CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION 

TABLE OF CONTENTS 

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

1.2 OVERVIEW OF COMMERCIAL EQUIPMENT STANDARDS................................. 1-1 

1.3 OVERVIEW OF BEVERAGE VENDING MACHINE STANDARDS........................ 1-2 

1.4 STRUCTURE OF THE DOCUMENT............................................................................ 1-6 

LIST OF TABLES 

Table 1.3.1 Beverage Vending Machine Analyses..................................................................... 1-4 

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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 in support of the information presented in the notice of proposed 

rulemaking (NOPR) for establishing energy conservation standards for beverage vending 

machines (BVM). 

1.2 OVERVIEW OF COMMERCIAL EQUIPMENT STANDARDS 

Title III of EPCA sets forth a variety of provisions designed to improve energy 

efficiency. Part A of Title III (42 U.S.C. 6291-6309) provides for the Energy Conservation 

Program for Consumer Products Other Than Automobiles. The amendments to EPCA contained 

in the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (EPACT 2005), Pub. L. 109-58, include new or amended 

energy conservation standards and test procedures for some of these products, and direct DOE to 

undertake rulemakings to promulgate such requirements. In particular, section 135(c)(4) of 

EPACT 2005 amends EPCA to direct DOE to prescribe energy conservation standards for 

beverage vending machines. (42 U.S.C. 6295(v)) 

Because of its placement in Part A of Title III of EPCA, the rulemaking for beverage 

vending machine energy conservation standards is bound by the requirements of 42 U.S.C. 6295. 

However, since beverage vending machines are commercial equipment, DOE intends to place 

the new requirements for beverage vending machines in Title 10 of the Code of Federal 

Regulations (CFR), Part 431 (“Energy Efficiency Program for Certain Commercial and 

Industrial Equipment”), which is consistent with DOE’s previous action to incorporate the 

EPACT 2005 requirements for commercial equipment. The location of the provisions within the 

CFR does not affect either their substance or applicable procedure, so DOE is placing them in 

the appropriate CFR part based on their nature or type and will refer to beverage vending 

machines as “equipment” throughout the rulemaking.a

 The test procedures for beverage vending 

machines appear at Title 10 CFR sections 431.293 and 431.294. 

 EPCA provides criteria for prescribing new or amended standards for covered equipment. 

As indicated above, any new or amended standard for beverage vending machines must be 

designed to achieve the maximum improvement in energy efficiency that is technologically 

feasible and economically justified. (42 U.S.C. 6295(o)(2)(A) and (v)) But EPCA precludes 

DOE from adopting any standard that would not result in significant conservation of energy. (42 

U.S.C. 6295(o)(3) and (v)) Moreover, DOE may not prescribe a standard for certain equipment if 

no test procedure has been established for that equipment. (42 U.S.C. 6295(o)(3) and (v)) EPCA 

also provides that, in deciding whether a standard is economically justified, DOE must determine 

whether the benefits of the standard exceed its burdens after receiving comments on the proposed 

standard. (42 U.S.C. 6295(o)(2)(B)(i) and (v)) To the greatest extent practicable, DOE must 

consider the following seven factors: 

 

a

 Because of their placement into 10 CFR 431, beverage vending machines will be referred to as “equipment” 

throughout this rulemaking. 

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1. The economic impact of the standard on manufacturers and consumers of the equipment 

subject to the standard; 

2. The savings in operating costs throughout the estimated average life of the covered 

equipment in the type (or class) compared to any increase in the price, or in the initial 

charges for, or maintenance expenses of, the equipment likely to result from the imposition 

of the standard; 

3. The total projected amount of energy savings likely to result directly from the imposition 

of the standard; 

4. Any lessening of the utility or the performance of the covered equipment likely to result 

from the imposition of the standard; 

5. The impact of any lessening of competition, as determined in writing by the Attorney 

General, that is likely to result from the imposition of the standard; 

6. The need for national energy conservation; and 

7. Other factors the Secretary considers relevant. 

Id.

DOE considers stakeholder participation to be a very important part of the process for 

setting energy conservation standards. Therefore, before DOE determines whether to adopt a 

proposed energy conservation standard, it must first solicit comments on the proposed standard. 

Since any new or amended standard must be designed to achieve significant additional 

conservation of energy and be technologically feasible and economically justified, DOE must 

review comments on the proposal and determine that the benefits of the proposed standard 

exceed its burdens to the greatest extent practicable, weighing the seven factors listed above. 

