1-i

CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1.1 PURPOSE OF THE DOCUMENT ................................................................................. 1-1

1.2 PROCESS FOR AMENDED ENERGY CONSERVATION STANDARDS FOR 

ASHRAE EQUIPMENT ................................................................................................. 1-1

1.3 STRUCTURE OF THIS DOCUMENT .......................................................................... 1-3
1-1

CHAPTER 1.INTRODUCTION

1.1 PURPOSE OF THE DOCUMENT

This technical support document (TSD) is a stand-alone report that documents the 

technical analyses and results supporting the information presented in the final rule for 

establishing amended energy conservation standards for certain commercial and industrial 

equipment covered by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI)/ American Society of 

Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE)/ Illuminating Engineering 

Society of North America (IESNA) Standard 90.1-2010 Energy Standard for Buildings Except 

Low-Rise Residential Buildings (ASHRAE Standard 90.1-2010).

1.2 PROCESS FOR AMENDED ENERGY CONSERVATION STANDARDS FOR 

ASHRAE EQUIPMENT

Title III of the Energy Policy and Conservation Act (EPCA), Pub. L. 94-163, as 

amended, sets forth a variety of provisions concerning energy efficiency. Part C1 of Title III 

created the energy conservation program for “Certain Industrial Equipment.” (42 U.S.C. 6311-

6317) Of particular relevance for this rulemaking is 42 U.S.C 6313(a)(6) which directs DOE, in 

the event that ASHRAE Standard 90.1 is amended for certain types of commercial and industrial 

equipment, to adopt that efficiency level unless clear and convincing evidence supports a 

determination that adopting a more stringent level would produce significant additional energy 

savings and is technologically feasible and economically justified. 

On October 29, 2010, American Society of Heating, Refrigeration and Air-Conditioning 

Engineers (ASHRAE) officially released the ANSI/ASHRAE/IESNA Standard 90.1-2010 

(hereafter referred to as ASHRAE Standard 90.1-2010), which addressed efficiency levels for 

certain categories of commercial heating, ventilating, and air-conditioning (HVAC) and water 

heating equipment covered by EPCA. ASHRAE Standard 90.1-2010 revised the efficiency levels 

of the previous ASHRAE Standard 90.1-2007 for certain equipment, such as water-cooled and 

evaporatively-cooled air conditioners and water-source variable refrigerant flow (VRF) heat 

pumps with a cooling capacity < 17,000 Btu/h. The standard also adopted new energy efficiency 

levels for water-source VRF heat pumps with a cooling capacity ≥135,000 Btu/h and for air 

conditioners and condensing units serving computer rooms2

, which were not previously covered 

by DOE’s energy conservation standards.

 1 This Part was subsequently redesignated as Part A-1 for editorial reasons after Part C of Title III of EPCA was 

repealed by Pub. L. 109-58. 2 ASHRAE Standard 90.1-2010 refers to this equipment as “air conditioners and condensing units serving computer 

rooms.” DOE refers to this equipment class as “computer room air conditioners” throughout this document.
1-2

EPCA also requires DOE to amend the test procedures for covered ASHRAE equipment, 

which manufacturers are required to use in order to certify compliance with energy conservation 

standards mandated under EPCA, to be consistent with the amended industry test procedures in 

ASHRAE Standard 90.1 unless clear and convincing evidence suggests that the test procedure 

does not reflect the energy efficiency, energy use, and estimated operating costs of the equipment 

and is unduly burdensome to conduct (42 U.S.C 6314(a)(2)-(4)).

ASHRAE Standard 90.1-2010 updated its referenced test procedures for small (<65,000 

Btu/h) commercial package air conditioning and heating equipment (AHRI 210/240), small3

(≥65,000 Btu/h and <135,000 Btu/h), large and very large commercial package air conditioning 

and heating equipment (AHRI 340/360), commercial warm-air furnaces (Underwriters 

Laboratories (UL) 727 and ANSI Z21.47), and commercial water heaters (ANSI Z21.10.3). 

These test procedures were updated to the current version at the time of the publication of 

ASHRAE Standard 90.1-2010 and also included any addenda to those test procedures that were 

published after the publication of ASHRAE Standard 90.1-2010. ASHRAE Standard 90.1 also 

specifies AHRI 390 as the test procedure for single package vertical air conditioners and single 

package vertical heat pumps, ASHRAE Standard 127-2007 as the test procedure for the new 

equipment class of air conditioners and condensing units serving computer rooms, and AHRI 

1230-2010 as the test procedure for VRF systems, which were previously tested under AHRI 

210/240-2003 and AHRI 340/360-2004.

The Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (EISA 2007) further amended EPCA 

by setting definitions and minimum energy conservation standards for single package vertical air 

conditioners and single package vertical heat pumps (42 U.S.C. 6313(a)(10)(B)) and by 

including a provision specifically for these equipment classes (and no others), which required 

DOE to review the most recently published ASHRAE Standard 90.1 in accordance with the 

procedures established for ASHRAE products under paragraph 42 U.S.C. 63131(a)(6). (42 

U.S.C. 6313(a)(10)(B)). DOE is currently analyzing energy conservation standards for single 

package vertical air conditioners and single package vertical heat pumps part of a separate 

rulemaking; thus, although they are ASHRAE equipment, they are not discussed further in this 

document. 

