Federal Register: August 22, 2006 (Volume 71, Number 162)
DOCID: FR Doc E6-13853
DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Office
Docket ID: [Docket No. EERE-BT-2006-WAV-0139]
NOTICE: NOTICES
ACTION: Consumer products; energy conservation program:
DOCUMENT ACTION: Notice of Petition for Waiver, granting of application for interim waiver, and request for comments.
SUBJECT CATEGORY:
Energy Conservation Program for Consumer Products: Publication of the Petition for Waiver and Granting of the Application for Interim Waiver of Whirlpool Corporation From the DOE Residential Automatic and Semi-Automatic Clothes Washer Test Procedures
DATES: The Department will accept comments, data and information regarding this Petition for Waiver until, but no later September 21, 2006.
DOCUMENT SUMMARY:
Today's notice publishes a Petition for Waiver from Whirlpool Corporation. This Petition for Waiver (hereafter ``Whirlpool Petition'') requests the Department to modify the clothes washer test procedure for the Whirlpool High Impeller line of clothes washers with basket volumes greater than 3.8 cubic feet and less than 3.9 cubic feet. The Department of Energy (hereafter ``Department'' or ``DOE'') is soliciting comments, data and information with respect to the Whirlpool Petition.
Today's notice also grants an Interim Waiver to Whirlpool from the existing DOE automatic and semiautomatic clothes washer test procedure for the company's High Impeller line of clothes washers with basket volumes greater than 3.8 cubic feet and less than 3.9 cubic feet.
SUMMARY:
Whirlpool Corp.; waiver from residential automatic and semi-automatic clothes washer test procedures,
SUPPLEMENTAL INFORMATION
I. Background and Authority
II. Application for Interim Waiver and Petition for Waiver
III. Alternate Test Procedure
IV. Summary and Request for Comments
I. Background and Authority
Title III of the Energy Policy and Conservation Act (EPCA) sets
forth a variety of provisions concerning energy efficiency. Part B of
Title III (42 U.S.C. 62916309) provides for the ''Energy Conservation
Program for Consumer Products other than Automobiles.'' Today's notice
involves residential products under Part B that provide definitions,
test procedures, labeling provisions, energy conservation standards, and the authority to require information and reports from
manufacturers. With respect to test procedures, Part B generally
authorizes the Secretary of Energy to prescribe test procedures that
are reasonably designed to produce results which reflect energy
efficiency, energy use and estimated operating costs, and that are not unduly burdensome to conduct. (42 U.S.C. 6293(b)(3))
The test procedures for residential products appear at 10 CFR Part 430, Subpart B, Appendix J1. EPCA provides that the Secretary of Energy may amend test procedures for consumer products if the Secretary determines that amended test procedures would more accurately reflect energy efficiency, energy use and estimated operating costs, and are not unduly burdensome to conduct. (42 U.S.C. 6293(b)(3))
The Department's regulations contain provisions allowing a person to seek a waiver from the test procedure requirements for covered consumer products. These provisions are set forth in 10 CFR 430.27.
The waiver provisions allow the Assistant Secretary for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (hereafter ``Assistant Secretary'') to temporarily waive test procedures for a particular basic model when a petitioner shows that the basic model contains one or more design characteristics that prevent testing according to the prescribed test procedures, or when the prescribed test procedures may evaluate the basic model in a manner so unrepresentative of its true energy consumption as to provide materially inaccurate comparative data. (10 CFR 430.27 (a)(1)) The Assistant Secretary may grant the waiver subject to conditions, including adherence to alternate test procedures. Petitioners are to include in their petition any alternate test procedures known to evaluate the basic model in a manner representative of its energy consumption. (10 CFR 430.27(b)(1)(iii)) Waivers generally remain in effect until final test procedure amendments become effective, thereby resolving the problem that is the subject of the waiver.