Subsequent to the publication of the framework document, the standards rulemaking 

process involves three additional public notices, which are published in the Federal Register. 

The first of the rulemaking notices is an advance notice of proposed rulemaking (ANOPR), 

which is designed to publicly vet the models and tools used in the rulemaking and to facilitate 

public participation before the proposed rule stage. The second notice is a NOPR, which 

presents a discussion of comments received in response to the ANOPR; analysis of the impacts 

of the energy conservation standard on customers, manufacturers, and the Nation; DOE’s 

weighing of the impacts; and the proposed standards. The third notice is the Final Rule, which 

presents a discussion of comments received in response to the NOPR; the revised analysis of the 

impacts of standards; DOE’s weighing of the impacts; the standards adopted by DOE; and the 

effective dates of the standards. 

1.3 OVERVIEW OF BEVERAGE VENDING MACHINE STANDARDS 

As mentioned above, EPACT 2005 amends section 325 of EPCA by adding subsections 

that direct the Secretary to issue energy conservation standards for refrigerated bottled or canned 

beverage vending machines. Such standards shall apply to beverage vending machines 

manufactured three years after the date of publication of a final rule that establishes energy 

conservation standards for that equipment. 

Additionally, section 135(b) of EPACT 2005 amends section 323 of EPCA by adding, in 

part, new subsections 323(b)(15) (42 U.S.C. 6293(b)(15)) and 323(f) (42 U.S.C. 6293(f)), which, 

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respectively, state that the test procedure for refrigerated bottled or canned beverage vending 

machines shall be based on American National Standards Institute (ANSI)/American Society of 

Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) Standard 32.1-2004, 

“Methods of Testing for Rating Vending Machines for Bottled, Canned or Other Sealed 

Beverages,” and that the Secretary has until August 8, 2007, to prescribe that new test procedure. 

Section 135(a)(3) of EPACT 2005 amends section 321 of EPCA by adding, in part, new 

subsection 321(40) (42 U.S.C. 6291(40)), which establishes the following definition: 

 The term “refrigerated bottled or canned beverage vending machine” means a 

commercial refrigerator that cools bottled or canned beverages and dispenses the 

bottled or canned beverages on payment. 

In addition, section 136(a)(3) of EPACT 2005 amends section 340 of EPCA by replacing 

subsection 340(9) (42 U.S.C 6311(9)) with, in part, definitions for the following terms relating to 

commercial refrigeration equipment that are relevant to beverage vending machines: 

 “(9)(A) The term ‘commercial refrigerator, freezer, and refrigerator-freezer’ 

means refrigeration equipment that— 

 “(i) is not a consumer product (as defined in section 321); 

 “(ii) is not designed and marketed exclusively for medical, scientific, or research 

purposes; 

 “(iii) operates at a chilled, frozen, combination chilled and frozen, or variable 

temperature; 

 “(iv) displays or stores merchandise and other perishable materials horizontally, 

semivertically, or vertically; 

 “(v) has transparent or solid doors, sliding or hinged doors, a combination of 

hinged, sliding, transparent, or solid doors, or no doors; 

 “(vi) is designed for pull-down temperature applications or holding temperature 

applications; and 

 “(vii) is connected to a self-contained condensing unit or to a remote condensing 

unit.

 “(B) The term ‘holding temperature application’ means a use of commercial 

refrigeration equipment other than a pull-down temperature application, except a 

blast chiller or freezer. 

 * * * 

 “(D) The term ‘pull-down temperature application’ means a commercial 

refrigerator with doors that, when fully loaded with 12 ounce beverage cans at 90 

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degrees F, can cool those beverages to an average stable temperature of 38 

degrees F in 12 hours or less. 

 “(E) The term ‘remote condensing unit’ means a factory-made assembly of 

refrigerating components designed to compress and liquefy a specific refrigerant 

that is remotely located from the refrigerated equipment and consists of one or 

more refrigerant compressors, refrigerant condensers, condenser fans and motors, 

and factory supplied accessories. 

 “(F) The term ‘self-contained condensing unit’ means a factory-made assembly 

of refrigerating components designed to compress and liquefy a specific 

refrigerant that is an integral part of the refrigerated equipment and consists of 

one or more refrigerant compressors, refrigerant condensers, condenser fans and 

motors, and factory supplied accessories.” 

