I 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1786 

To establish a Best-in-Class Appliances Deployment Program. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 30, 2009 

Ms. HARMAN introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Energy and Commerce 

A BILL 

To establish a Best-in-Class Appliances Deployment 

Program. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. BEST-IN-CLASS APPLIANCES DEPLOYMENT 

4 PROGRAM. 

5 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Energy shall, in 

6 consultation with the Administrator, establish and admin7 ister a program to be known as the ‘‘Best-in-Class Appli8 ances Deployment Program’’. 

9 (b) PURPOSE.—The purpose of the Best-in-Class Ap10 pliances Deployment Program is to reward retailers with 

11 bonuses for increasing the sales of best-in-class high-effiVerDate Nov 24 2008 21:27 Mar 31, 2009 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1786.IH H1786

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1 ciency installed building equipment, high-efficiency con2 sumer electronics, and high-efficiency household appliance 

3 models, with the goal of reducing life-cycle costs for con4 sumers, encouraging innovation, and maximizing energy 

5 savings and public benefit. The program shall include 

6 bounties under subsection (c) to retailers for the replace7 ment and recycling of old, inefficient, and environmentally 

8 harmful appliances. The program shall also include bo9 nuses under subsection (d) to manufacturers for devel10 oping new Superefficient Best-in-Class Products. 

11 (c) INCENTIVES FOR SALES OF BEST-IN-CLASS

12 PRODUCT MODELS.— 

13 (1) SELECTION OF BEST-IN-CLASS PRODUCT

14 MODELS.—In establishing the program, the Sec15 retary of Energy shall use broad product classes and 

16 select as qualifying Best-in-Class Product models no 

17 more than the most efficient ten percent of the com18 mercially available product models in a class that 

19 demonstrate, as a group, a distinctly greater energy 

20 efficiency than the average energy efficiency of that 

21 class of appliances. In selecting models, the Sec22 retary shall— 

23 (A) identify commercially available models 

24 in the relevant class of products; 


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1 (B) identify the subgroup and percentage 

2 of those models (not greater than 10 percent) 

3 that the Secretary believes share the distinctly 

4 higher energy-efficiency characteristics that 

5 warrant designation as best-in-class; 

6 (C) specify the higher energy-efficiency 

7 characteristic they share; 

8 (D) announce the best-in-class designation 

9 and the best-in-class bonus to be paid for each 

10 sale of an eligible best-in-class model over a 3- 

11 year period beginning on the date of the an12 nouncement; 

13 (E) add other models in that class to the 

14 list of best-in-class models eligible for the bonus 

15 as they demonstrate their ability to meet the 

16 higher-efficiency characteristics on which the 

17 designation was made; and 

18 (F) make bonus payments for qualifying 

19 models sold during the 3-year period. 

20 (2) REVIEW OF BEST-IN-CLASS STANDARDS.— 

21 The Secretary shall review annually the product-spe22 cific criteria and the product models that qualify as 

23 Best-in-Class Products and, after a 30-day comment 

24 period, make upwards adjustments in the efficiency 

25 criteria as required to maintain an appropriate ratio 


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1 of such product models to the total number of prod2 uct models in the product class. 

3 (3) UPGRADE OF BEST-IN-CLASS PRODUCT ELI4 GIBILITY.—To the extent that the Secretary deter5 mines to increase the energy efficiency required to 

6 qualify for best-in-class designation within any group 

7 of product models, the Secretary shall— 

8 (A) consider any Superefficient Best-in9 Class Product models that have been designated 

10 pursuant to subsection (d); 

11 (B) specify and announce the new higher 

12 best-in-class standard; 

13 (C) list those models that qualify as best14 in-class under the new higher standard; 

15 (D) announce any change in the bonus 

16 payment appropriate to increase the market 

17 share of such best-in-class models, which shall 

18 not be lower than any ongoing bonus payment 

19 during the 3-year period for any prior designa20 tion of best-in-class models; 

21 (E) pay the new bonus payment for any 

22 models already qualifying under the earlier 

23 best-in-class standard that continue to qualify 

24 under the revised standard for a new 3-year-pe25 riod; and 


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1 (F) continue paying bonus payments at the 

2 original level to any models that qualified at 

3 that level but do not qualify at the new level for 

4 the remainder of the 3-year period announced 

5 with the original designation. 

