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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
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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 Notice of Proposed 

Rulemaking (NOPR) 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 

(hereinafter 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. The new ASHRAE Standard 90.1 revised the efficiency 

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

and evaporatively-cooled air conditioning and heating equipment and water-source variable 

refrigerant flow (VRF) systems with a cooling capacity less than 17,000 Btu/h. The standard 

also created new energy efficiency levels for water-source VRF systems with a cooling capacity 

greater than or equal to 135,000 Btu/h and for air conditioners and condensing units serving 

computer rooms

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, which were previously uncovered by DOE’s energy conservation standards.

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

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

 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 “computer room air conditioners” throughout this document.
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standards mandated under EPCA, to be consistent with the amended industry test procedure 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 procedure for small commercial 

package air conditioning and heating equipment (AHRI 210/240), 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. ASHRAE also specifies AHRI 390-

2003 as the test procedure for single package vertical air conditioners and single package vertical 

heat pumps, ASHRAE 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 and AHRI 

340/360.

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 (SPVACs) and single package vertical heat pumps (SPVHPs) (42 U.S.C.

6313(a)(10)(B)). EISA 2007 also amended EPCA to include 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

SPVACs and SPVHPs as 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 

estimates for amended national energy conservation standards for types of commercial 

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

90.1-2010; and (2) more-stringent efficiency levels. DOE has described these analyses and 

preliminary conclusions and sought input from interested parties, including the submission of 

data and other relevant information. 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.
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After receiving public comment on the May 2011 NODA, DOE revised its analysis for 

the ASHRAE equipment under review (water-cooled and evaporatively-cooled air conditioning 

and heating equipment, 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) used in the NODA and summarized the assumptions 

and presents the results in this TSD. In addition, DOE conducted several other analyses in 

preparation for publishing this notice of proposed rulemaking (NOPR) and TSD for the 

ASHRAE equipment under review. A list of the analyses and the corresponding chapter number 

is presented in the next section.

1.3 STRUCTURE OF THIS DOCUMENT

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

consists of 11 chapters:

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 systems, and air conditioners 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 
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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 

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