On May 5, 2011, DOE published a notice of data availability (May 2011 NODA) and 

request for public comment in the Federal Register as a preliminary step pursuant to EPCA’s 

requirements for DOE to consider amended energy conservation standards for certain types of 

commercial equipment covered by ASHRAE Standard 90.1. 76 FR 25622. Specifically, the May 

2011 NODA presented for public comment DOE’s analysis of the potential energy savings 

 3 EPCA defines “small commercial package air-conditioning and heating equipment” as an equipment that is rated 

below 135,000 Btu/h. Thus, the “small” modifier here is used to describe both equipment classes with a cooling 

capacity <65,000 Btu/h and with a cooling capacity ≥65,000 Btu/h and <135,000 Btu/h.
1-3

estimates for amended national energy conservation standards for certain types of commercial 

equipment based on: (1) the modified efficiency levels contained within ASHRAE Standard 

90.1-2010; and (2) more-stringent efficiency levels. Also, the May 2011 NODA presented 

DOE’s analysis about the changes for the new and amended test procedures for ASHRAE 

equipment and asked for comment from the stakeholders about the potential effects of these 

changes.

After receiving public comment from stakeholders on the May 2011 NODA, DOE 

revised its analysis for the ASHRAE equipment under review (water-cooled and evaporativelycooled air conditioners, water-source VRF heat pumps with a cooling capacity less than 17,000 

Btu/h, water-source VRF heat pumps with a cooling capacity greater than or equal to 135,000 

Btu/h, and computer room air conditioners) and summarized the assumptions and presented the 

results in the notice of proposed rulemaking (NOPR) published on January 17, 2012. 77 FR 

2356. In addition, DOE also conducted several other downstream analyses in preparation for the 

NOPR. On February 14, 2012, DOE presented its analysis and results at the NOPR public 

meeting.

At the NOPR public meeting, DOE received many comments disagreeing with the 

DOE’s proposed definition for computer room air conditioners and many comments on 

reviewing the AHRI operations manuals and adopting certain sections that would help clarify the 

DOE test procedures. In response, DOE published a supplementary notice of proposed 

rulemaking (SNOPR) on March 22, 2012. 77 FR 16769. In that document, DOE proposed a 

revised definition for computer room air conditioners and also proposed certain clarifications to 

its test procedure for the covered ASHRAE equipment based on its review of the AHRI 

operations manuals.

Next, DOE received more written comments on the analysis and results in the NOPR, at 

the NOPR public meeting, and in the SNOPR. DOE again responded to those comments and 

revised its analysis where necessary and published a final rule. This technical support document 

offers a more detailed analysis of the final rule. A list of the analyses and the corresponding 

chapter number is presented in the next section.

1.3 STRUCTURE OF THIS DOCUMENT

This final rule TSD outlines the analytical approaches used in this rulemaking. The TSD 

consists of 11 chapters:
1-4

Chapter 1 Introduction: Provides an overview of process to amend energy 

conservation standards for ASHRAE equipment and outlines the structure 

of the document. 

Chapter 2 Market Assessment: Characterizes the market for water-cooled and 

evaporatively-cooled air conditioners, water-source variable refrigerant 

flow heat pumps, and computer room air conditioners.

Chapter 3 Engineering Analysis: Discusses the methods used for developing the 

price-efficiency relationship for computer room air conditioners.

Chapter 4 Energy Use Characterization: Discusses the process used for generating 

energy use estimates for water-cooled and evaporatively-cooled air 

conditioners, variable refrigerant flow systems, and computer room air 

conditioners at the current standard levels and at potential amended 

standard levels.

Chapter 5 Markups for Product Price Determination: Discusses the methods used for 

establishing markups for converting manufacturer prices to customer 

equipment prices.

Chapter 6 Life-Cycle Cost and Payback Period Analysis: Discusses the economic 

effects of standards on commercial customers and users of the equipment 

and compares the LCC and PBP of equipment with and without higher 

energy conservation standards.

Chapter 7 Shipments Analysis: Discusses the methods used for forecasting 

shipments with and without higher energy conservation standards, 

including how equipment purchase decisions are economically influenced 

and modeled with econometric equations.

Chapter 8 National Impact Analysis: Discusses the methods used for forecasting 

national energy consumption and national economic impacts based on 

annual equipment shipments and estimates of future equipment efficiency 

distributions in the absence and presence of higher energy conservation 

standards.

Chapter 9 Emissions Analysis: Discusses the environmental effect of amended 

energy conservation standards, including the impact on emissions of three 
1-5

pollutants: sulfur dioxide (SO2), nitrogen oxides (NOx), and carbon 

dioxide (CO2).

Chapter 10 Monetization of Emission Reductions Benefits: Discusses the 

monetization analysis of potential emissions reductions resulting from 

higher energy conservation standards.

Chapter 11 Utility Impact Analysis: Discusses the effects of standards on the installed 

generation capacity of electric utilities