57612 Federal Register / Vol. 76, No. 179 / Thursday, September 15, 2011 / Rules and Regulations 

* * * * * 

[FR Doc. 2011–22329 Filed 9–14–11; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6450–01–P 

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY 

10 CFR Part 430 

[Docket No. EERE–2009–BT–TP–0003] 

RIN 1904–AB92 

Energy Efficiency Program for 

Consumer Products: Test Procedures 

for Residential Refrigerators, 

Refrigerator-Freezers, and Freezers 

AGENCY: Office of Energy Efficiency and 

Renewable Energy, Department of 

Energy. 

ACTION: Interim final rule; reopening of 

comment period. 

SUMMARY: This document announces a 

limited reopening of the comment 

period for interested parties seeking to 

submit comments on the December 16, 

2011 interim final rule to amend the test 

procedures for residential refrigerators, 

refrigerator-freezers, and freezers that 

will apply to products that are 

manufactured starting in 2014. The 

comment period is extended until 

October 17, 2011. 

DATES: Comments must be submitted no 

later than October 17, 2011. 

ADDRESSES: Any comments submitted 

must identify the ‘‘Interim Final Rule on 

Test Procedures for Residential 

Refrigerators, Refrigerator-Freezers, and 

Freezers’’ and provide the appropriate 

docket number EERE–2009–BT–TP– 

0003 and/or RIN number 1904–AB92. 

Comments may be submitted using any 

of the following methods: 

• Federal eRulemaking Portal: http:// 

www.regulations.gov. Follow the 

instructions for submitting comments. 

• E-mail: Refrig-2009-TP-0003@ee.

doe.gov. Include docket number EERE– 

BT–TP–0003 and/or RIN number 1904– 

AB92 in the subject line of the message. 

• Mail: Ms. Brenda Edwards, U.S. 

Department of Energy, Building 

Technologies Program, Mail-stop EE–2J, 

Interim Final Rule for Test Procedures 

for Refrigerators and RefrigeratorFreezers, docket number EERE–2009– 

BT–TP–0003 and/or RIN number 1904– 

AB92, 1000 Independence Avenue, SW., 

Washington, DC 20585–0121. Please 

submit one signed paper original. 

• Hand Delivery/Courier: Ms. Brenda 

Edwards, U.S. Department of Energy, 

Building Technologies Program, 950 

L’Enfant Plaza, SW., Suite 600, 

Washington, DC 20024. Telephone: 

(202) 586–2945. Please submit one 

signed paper original. 

The public may review copies of all 

materials related to this rulemaking at 

the U.S. Department of Energy, Resource 

Room of the Building Technologies 

Program, 950 L’Enfant Plaza, SW., Suite 

600, Washington, DC, (202) 586–2945, 

between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m., Monday 

through Friday, except Federal holidays. 

Please call Ms. Brenda Edwards at the 

above telephone number for additional 

information regarding visiting the 

Resource Room. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. 

Lucas Adin, U.S. Department of Energy, 

Office of Energy Efficiency and 

Renewable Energy, Building 

Technologies Program, EE–2J, 1000 

Independence Avenue, SW., 

Washington, DC 20585–0121. 

Telephone: (202) 287–1317. E-mail: 

Lucas.Adin@ee.doe.gov. 

Mr. Michael Kido, U.S. Department of 

Energy, Office of the General Counsel, 

GC–71, 1000 Independence Avenue, 

SW., Washington, DC 20585–0121. 

Telephone: (202) 586–8145. E-mail: 

Michael.Kido@hq.doe.gov. 

For information on how to submit or 

review public comments, contact Ms. 

Brenda Edwards, U.S. Department of 

Energy, Office of Energy Efficiency and 

Renewable Energy, Building 

Technologies Program, EE–2J, 1000 

Independence Avenue, SW., 

Washington, DC 20585–0121. 

Telephone: (202) 586–2945. E-mail: 

Brenda.Edwards@ee.doe.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On 

December 16, 2010, the U.S. Department 

of Energy (DOE) published in the 

Federal Register a Final Rule that 

amended the test procedures for 

residential refrigerators, refrigeratorfreezers, and freezers (collectively, 

‘‘refrigeration products’’). 75 FR 78810. 

The amended test procedures for 

residential refrigerators and refrigeratorfreezers are found in 10 CFR part 430, 

subpart B, appendix A1 and the test 

procedures for residential freezers are 

found in 10 CFR part 430, subpart B, 

appendix B1. These revised test 

procedures, which do not affect 

measured energy use, became effective 

on January 18, 2011. Consistent with 42 

U.S.C. 6293(c)(2), however, 

manufacturers do not need to use these 

procedures for making representations 

regarding energy usage until June 14, 

2011. 

