CHAPTER 9. TRIAL STANDARD LEVELS 

 

TABLE OF CONTENTS 

9.1 INTRODUCTION............................................................................................................... 9-1

9.2 TRIAL STANDARD LEVELS........................................................................................... 9-2

LIST OF TABLES 

Table 9.2.1 Trial Standard Levels for Class A Equipment Expressed in Terms of Daily 

Energy Consumption (kWh/day)......................................................................... 9-3

Table 9.2.2 Trial Standard Levels for Class B Equipment Expressed in Terms of Daily 

Energy Consumption ........................................................................................... 9-4

Table 9.2.3 Trial Standard Levels Expressed in Terms of Equations and Coefficients 

for Each Equipment Class.................................................................................... 9-4

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CHAPTER 9. TRIAL STANDARD LEVELS 

9.1 INTRODUCTION 

Title III of Energy Policy and Conservation Act (EPCA) sets forth a variety of provisions 

designed to improve energy efficiency. Part A of Title III (42 U.S.C. 6291-6309) provides for the 

Energy Conservation Program for Consumer Products Other Than Automobiles. Part A-1 of 

Title III (42 U.S.C. 6311-6317) establishes a similar program for certain types of commercial 

and industrial equipment.a The Energy Policy Act of 2005 (EPACT 2005), Pub. L. 109-58, 

included an amendment to Part A-1 requiring that the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) 

prescribe energy conservation standards for the beverage vending machines that are the subject 

of this rulemaking (EPACT 2005, section 135(c)(4); 42 U.S.C. 6295(v)) The test procedures for 

beverage vending machines appear at Title 10 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) sections 

431.293 and 431.294. 

Because of its placement in Part A of Title III of EPCA, the rulemaking for beverage 

vending machine energy conservation standards is bound by the requirements of 42 U.S.C. 6295. 

However, since beverage vending machines are commercial equipment and consistent with 

DOE’s previous action to incorporate the EPACT 2005 requirements for commercial equipment 

into Title 10 CFR, part 431 Energy Efficiency Program for Certain Commercial and Industrial 

Equipment, DOE has placed the requirements for beverage vending machines in Subpart Q 

to10 CFR part 431. The location of the provisions within the CFR does not affect either their 

substance or applicable procedure, so DOE is placing them in the appropriate CFR part based on 

their nature or type.b

 The Energy Policy and Conservation Act as amended specifies that any 

new or amended energy conservation standard DOE prescribes for the equipment covered by this 

notice shall be designed to “achieve the maximum improvement in energy efficiency . . . which 

the Secretary determines is technologically feasible and economically justified.” (42 United 

States Code (U.S.C.) 6295(o)(2)(A), and (v)). Further, the new or amended standard must “result 

in significant conservation of energy.” (42 U.S.C. 6295(o)(3)(B) and (v)) In accordance with 

these and other statutory criteria discussed in this notice, DOE proposes to adopt new energy 

conservation standards for refrigerated bottled or canned beverage vending machines, hereafter 

referred to as “beverage vending machines.” 

On August 8, 2005, section 135(c)(4) of EPACT 2005 amended section 325 of EPCA, in 

part, to direct DOE to issue energy conservation standards for the equipment covered by this 

rulemaking, which standards would apply to equipment manufactured three years after 

publication of the final rule establishing the energy conservation standards. (42 U.S.C. 

6295(v)(1), (2) and (3))c

 The energy use of this equipment has never been regulated at the 

Federal level. 

 

a

 This part was originally titled Part C; however, it was renamed Part A-1 after Part B of Title III was repealed by 

EPACT 2005. 

b

 Because of their placement into 10 CFR part 431, beverage vending machines will be referred to as “equipment” 

throughout this notice. 

c

 The relevant statutory provisions were renumbered pursuant to section 316 of the Energy Independence and 

Security Act of 2007, Pub. L. 110-140. 

