This section of the FEDERAL REGISTER

contains notices to the public of the proposed

issuance of rules and regulations. The

purpose of these notices is to give interested

persons an opportunity to participate in the

rule making prior to the adoption of the final

rules.

Proposed Rules Federal Register

34498 

Vol. 83, No. 140 

Friday, July 20, 2018 

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY 

10 CFR Part 431 

Appliance Standards and Rulemaking 

Federal Advisory Committee: Notice of 

Public Meetings for the Variable 

Refrigerant Flow Multi-Split Air 

Conditioners and Heat Pumps Working 

Group To Negotiate a Notice of 

Proposed Rulemaking for Test 

Procedures and Energy Conservation 

Standards 

AGENCY: Office of Energy Efficiency and 

Renewable Energy, U.S. Department of 

Energy. 

ACTION: Notification of public meetings 

and webinar. 

SUMMARY: The U.S. Department of 

Energy (DOE or the Department) 

announces public meetings for the 

variable refrigerant flow multi-split air 

conditioners and heat pumps (VRF 

multi-split systems) working group. The 

Federal Advisory Committee Act 

(FACA) requires that agencies publish 

notice of an advisory committee meeting 

in the Federal Register. 

DATES: DOE will hold a public meeting 

on August 23, 2018 from 9 a.m. to 5 

p.m., and on August 24, 2018 from 9 

a.m. to 1 p.m., in Washington, DC. The 

meetings will also be broadcast as a 

webinar. 

ADDRESSES: The public meetings will be 

held at the U.S. Department of Energy, 

Forrestal Building, Room 8E–089, 1000 

Independence Avenue SW, Washington, 

DC 20585–0121. Please see the Public 

Participation section of this notice for 

additional information on attending the 

public meeting, including webinar 

registration information, participant 

instructions, and information about the 

capabilities available to webinar 

participants. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: John 

Cymbalsky, U.S. Department of Energy, 

Office of Building Technologies (EE– 

5B), 950 L’Enfant Plaza SW, 

Washington, DC 20024. Phone: (202) 

287–1692. Email: ASRAC@ee.doe.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On 

January 10th 2018, the Appliance 

Standards and Rulemaking Federal 

Advisory Committee (ASRAC) met and 

passed the recommendation to form a 

VRF multi-split systems working group 

to meet and discuss and, if possible, 

reach a consensus on proposed federal 

test procedures and standards for VRF 

multi-split systems. On Wednesday, 

April 11, 2018, DOE published a notice 

of intent to establish a working group 

for VRF multi-split systems to negotiate 

a notice of proposed rulemaking for test 

procedures and energy conservations 

standards. The notice also solicited 

nominations for membership to the 

working group. 83 FR 15514. This 

notice announces the first two meetings 

for this working group. 

DOE will host a public meeting on 

August 23, 2018 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., 

and on August 24, 2018 from 9 a.m. to 

1 p.m., in Washington, DC. 

The purpose of these meetings will be 

to provide an overview of the ASRAC 

negotiation process, establish ground 

rules, and establish a schedule for future 

meetings. The meeting will also include 

discussions and review of the VRF 

multi-split market and test procedure. 

Public Participation 

Attendance at Public Meeting 

The time, date and location of the 

public meeting are listed in the DATES

and ADDRESSES sections of this 

document. If you plan to attend the 

public meeting, please notify the 

ASRAC staff at asrac@ee.doe.gov. 

Please note that foreign nationals 

participating in the public meeting are 

subject to advance security screening 

procedures which require advance 

notice prior to attendance at the public 

meeting. If a foreign national wishes to 

participate in the public meeting, please 

inform DOE as soon as possible by 

contacting Ms. Regina Washington at 

(202) 586–1214 or by email: 

Regina.Washington@ee.doe.gov so that 

the necessary procedures can be 

completed. 

DOE requires visitors to have laptops 

and other devices, such as tablets, 

checked upon entry into the building. 

Any person wishing to bring these 

devices into the Forrestal Building will 

be required to obtain a property pass. 

Visitors should avoid bringing these 

devices, or allow an extra 45 minutes to 

check in. Please report to the visitor’s 

desk to have devices checked before 

proceeding through security. 