6 (4) SIZE OF INDIVIDUAL BONUS PAYMENTS.— 

7 The size of each bonus payment shall be the product 

8 of— 

9 (A) an amount determined by the Sec10 retary; and 

11 (B) the difference in energy consumption 

12 as determined by comparing the energy used by 

13 the qualifying product and the energy used by 

14 the average product in the product class. 

15 The Secretary shall determine the amount under 

16 subparagraph (A) for each product type in consulta17 tion with State and utility efficiency program admin18 istrators as well as the Administrator, based on esti19 mates of the amount of bonus payment that would 

20 provide significant incentive to increase the market 

21 share of Best-in-Class Products. 

22 (5) ELIGIBLE BONUS RECIPIENT.—(A) The 

23 Secretary shall ensure that not more than 1 bonus 

24 payment is provided to distributors and retailers per 

25 unit of eligible models sold. 


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1 (B) In this section— 

2 (i) the term ‘‘retailer’’ means an indi3 vidual, organization, or company that sells 

4 products directly to end-users; and 

5 (ii) the term ‘‘distributor’’ mean an indi6 vidual, organization, or company that sells 

7 products in multiple lots and not directly to in8 dividual end-users. 

9 (C) The Secretary may make distributors eligi10 ble to receive the best-in-class incentive for sales 

11 that are not to the final end-user in addition to re12 tailers to the extent that the Secretary determines 

13 that for a particular product category distributors 

14 are well situated to increase sales of Best-in-Class 

15 Products. 

16 (d) BOUNTIES FOR REPLACEMENT AND RETIRE17 MENT OF EXISTING LOW-EFFICIENCY PRODUCTS.— 

18 (1) The Secretary of Energy shall establish a 

19 program to make a bounty payment for the recovery 

20 and recycling of older operating low-efficiency appli21 ances that might otherwise continue in operation. 

22 (2) The Secretary shall offer a bounty as an ad23 ditional incentive for retailers based on documenta24 tion that the sales of a Best-in-Class Product were 

25 accompanied by the retirement and recycling of an 


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1 existing inefficient but still-functioning product by 

2 the consumer to whom the Best-in-Class Product 

3 was sold. 

4 (3) The bounty payment shall be based on the 

5 difference between the estimated energy use of the 

6 product replaced and the energy use of an average 

7 new product in the product class, discounted for the 

8 estimated remaining lifetime of the product that was 

9 recycled. 

10 (4) The Secretary may specify that the avail11 ability of a product bonus related to sale of a Best12 in-Class Product is linked to the recovery and recy13 cling of an older working appliance, and may limit 

14 the total payment to less than the sum of the bonus 

15 and the bounty payments, if not doing so would 

16 mean that the Nation’s total energy use would oth17 erwise increase. 

18 (5) The Secretary shall ensure that no product 

19 for which a bounty is paid is sold or returned to ac20 tive service, but that it is instead destroyed, and re21 cycled to the extent feasible. 

22 (6) The Secretary shall establish standards for 

23 environmentally responsible methods of recycling, es24 pecially for products utilizing refrigerants. 


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1 (e) REWARDS TO MANUFACTURERS FOR DEVELOP2 MENT OF SUPEREFFICIENT BEST-IN-CLASS PRODUCTS.— 

3 (1) IN GENERAL.—(A) The Secretary of Energy 

4 shall establish a program to reward manufacturers 

5 for the development and production of Superefficient 

6 Best-in-Class Products. 

7 (B) In this section, the term ‘‘Superefficient 

8 Best-in-Class Product’’ means a product that— 

9 (i) can be mass produced; and 

10 (ii) achieves the highest level of efficiency 

11 that the Secretary finds could be produced and 

12 sold commercially to mass-market consumers. 

13 (C) The Secretary may establish a standard for 

14 a Superefficient Best-in-Class Product even if no ex15 isting product exists, if the Secretary has reasonable 

16 grounds to conclude that a mass-producable product 

17 could be made to meet that standard. 

18 (D) The Secretary may also establish a super19 efficient best-in-class level that is met by one or 

20 more existing Best-in-Class Product models if those 

21 product models have distinct energy efficiency at22 tributes and performance characteristics that make 

23 them significantly better, in the judgment of the 

24 Secretary, than those product models qualifying as 

25 best-in-class, but that represent not more than 10 


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1 percent of the currently qualifying best-in-class mod2 els. 

3 (2) REWARD.— 

4 (A) The bonus payment provided to a 

5 manufacturer for the development and produc6 tion of a Superefficient Best-in-Class Product 

7 shall be in addition to any bonus payments 

8 made to retailers for best-in-class qualification. 