Concurrently with this Final Rule, 

DOE published an Interim Final Rule 

establishing new amended test 

procedures for these products, 

Appendix A and Appendix B, that 

incorporate the same revisions made to 

Appendix A1 and Appendix B1. 75 FR 

78810. The Interim Final Rule also 

included amendments to these 

procedures that will, once finalized, 

apply to refrigeration products starting 

in 2014. It also provided interested 

parties with an opportunity to submit 

comments on the Interim Final Rule by 

February 14, 2011—i.e., an extra 60 days 

within which to provide comment. 

On February 7, 2011, prior to the 

closing of that comment period, DOE 

received an emailed request from the 

Association of Home Appliance 

Manufacturers (AHAM) requesting that 

DOE extend the comment period 

deadline to ‘‘30 days after the 

[refrigeration products] standards final 

rule is made available to the public.’’ 

That email noted that AHAM had also 

consulted with the American Council 

for an Energy Efficient Economy 

regarding this request. 

The AHAM request explained that the 

group required additional time to 

provide comment to the agency. AHAM 

asserted that: 

The Department released the test 

procedure for refrigerator/freezers as a final 

rule and interim final rule in order to allow 

stakeholders to comment on the necessary 

revisions to the energy conservation 

standards. DOE’s strategy, as discussed with 

AHAM, assumed that the standards final rule 

would be released no later than the 

statutorily mandated deadline of December 

31, 2010. But that final rule has not been 

released. Thus, stakeholders cannot provide 

substantive comments and data on whether 

the equations are accurate or require some 

revision. (Emphasis in original.) 

DOE notes that once it issues a final 

rule promulgating the energy 

conservation standards for a particular 

product type, the agency is prohibited 

by statute from altering those standards 

in any way that would permit either an 

increase in the maximum energy 

consumption of that product or a 

decrease in that product’s minimum 

energy efficiency. See 42 U.S.C. 

6295(o)(1). As a result, to the extent that 

interested parties seek a wholesale 

revision of the standards that DOE has 

set, barring the presence of calculation 

or typographical error, those standards 

cannot be altered in a manner that 

would result in refrigeration products 

that consume more energy—or that are 

less efficient. 

However, to ensure that the test 

procedure accurately captures as 

reasonably as possible the energy 

consumption of those products that are 

addressed in the Interim Final Rule, 

DOE is re-opening the comment period 

for that test procedure proceeding to 

enable interested parties to comment 

given that the energy conservation 

standards rule has been issued. The 

purpose of this limited re-opening is to 


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Federal Register / Vol. 76, No. 179 / Thursday, September 15, 2011 / Rules and Regulations 57613 

permit interested parties to comment on 

the interplay between the test procedure 

and the energy conservation standards 

in order to permit DOE to make any 

final changes that may be needed to the 

final test procedure for products that 

will be manufactured starting in 2014. 

Accordingly, consistent with AHAM’s 

request, DOE is re-opening its comment 

period on the Interim Final Rule for 

refrigeration products for a period of 30 

days. 

DOE notes that if it were to amend 

Appendix A or Appendix B to ensure 

that the procedure adequately measures 

the energy consumption of a given 

product and an accompanying 

adjustment were required to the energy 

conservation standard to ensure that the 

same level of efficiency or energy use 

would result, it is DOE’s view that such 

a change would not constitute 

backsliding of the standard under 42 

U.S.C. 6295(o)(1). Accordingly, should 

any adjustments to Appendix A or 

Appendix B prove necessary, additional 

information from interested parties 

explaining the nature and impact of any 

suggested changes would be of 

substantial benefit in finalizing the test 

procedure. 

Although DOE seeks comment 

generally on the Interim Final Rule, it 

also notes that the Whirlpool 

Corporation (Whirlpool) recently raised 

a specific issue on a related matter 

involving a test procedure waiver 

request from Samsung Electronics 

America, Inc. (Samsung). In that 

request, Samsung sought a waiver from 

the current test procedure in order to 

permit it to use the multiple defrost 

cycle test that DOE presented in its 

Interim Final Rule. See 76 FR 16760 

(March 25, 2011). In response to that 

request, Whirlpool asked DOE, among 

other things, not to grant a ‘‘permanent 

waiver’’ to Samsung without first 

correcting certain calculation errors in 

the test procedure, which are described 

in detail below. See generally, Letter 

from J.B. Hoyt, Director, Government 

Relations, Whirlpool Corporation, to 

Henry Kelly, Acting Assistant Secretary, 

Office of Energy Efficiency and 

Renewable Energy (EERE), DOE (April 

25, 2011). 

