Voglio sapere a riguardo di…

Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 243 / Wednesday, December 22, 2021 / Proposed Rules
khammond on DSKJM1Z7X2PROD with PROPOSALS2

and amended standards for short-cycle residential dishwashers Docket EERE
2021BTSTD0002, No. 001 at p. 2.33
On April 28, 2021, the NRDC, Sierra Club, the Consumer Federation of America, and the Massachusetts Union of Public Housing Tenants NRDC, et al. also submitted a petition for DOE
to repeal the same October 2020 Final Rule NRDC petition for reconsideration.34
On August 11, 2021, DOE published a NOPR August 2021 NOPR stating that the October 2020 Final Rule resulted in amended energy conservation standards for the new product class without properly determining whether the relevant statutory criteria for amending standards were met. 86 FR 43970. As a result, DOE proposed to revoke the October 2020 Final Rule establishing the new short cycle product class. Id.
As stated, DOE is proposing to incorporate by reference AHAM DW1
2020 in its entirety into 10 CFR part 430, and amend the dishwasher test procedure to reference specified provisions of the standard. Specifically, DOE is proposing to amend 10 CFR
430.32f1iii to remove the existing reference to appendix C1, and instead reference AHAM DW12020 for the definition of normal cycle. DOE is also proposing to specify the method for determining cycle duration in Section 5.3 of appendix C1 and the proposed new appendix C2. DOE proposes the test duration is the weighted average of the sensor heavy response, sensor medium response, and sensor light response tests for all dishwashers i.e., both soil-sensing and non-soil-sensing dishwashers. Additionally, DOE is proposing to update the references to AHAM DW1 in the standard size dishwasher and compact size dishwasher descriptions in 10 CFR
430.32. In light of the August 2021
NOPR, DOE is not proposing at this time to require reporting of the test duration.
DOE requests comment on the proposal to update the standard size dishwasher, compact size dishwasher, and standard size dishwasher with a normal cycle time of 60 minutes or 33 AHAM submitted its petition pursuant to the Administrative Procedure Act APA, 5 U.S.C.
551 et seq., which provides among other things, that each agency shall give an interested person the right to petition for the issuance, amendment, or repeal of a rule. 5 U.S.C. 553e The AHAM
petition is available in the docket to this rulemaking, EERE2021BTSTD0002, at www.regulations.gov.
34 NRDC also submitted its petition pursuant to the APA, 5 U.S.C. 553e, to repeal the final rule.
The NRDC petition is available in the docket to this rulemaking, EERE2021BTSTD0002, at www.regulations.gov.

VerDate Sep<11>2014

17:32 Dec 21, 2021

Jkt 256001

less descriptions at 10 CFR
430.32f1iiii. DOE also requests comment on the proposal to explicitly provide the method for determining cycle duration in appendices C1 and C2.
K. Test Procedure Costs and Harmonization 1. Test Procedure Costs and Impact In this NOPR, DOE proposes to amend the existing test procedure for dishwashers at appendix C1 and adopt a new test procedure at appendix C2.
The proposed amendments to appendix C1 would establish requirements for water hardness, relative humidity, and loading pattern; update requirements for ambient temperature, detergent dosage, and standby power measurement;
include testing approaches from published waivers for dishwashers; and include provisions for evaluating cleaning performance and establishing a minimum per-cycle cleaning index threshold as a condition for a valid test.
The newly proposed appendix C2
would additionally include an updated annual number of cycles and low-power mode hours for the calculation of energy consumption.
The proposed amendments to appendix C1 would establish new requirements for water hardness and relative humidity and would update the requirements for ambient temperature.
DOE does not expect these proposals to increase test burden as compared to current industry practice because it expects that laboratories already control water hardness, relative humidity, and ambient temperature to within the proposed specifications, as indicated by manufacturer comments supporting these proposals, as well as general industry acceptance for these requirements as they pertain to dishwashers and other appliances.
DOE also proposes to establish in appendix C1 a new requirement for loading soiled dishes. DOE does not expect this proposal to change the rated energy and water use because the thermal mass inside the dishwasher chamber would be the same, regardless of how the dishes are loaded in the unit.
DOE also does not expect this proposal to increase the cost of conducting the test procedure as compared to the current test procedure based on the large number of brands currently participating in the ENERGY STAR
qualification and Most Efficient programs which requires the loading pattern proposed in this NOPR and based on AHAMs statements expressing support on behalf of the industry.
Further, DOE is also proposing a new detergent type and approach for
PO 00000

Frm 00027

Fmt 4701

Sfmt 4702

72763

calculating the detergent dosage in appendix C1. However, DOE is also proposing to retain the current detergent type and dosing requirement. As such, DOE does not expect this proposal to increase test burden as compared to current industry practice.
DOE is further proposing in appendix C1 that standby mode power consumption be measured with the door closed. Based on DOEs interactions with test laboratories, dishwashers are already tested with the door closed in standby mode. Therefore, DOE does not expect any increase in costs to manufacturers from this proposed update if it were made final.
Finally, DOE is proposing the evaluation of cleaning performance in appendix C1. Specifically, DOE is proposing that each tested soil load must meet a minimum per-cycle cleaning index threshold of 65 for a test cycle to be considered valid. As discussed, DOE understands the market to reflect general consumer satisfaction with the cleaning performance of currently available dishwashers, and the proposed test cycle validation index would reflect that consumer acceptance.
Were a currently certified dishwasher model to require retesting, or new models be tested for certification under the proposed amendments to appendix C1, if made final, DOE estimated the cost to test a dishwasher basic model according to the proposed appendix C1.
DOE estimates the costs to test a soilsensing dishwasher to be approximately $2,330 per basic model and that for a non-soil-sensing dishwasher to be approximately $790 per basic model.
These costs were estimated as follows.
Based on its experience conducting dishwasher testing, DOE estimates the total duration to test dishwashers currently, according to appendix C1, to be 25 hours for a soil-sensing dishwasher and 6 hours for a non-soilsensing dishwasher. The additional time required to score a load at the end of cycle and calculate the cleaning index is estimated to be 1 hour per soil load.
Therefore, DOE estimates the test duration under the proposed updates to appendix C1 to be 28 hours for soilsensing dishwashers 25 hours currently + 1 hour per soil load to score the load and calculate cleaning index.
For non-soil-sensing dishwashers, DOEs proposal requires testing on the heavy soil load. This would increase testing time by approximately 2.5 hours in addition to the 1 hour associated with scoring and calculating cleaning index due to the additional time associated with preparing the soils, soiling the load, allowing the soils to dry, and loading the soiled dishes. To
E:FRFM22DEP2.SGM

22DEP2