9 (B) The amount of the bonus paid per unit 

10 for qualifying Superefficient Best-in-Class 

11 Product models as sold to retailers or distribu12 tors shall be the product of— 

13 (i) an amount determined by the Sec14 retary; and 

15 (ii) the difference in energy consump16 tion as determined by comparing the en17 ergy used by the qualifying product and 

18 the energy used by the average product in 

19 the product class. 

20 (C) The Secretary shall determine the 

21 amount under subparagraph (B)(i) for each 

22 product type by considering the present value to 

23 the Nation of the energy (and water or other 

24 resources or inputs) saved over the useful life of 

25 the product, and may adjust this value upward 


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1 or downward after consultation with State and 

2 utility efficiency program administrators as well 

3 as the Administrator. 

4 (D) The adjustment may also be made 

5 based on the effect of the reward on the sales 

6 of products in different classes that may be af7 fected by this program. 

8 (E) The incremental bonus payments shall 

9 be applied to sales of any Superefficient Best10 in-Class Product for the first 3 years of its sale. 

11 (3) COORDINATION OF INCENTIVES.—No prod12 uct for which Federal tax credit is received under 

13 section 45M of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 

14 shall be eligible to receive bonus payments pursuant 

15 to this subsection. 

16 (f) REPORTING.—Each retailer, distributor, and 

17 manufacturer participating in the program under this sec18 tion shall meet any reasonable request of the Secretary 

19 of Energy for documentation of sales reported for purpose 

20 of receiving bonuses or bounties, and shall report to the 

21 Secretary, on a confidential basis for program-design pur22 poses— 

23 (1) for retailers and distributors, the number of 

24 units sold within each product type and model-spe25 cific wholesale purchase price on a monthly basis; 


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1 (2) for manufacturers, model-specific energy 

2 consumption data; and 

3 (3) for manufacturers, on an immediate basis, 

4 concerning any product design or function changes 

5 that affect the energy consumption of the unit. 

6 (g) AUDITING REQUIREMENTS.—The Secretary of 

7 Energy shall establish monitoring and verification proto8 cols to ensure that energy consumption tests for each 

9 model are recorded correctly and that sales of energy-effi10 cient models are tabulated correctly by each claimant of 

11 bonus or bounty payments under this section. In addition, 

12 the Secretary may require reports from retailers on the 

13 methods used to increase the sales of qualifying products 

14 as a factor in determining the level and allocation of any 

15 such payments. 

16 (h) DISCLOSURE.—The Secretary of Energy may re17 quire that retailers and distributors disclose publicly and 

18 to consumers their participation in the program under this 

19 section. 

20 (i) COST-EFFECTIVENESS REQUIREMENT.— 

21 (1) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection: 

22 (A) COST-EFFECTIVENESS.—The term 

23 ‘‘cost-effectiveness’’ means a measure of aggre24 gate savings in the cost of energy over the life25 time of the product as a ratio to the cost to the 


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1 Secretary of Energy of the rewards for the 

2 product. 

3 (B) SAVINGS.—The term ‘‘savings’’ means 

4 the cumulative megawatt-hours of electricity or 

5 million British thermal units of other fuels 

6 saved by a product, in comparison to projected 

7 energy consumption based on the efficiency per8 formance of displaced new product sales. The 

9 amount of savings is the product of— 

10 (i) the net number of best-in-class or 

11 superefficient best-in-class pieces of equip12 ment, electronics, and appliances sold by a 

13 retailer, manufacturer, or distributor in a 

14 calendar year; 

15 (ii) the savings during the projected 

16 useful life of the pieces of equipment, elec17 tronics, and appliances; and 

18 (iii) the impact of any documented 

19 measures to retire and recycle low-per20 forming devices at the time of purchase of 

21 highly-efficient substitutes. 

22 (2) REQUIREMENT.—The Secretary shall make 

23 cost-effectiveness a top priority in designing and ad24 ministering this section, except that the cost-effec25 tiveness of the rewards to manufacturers, in aggreVerDate Nov 24 2008 21:27 Mar 31, 2009 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00012 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1786.IH H1786

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1 gate, may be lower by this measure than that of the 

2 rewards to retailers and distributors. 

3 (j) AUTHORIZATION.—There are authorized to be ap4 propriated such sums as may be necessary for each of the 

5 fiscal years 2010 through 2014 to the Secretary of Energy 

6 for purposes of this section, of which not more than 10 

7 percent for any fiscal year may be expended on program 

8 administration. 

Æ 


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