs for labor, depreciation, and overhead to derive the MPC. In development of the April 2010
final rule, manufacturer interviews were conducted to verify the accuracy of the inputs to DOEs analysis of MPCs e.g., material prices, labor rates and the resulting MPCs. 75 FR 20112, 20147
20148 April 16, 2010. As discussed in section II.B.3.b., after the April 2010
final rule and before October 2016 final determination, a condensing gas was fan type vented heater came on the market.
In a NOPD which preceded the October 2016 final determination, DOE stated that the MPC for a condensing gas wall fan type vented heater had a 23 percent higher incremental cost than a unit at 80
percent AFUE i.e., the max-tech efficiency level evaluated in the April 2010 final rule. 81 FR 21276, 21280
April 11, 2016 April 2016 NOPD.
DOE received feedback during manufacturer interviews which
indicated that condensing models are significantly more expensive to manufacture than non-condensing models and to confirm these statements, DOE performed a product teardown of a condensing model. Id.
DOE reviewed its April 2010 final rule and October 2016 final determination engineering analyses to determine whether the results are still valid in the context of the current market. As the market conditions for manufacturers remains substantially the same as the previous rulemakings i.e., production volumes remain similar or slightly lower than previously projected, while material prices and labor rates are also similar, DOE has determined that the engineering analysis performed during the April 2010 final rule and October 2016 final determination are still valid for estimating MPC. DOE also reviewed retail prices for models currently available on the market and found that the current retail prices are comparable to those published in chapter 8, section 8.2.3.5 of the April 2010 final rule TSD, when adjusted for inflation. Because DOE has not found distribution channels or mark-ups to have changed since the April 2010 final rule, the similarity of the predicted retail prices in the April 2010 final rule analysis to those of current products indicates that the MPC are likely to be unchanged from the April 2010 final rule analysis.
e. Energy Use Analysis Table III.8 presents the average energy consumption, from section 7.3.6 of the April 2010 final rule TSD, for each vented heater product class and efficiency level. DOE has concluded that the current average energy consumption for these vented heaters is comparable to the estimates developed for the April 2010 final rule and relied on in the October 2016 final determination, as the technology options at each efficiency level have not changed substantially.

TABLE III.8AVERAGE ENERGY CONSUMPTION FOR THE VENTED HEATER PRODUCT CLASSES FROM APRIL 2010 FINAL
RULE

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Average energy consumption Efficiency level AFUE

DHE type
Heat circulation type
Gas Wall

Fan Type

Gravity Type

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Gas MMBtu/yr 29.9
28.2
27.8
27.4
26.3
29.9
29.0
28.2
27.8

Electricity kWh/yr 38.6
45.7
45.2
44.7
66.2
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0