The waiver process also allows the Assistant Secretary to grant an Interim Waiver from test procedure requirements to manufacturers that have petitioned the Department for a waiver of such prescribed test procedures. (10 CFR 430.27(a)(2)) An Interim Waiver remains in effect for a period of 180 days or until the Department issues its determination on the Petition for Waiver, whichever is sooner, and may be extended for an additional 180 days, if necessary. (10 CFR 430.27(h))
II. Application for Interim Waiver and Petition for Waiver
On November 21, 2005, Whirlpool filed an Application for Interim
Waiver and a Petition for Waiver from the Department of Energy's test
procedures applicable to its residential automatic and semiautomatic
clothes washers. In particular, Whirlpool requested a waiver to test
its High Impeller clothes washers on the basis of the residential test
procedures contained in 10 CFR Part 430, Subpart B, Appendix J1, with the following values appended to Table 5.1:
[[Page 48915]]
Container volume Minimum load Maximum load Average load
(ft3) (liter) (lb) (kg) (lb) (kg) (lb) (kg)
3.83.9 107.6110.4 3.00 1.36 15.8 7.17 9.4 4.26
Whirlpool's petition seeks a waiver from the Department's test procedure because a test load is used within the procedure, and the mass of this test load is based on the basket volume of the test specimen, which is currently not defined for the size units cited in their waiver application. At the time this test procedure was written, the relation between basket volume and test load mass was defined for basket volumes between 0 and 3.8 cubic feet. Current market trends have lead Whirlpool to design a series of clothes washers that contain a basket volume greater than 3.8 cubic feet, but less than 3.9 cubic feet.
Table 5.1 of Appendix J1 defines the test load sizes used during the procedure as linear functions of the basket volume. Whirlpool has submitted a proposed modification to this table which extends the table one incremental unit to define a load for clothes washers with a basket volume between 3.8 cubic feet and 3.9 cubic feet. The minimum, maximum, and average load factors proposed by Whirlpool in this request are merely extrapolations of the linear relationships between the load factors and the basket volume, by one incremental unit.
The Department agrees that the current test procedure does not define a load level for clothes washers with a basket volume greater than 3.8 cubic feet. The Department further agrees that since the load levels are currently defined in a linear manner for basket volumes between 0.8 cubic feet and 3.8 cubic feet that extrapolating these linear functions to a basket volume of 3.9 cubic feet is fair and logical. Thus, it appears likely that the Petition for Waiver will be granted.
Based on the statements above, the Department of Energy is granting an Interim Waiver to Whirlpool for its High Impeller line of clothes washers, pursuant to 10 CFR of Sec. 430.27(g).
Pursuant to 10 CFR Part 430.27(b)(1)(iv), the Department is hereby publishing the ``Petition for Waiver.'' The Petition contains no confidential company information. Whirlpool will send a copy of the Petition for Waiver and a copy of the Application for Interim Waiver to all known manufacturers of domestically marketed units of the same product type.
III. Alternate Test Procedure
Manufacturers face restrictions with respect to making representations about the energy consumption and energy consumption costs of products covered by EPCA. (42 U.S.C. 6293(c)) Consistent representations are important for manufacturers to make claims about the energy efficiency of their products. For example, they are necessary to determine compliance with state and local energy codes and regulatory requirements, and can provide valuable consumer purchasing information. To provide a test procedure from which manufacturers can make valid representations, the Department is considering setting an alternate test procedure for Whirlpool in the subsequent Decision and Order based on the appended values to Table 5.1 of Appendix J1. Furthermore, if DOE specifies an alternate test procedure for Whirlpool, DOE may consider applying the alternate test procedure to similar waivers for residential clothes washers.
IV. Summary and Request for Comments
Today's notice announces a Whirlpool Petition for Waiver and grants
Whirlpool an Interim Waiver from the test procedures applicable to
Whirlpool's High Impeller line of clothes washers with basket volumes
greater than 3.8 cubic feet and less than 3.9 cubic feet. The
Department is publishing the Whirlpool Petition for Waiver in its
entirety. The Petition contains no confidential information.
Furthermore, today's notice includes an alternate test procedure that
the Department is considering including in the subsequent Decision and
Order. This alternate test procedure includes a proposed modification
to Table 5.1 of Appendix J1 adding one incremental unit to define a
load for clothes washers with a basket volume between 3.8 cubic feet and 3.9 cubic feet.
Issued in Washington, DC, on August 14, 2006.
Alexander A. Karsner,
Assistant Secretary, Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy. Whirlpool
Administrative Center2000 M63Mail Drop 3005Benton Harbor, MI 49022
November 21, 2005.
Douglas Faulker,
Acting Assistant Secretary,
Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy,
U.S. Department of Energy, EE2J,
1000 Independence Ave., SW,
Washington, DC 205850121.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT
Bryan Berringer, U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Building Technologies Program, Mail Stop EE2J, Forrestal Building, 1000 Independence Avenue, SW., Washington, DC 205850121, (202) 5860371; e mail: bryan.berringer@ee.doe.gov; or Francine B. Pinto, U.S. Department of Energy, Office of General Counsel, Mail Stop GC72, Forrestal Building, 1000 Independence Avenue, SW., Washington, DC 205850121, (202) 5869507; email: Francine.Pinto@hq.doe.gov.