Due to the REAL ID Act implemented 

by the Department of Homeland 

Security (DHS), there have been recent 

changes regarding ID requirements for 

individuals wishing to enter Federal 

buildings from specific States and U.S. 

territories. DHS maintains an updated 

website identifying the State and 

territory driver’s licenses that currently 

are acceptable for entry into DOE 

facilities at https://www.dhs.gov/real-idenforcement-brief. A driver’s license 

from a State or territory identified as not 

compliant by DHS will not be accepted 

for building entry and one of the 

alternate forms of ID listed below will 

be required. Acceptable alternate forms 

of Photo-ID include U.S. Passport or 

Passport Card; an Enhanced Driver’s 

License or Enhanced ID-Card issued by 

States and territories as identified on the 

DHS website (Enhanced licenses issued 

by these States and territories are clearly 

marked Enhanced or Enhanced Driver’s 

License); a military ID or other Federal 

government-issued Photo-ID card. 

In addition, you can attend the public 

meeting via webinar. Webinar 

registration information, participant 

instructions, and information about the 

capabilities available to webinar 

participants will be published on DOE’s 

website: https://energy.gov/eere/ 

buildings/appliance-standards-andrulemaking-federal-advisory-committee. 

Participants are responsible for ensuring 

their systems are compatible with the 

webinar software. 

Procedure for Submitting Prepared 

General Statements for Distribution 

Any person who has plans to present 

a prepared general statement may 

request that copies of his or her 

statement be made available at the 

public meeting. Such persons may 

submit requests, along with an advance 

electronic copy of their statement in 

PDF (preferred), Microsoft Word or 

Excel, WordPerfect, or text (ASCII) file 

format, to the appropriate address 

shown in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION

CONTACT section of this notice. The 

request and advance copy of statements 

must be received at least one week 

before the public meeting and may be 

emailed, hand-delivered, or sent by 

mail. DOE prefers to receive requests 

and advance copies via email. Please 

include a telephone number to enable 


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Federal Register / Vol. 83, No. 140 / Friday, July 20, 2018 / Proposed Rules 34499 

DOE staff to make a follow-up contact, 

if needed. 

Conduct of Public Meeting 

ASRAC’s Designated Federal Officer 

will preside at the public meeting and 

may also use a professional facilitator to 

aid discussion. The meeting will not be 

a judicial or evidentiary-type public 

hearing, but DOE will conduct it in 

accordance with section 336 of EPCA 

(42 U.S.C. 6306). A court reporter will 

be present to record the proceedings and 

prepare a transcript. A transcript of the 

public meeting will be included on 

DOE’s website: https://energy.gov/eere/ 

buildings/appliance-standards-andrulemaking-federal-advisory-committee. 

In addition, any person may buy a copy 

of the transcript from the transcribing 

reporter. Public comment and 

statements will be allowed prior to the 

close of the meeting. 

Docket 

The docket is available for review at 

https://www.regulations.gov/ 

docket?D=EERE-2018-BT-STD-0003, 

including Federal Register notices, 

public meeting attendee lists and 

transcripts, comments, and other 

supporting documents/materials. All 

documents in the docket are listed in 

the regulations.gov index. However, not 

all documents listed in the index may 

be publically available, such as 

information that is exempt from public 

disclosure. 

Signed in Washington, DC, on June 28, 

2018. 

Kathleen B. Hogan, 

Deputy Assistant Secretary for Energy 

Efficiency, Energy Efficiency and Renewable 

Energy. 

[FR Doc. 2018–15579 Filed 7–19–18; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6450–01–P 

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY 

10 CFR Part 431 

[EERE–2017–BT–TP–0020] 

Energy Conservation Program: Test 

Procedure for Single Package Vertical 

Air Conditioners and Single Package 

Vertical Heat Pumps 

AGENCY: Office of Energy Efficiency and 

Renewable Energy, Department of 

Energy. 

ACTION: Request for information. 

SUMMARY: The U.S. Department of 

Energy (‘‘DOE’’) is initiating a data 

collection process through this request 

for information (‘‘RFI’’) to consider 

whether to amend DOE’s test procedure 

for single package vertical air 

conditioners (‘‘SPVACs’’) and single 

package vertical heat pumps 

(‘‘SPVHPs’’), collectively referred to as 

single package vertical units (‘‘SPVUs’’). 