DOE notes that during the test 

procedure’s comment period, Whirlpool 

stated that it agreed with DOE’s 

proposed amendments to the equation 

that were ultimately adopted in the 

Interim Final Rule. See Whirlpool 

Comments on the Refrigeration Products 

Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (Docket 

Number EERE–2009–BT–TP–0003, No. 

12.1, at p. 6). However, its comments 

regarding Samsung’s waiver request test 

procedure suggested that revisions to 

the procedure manufacturers would 

need to follow under Appendix A for all 

products with long-time or variable 

defrost, might be necessary. 

In particular, Whirlpool pointed to 

possible issues involving the accuracy 

of the second part of the energy test for 

products with long-time automatic 

defrost, which is described in section 

4.2.1 of Appendix A. This portion of the 

procedure is intended to capture the 

energy consumed during all of the 

events occurring with the defrost 

control sequence that are outside of 

stable operation. According to 

Whirlpool, the test method prescribed 

in Appendix A, which is the same 

method Samsung requested to use in its 

waiver, may inadvertently provide an 

energy ‘‘credit’’ to some products by 

including in the measurement an 

excessive portion of time during which 

the compressor is not running. The size 

of this credit, if any, is determined 

mainly by the characteristics of a 

product’s compressor cycles and may be 

exaggerated in products with especially 

long cycles. 

DOE observed this phenomenon 

during product testing conducted for the 

test procedure rulemaking and raised 

the issue for comment during the public 

meeting on the Refrigeration Products 

Test Procedures Notice of Proposed 

Rulemaking held June 22, 2010 (Public 

Meeting Presentation, No. 9 at p. 53). At 

the meeting, DOE raised the possibility 

that accurate measurement of the energy 

consumption associated with the defrost 

cycle may require revision of the test 

period—specifically, the use of a 

different end time. Other than general 

statements of support for DOE’s 

proposed approach, the agency received 

no substantive comments on this issue 

during the NOPR comment period. 

In order to address this issue, and to 

ensure that the procedure accounts for 

all energy use associated with defrost 

cycles, including any special cycles 

related to the defrost cycle such as a 

pre-cooling cycle before defrost or 

temperature recovery following defrost, 

DOE may consider the adoption of 

alternative approaches to the method 

currently laid out in Appendix A (and 

the corresponding portions of Appendix 

B). Specifically, DOE may consider 

modifying the test procedure for the 

second part of the test for products with 

long-time or variable defrost with 

cycling compressor systems (Appendix 

A, section 4.2.1.1) so that it ends at the 

termination of the first regular 

compressor cycle after the temperatures 

have fully recovered to their stable 

conditions rather than ending at the 

initiation of that cycle. 

DOE seeks comments on whether any 

revisions are required to the test period 

for the second part of the test for such 

products to properly account for the 

energy consumption associated with 

defrost cycles. Based upon the 

comments received in response to this 

notice, as well as additional analysis 

performed by DOE as a result of 

objections to the Samsung waiver 

request, DOE will consider whether to 

adopt one of the alternatives noted 

above or another appropriate alternative 

to the current version of the procedure 

in Appendix A and Appendix B. 

Further Information on Submitting 

Comments 

Under 10 CFR 1004.11, any person 

submitting information that he or she 

believes to be confidential and exempt 

by law from public disclosure should 

submit two copies: one copy of the 

document including all the information 

believed to be confidential, and one 

copy of the document with the 

information believed to be confidential 

deleted. DOE will make its own 

determination about the confidential 

status of the information and treat it 

according to its determination. 

Factors of interest to DOE when 

evaluating requests to treat submitted 

information as confidential include (1) 

A description of the items, (2) whether 

and why such items are customarily 

treated as confidential within the 

industry, (3) whether the information is 

generally known by or available from 

other sources, (4) whether the 

information has previously been made 

available to others without obligation 

concerning its confidentiality, (5) an 

explanation of the competitive injury to 

the submitting person which would 

result from public disclosure, (6) when 

such information might lose its 

confidential character due to the 

passage of time, and (7) why disclosure 

of the information would be contrary to 

the public interest. 

Issued in Washington, DC, on August 25, 

2011. 

Timothy Unruh, 

Program Manager, Federal Energy 

Management Program, Energy Efficiency and 

Renewable Energy. 

[FR Doc. 2011–22330 Filed 9–14–11; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6450–01–P 


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