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9.2 TRIAL STANDARD LEVELS 

DOE analyzed seven energy consumption levels for Class A equipment and six energy 

consumption levels for Class B equipment in the life cycle cost (LCC) analysis and national 

impact analysis (NIA). For the notice of proposed rulemaking (NOPR), DOE determined that 

each of these levels should be presented as a possible trial standard level (TSL) and 

correspondingly identified seven TSLs for Class A and six TSLs for Class B equipment. For 

each equipment class, the range of TSLs selected includes the energy consumption level 

providing the maximum national energy savings (NES) level for the class, the level providing the 

maximum NES while providing a positive net present value (NPV), the level providing the 

maximum NPV, and the level approximately equivalent to ENERGY STAR Tier 2. Many of the 

higher levels selected correspond to equipment designs which incorporate specific noteworthy 

technologies that can provide energy savings benefits. For Class A, DOE also included two 

intermediate efficiency levels to fill in significant energy consumption gaps between the levels 

identified above the ENERGY STAR Tier 2 equivalent level. For Class A machines, the 

ENERGY STAR Tier 2 equivalent TSL level, TSL 1, allows for the highest energy consumption. 

For Class B, DOE included one trial standard level with energy consumption higher than that 

provided by ENERGY STAR Tier 2. 

For the advance notice of proposed rulemaking (ANOPR), DOE proposed four candidate 

standard levels for each equipment class based on the levels that provided maximum energy 

savings, maximum efficiency level with positive LCC savings, maximum LCC savings, and the 

highest efficiency level with a payback of less than 3 years. 

DOE preserved energy consumption levels that met the same economic criteria as was 

used in the ANOPR in the NOPR, but in addition, included the Tier 2 equivalency level and 

several additional TSLs. These additional levels, as discussed previously, either provide 

additional intermediate efficiency levels or include specific noteworthy technologies examined in 

the engineering analysis. 

Table 9.2.1 and Table 9.2.2 show the TSL levels DOE selected for the equipment classes 

and sizes analyzed. For Class A equipment, TSL 7 is the max-tech level for each equipment 

class. TSL 6 is the maximum efficiency level with a positive NPV at the 7-percent discount rate, 

achieved through incorporation of a condenser fan motor that is an electronically commutated 

motor (ECM). TSL 5 is the efficiency level with the maximum NPV and maximum LCC 

savings, achieved through the use of an advanced refrigerant condenser design. TSL 4 is the 

level that first incorporated light-emitting diode (LED) lighting as a design feature in the 

engineering analysis. TSL 3 and TSL 2 were intermediate efficiency levels chosen to bridge the 

gap between TSL 4, and the ENERGY STAR Tier 2 equivalent level, TSL 1. For Class B 

equipment TSL 6 is the max-tech level for each machine size. TSL 5 is the level that first 

incorporated LED lighting as a design option in the engineering analysis. TSL 4 is the next 

highest efficiency level including incorporation of an ECM condenser fan motor. TSL 3 was 

achieved through the use of an advanced refrigerant condenser design and provided essentially 

an NPV of essentially 0, with total capital expenditures for new equipment balanced by total 

operating cost savings over the NIA period, based on a 7-percent discount rate. TSL 2 is the 

ENERGY STAR Tier 2 level for Class B equipment, and provided the maximum LCC savings 

and maximum NPV savings at a 7-percent discount rate. TSL 1, which provided an energy 

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EERE-2006-STD-0125 COMMENT 46
consumption level approximately 4 percent higher than TSL 2, was also included in the analysis, 

and represented the first level incorporating an evaporator fan driven by an ECM in the 

engineering analysis. 

As was determined in the ANOPR, DOE chose to characterize the proposed TSL levels 

in terms of proposed equations that establish a maximum daily energy consumption (MDEC) 

limit through a linear equation of the form: 

 MDEC = A × V + B Eq. 9.1

Where 

 A = expressed in terms of kWh/day/ft3 of measured volume, 

 V = the measured refrigerated volume (ft3

) calculated for the equipment, and 

 B = an offset factor expressed in kWh/day. 