To inform interested parties and to 

facilitate the process, DOE has gathered 

data, identifying several issues 

associated with the currently applicable 

test procedure on which DOE is 

interested in receiving comment. The 

issues outlined in this document mainly 

concern: Incorporation by reference of 

the applicable industry standard; 

efficiency metrics; clarification of test 

methods; and any additional topics that 

may inform DOE’s decisions in a future 

test procedure rulemaking, including 

methods to reduce regulatory burden 

while ensuring the procedure’s 

accuracy. DOE welcomes written 

comments from the public on any of 

subject within the scope of this 

document (including topics not raised 

in this RFI). 

DATES: Written comments and 

information are requested and will be 

accepted on or before September 4, 

2018. 

ADDRESSES: Interested persons are 

encouraged to submit comments by any 

of the following methods: 

1. Federal eRulemaking Portal: http:// 

www.regulations.gov. Follow the 

instructions for submitting comments. 

2. Email: SPVACandHeatPumps2017

TP0020@ee.doe.gov. Include docket 

number EERE–2017–BT–TP–0020 in the 

subject line of the message. 

3. Postal Mail: Appliance and 

Equipment Standards Program, U.S. 

Department of Energy, Building 

Technologies Office, Mailstop EE–5B, 

Test Procedure RFI for Single Package 

Vertical Air Conditioners and Heat 

Pumps, Docket No. EERE–2017–BT–TP– 

0020, 1000 Independence Avenue SW, 

Washington, DC 20585–0121. If 

possible, please submit all items on a 

compact disc (‘‘CD’’), in which case it is 

not necessary to include printed copies. 

4. Hand Delivery/Courier: Appliance 

and Equipment Standards Program, U.S. 

Department of Energy, Building 

Technologies Office, 950 L’Enfant Plaza 

SW, Suite 600, Washington, DC 20024. 

Telephone: (202) 287–1445. If possible, 

please submit all items on a CD, in 

which case it is not necessary to include 

printed copies. 

No telefacsimilies (faxes) will be 

accepted. For detailed instructions on 

submitting comments and additional 

information on the rulemaking process, 

see section III of this document. 

Docket: The docket for this activity, 

which includes Federal Register 

notices, comments, and other 

supporting documents/materials, is 

available for review at http://

www.regulations.gov. All documents in 

the docket are listed in the http://

www.regulations.gov index. However, 

some documents listed in the index, 

such as those containing information 

that is exempt from public disclosure, 

may not be publicly available. 

The docket web page can be found at 

https://www.regulations.gov/ 

docket?D=EERE-2017-BT-TP-0020. The 

docket web page contains instructions 

on how to access all documents, 

including public comments, in the 

docket. See section III for information 

on how to submit comments through 

http://www.regulations.gov. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Ms. Catherine Rivest, U.S. Department 

of Energy, Office of Energy Efficiency 

and Renewable Energy, Building 

Technologies Office, EE–5B, 1000 

Independence Avenue SW, Washington, 

DC 20585–0121. Telephone: (202) 586– 

7335. Email: 

ApplianceStandardsQuestions@

ee.doe.gov. 

Mr. Eric Stas, U.S. Department of 

Energy, Office of the General Counsel, 

GC–33, 1000 Independence Avenue SW, 

Washington, DC 20585. Telephone: 

(202) 586–9507. Email: Eric.Stas@

hq.doe.gov. 

For further information on how to 

submit a comment, or review other 

public comments and the docket, 

contact the Appliance and Equipment 

Standards Program staff at (202) 287– 

1445 or by email: 

ApplianceStandardsQuestions@

ee.doe.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Table of Contents 

I. Introduction 

A. Authority and Background 

B. Rulemaking History 

II. Request for Information 

A. Scope and Definitions 

B. Test Procedure 

1. Test Set-Up 

2. Airflow and External Static Pressure 

3. Outdoor Air Enthalpy Method 

4. Air Temperature Measurements 

C. Energy Efficiency Descriptor 

D. Other Test Procedure Topics 

III. Submission of Comments 

I. Introduction 

SPVACs and SPVHPs are included in 

the list of ‘‘covered equipment’’ for 

which DOE is authorized to establish 

and amend energy efficiency standards 

and test procedures. (42 U.S.C. 

6311(1)(B)–(D)) DOE’s test procedure for 

SPVACs and SPVHPs is prescribed in 

title 10 of the Code of Federal 

Regulations (‘‘CFR’’), appendix A to 

subpart F of part 431. The following 


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