Coefficients A and B are uniquely derived for each equipment class based on a linear 

equation passing between the daily energy consumption values for equipment of different 

refrigerated volumes. For the development of the A and B coefficients, DOE used the energy 

consumption values shown in Table 9.2.1 and Table 9.2.2 for the medium and large equipment 

sizes respectively within each class of beverage vending machine. Also, the equations 

corresponding to each of the TSLs and for the two equipment classes are listed in Table 9.2.3. 

DOE did not use the small equipment sizes in each class as information from the ANOPR 

indicated that there are no significant shipments of the small equipment sizes. However, DOE 

seeks input from interested parties as to whether the linear equation used to describe the 

maximum daily energy consumption standards should be based on medium and large equipment 

(using two points), or small, medium, and large equipment (three points), or some other possible 

weighting strategy. 

Table 9.2.1 Trial Standard Levels for Class A Equipment Expressed in Terms of Daily 

Energy Consumption (kWh/day) 

Trial Standard Level in Order of Efficiency

TSL Baseline TSL 1 TSL 2 TSL 3 TSL 4 TSL 5 TSL 6 TSL 7 

Size 

LCC 

Efficiency Level 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 

Engr. Level 1 5 n/a* n/a* 6 7 9 11 Small 

kWh/day 6.10 5.27 4.75 4.25 3.95 3.73 3.58 3.25 

Engr. Level 1 5 n/a* n/a* 6 7 9 11 Medium 

kWh/day 6.53 5.51 5.25 4.75 4.19 3.95 3.79 3.43 

Engr. Level 1 4 n/a* n/a* 5 6 8 10 Large kWh/day 6.75 6.21 5.75 5.25 4.89 4.60 4.41 3.94 

*n/a means not available. These levels established as intermediate points along the engineering cost curves 

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9-4 

Table 9.2.2 Trial Standard Levels for Class B Equipment Expressed in Terms of Daily 

Energy Consumption 

Trial Standard Level in Order of Efficiency

TSL Baseline TSL 1 TSL 2 TSL 3 TSL 4 TSL 5 TSL 6 

Size 

LCC 

Efficiency Level 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 

Engr. Level 1 2 4 4 5 6 7 Small 

kWh/day 4.96 4.62 4.31 4.31 4.28 3.78 3.69 

Engr. Level 1 2 4 5 6 7 8 Medium 

kWh/day 5.56 5.20 4.99 4.76 4.72 4.22 4.12 

Engr. Level 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Large kWh/day 5.85 5.48 5.33 5.07 5.03 4.52 4.41 

Table 9.2.3 Trial Standard Levels Expressed in Terms of Equations and Coefficients for 

Each Equipment Class 

Trial Standard 

Level Test Metric Class A Class B 

Baseline kWh/day MDEC = 0.019 x V + 6.09 MDEC = 0.068 x V + 4.07 

TSL 1 kWh/day MDEC = 0.062 x V + 4.12 MDEC = 0.066 x V + 3.76 

TSL 2 kWh/day MDEC = 0.044 x V + 4.26 MDEC = 0.080 x V + 3.24 

TSL 3 kWh/day MDEC = 0.044 x V + 3.76 MDEC = 0.073 x V + 3.16 

TSL 4 kWh/day MDEC = 0.062 x V + 2.80 MDEC = 0.073 x V + 3.12 

TSL 5 kWh/day MDEC = 0.058 x V + 2.66 MDEC = 0.070 x V + 2.68 

TSL 6 kWh/day MDEC = 0.055 x V + 2.56 MDEC = 0.068 x V + 2.63 

TSL 7 kWh/day MDEC = 0.045 x V + 2.42 n/a* 

*n/a means not available. There is no TSL 7 for Class B machines. 

EERE-2006-STD-0125 COMMENT 46