In June 2006, DOE published a Rulemaking Framework for Refrigerated Bottled or 

Canned Beverage Vending Machines describing the procedural and analytical approaches DOE 

anticipated using to evaluate the establishment of energy conservation standards for BVMs. This 

document is available at http://www.eere.energy.gov/buildings/appliance_standards/ 

commercial/pdfs/vending_machines_framework.pdf. 

DOE held a public meeting on July 11, 2006, to discuss procedural and analytical 

approaches to the rulemaking and to facilitate stakeholder involvement in the rulemaking 

process. The analytical framework presented at the public meeting described different analyses, 

such as the engineering analysis and the life-cycle cost (LCC) and payback period (PBP) 

analyses, the methods proposed for conducting them, and the relationships among the various 

analyses. See Table 1.3.1 for all the analyses discussed at the public meeting to be undertaken in 

each of the formal public rulemaking documents. 

Table 1.3.1 Beverage Vending Machine Analyses 

ANOPR NOPR Final Rule* 

Market and technology assessment Revised ANOPR analyses Revised NOPR analyses 

Screening analysis Life-cycle cost sub-group analysis 

Engineering analysis Manufacturer impact analysis 

Energy use characterization Utility impact analysis 

Markups to determine equipment price Employment impact analysis 

Life-cycle cost and payback period analyses Environmental assessment 

Shipments analysis Regulatory impact analysis 

National impact analysis 

Preliminary manufacturer impact analysis 

* During the Final Rule phase, DOE considers the comments submitted by the U.S. Department of Justice in the NOPR phase concerning the 

impact of any lessening of competition that is likely to result from the imposition of the standard. (42 U.S.C. 6295(o)(2)(B)(v))

During the July 11, 2006, public meeting, interested parties discussed their concerns 

regarding the BVM rulemaking. Stakeholder comments submitted during the framework 

document comment period elaborated upon the issues raised at the public meeting. DOE worked 

with its contractors to address these issues in the analyses. 

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As part of the information gathering and sharing process, DOE organized and held 

interviews with BVM manufacturers. DOE had four objectives for these interviews: (1) solicit 

feedback on the draft engineering analysis (including methodology, production costs, 

manufacturing processes, and findings); (2) solicit feedback on topics related to the preliminary 

manufacturer impact analysis; (3) provide an early opportunity to express specific concerns to 

DOE; and (4) foster cooperation between the manufacturers and DOE. 

During the initial manufacturer interviews, six main topics related to the manufacturer 

impact analysis were discussed: (1) general key issues, (2) BVM shipment projections, (3) 

capital conversion costs, (4) product mix and profitability, (5) market shares and industry 

consolidation, and (6) cumulative regulatory burden. DOE incorporated the information 

gathered at the meetings into its engineering analysis (see chapter 5 of the ANOPR TSD) and the 

manufacturer impact analysis (see chapter 12 of the ANOPR TSD). 

Following the publication of the ANOPR, DOE scheduled additional interviews with 

manufacturers. These interviews contained follow-up questions on the ANOPR analyses and 

also contained topics related to the potential impact of energy conservation standards on 

manufacturers. Appendix J contains the questions used to conducted the manufacturer 

interviews that took place following the publication of the ANOPR. Following the publication 

of the NOPR and the NOPR public meeting, DOE intends to continue to solicit comments from 

manufacturers and other interested parties. 

DOE conducted the LCC and PBP analyses based on an approach that establishes an 

annual energy expense using electric utility tariffs. Under this approach, LCC results are based 

on the assumption that manufacturing plants and commercial building customers in the future 

will face electricity rates similar to those in today’s electricity markets. 

DOE developed spreadsheets for the LCC, PBP, and national impact analyses. A 

spreadsheet tool that demonstrates the calculation of annual energy expenses based on 

commercial and industrial electric utility tariffs accompanies the LCC spreadsheet. DOE 

developed a national impact analysis spreadsheet that calculates the national energy savings 

(NES) and national net present values (NPVs) at various energy-efficiency levels. This 

spreadsheet includes a model that forecasts the impacts of energy conservation standards at 

various levels of BVM shipments. 

DOE reviewed the recommendations made on April 21, 1998, by the Advisory 

Committee on Appliance Energy Efficiency Standards. (Advisory Committee, No. 96)b

 These 

recommendations related to (1) using the full range of consumer marginal energy rates (CMERs) 

in the LCC analysis (replacing the use of national average energy prices), (2) defining a range of 

energy price futures for each fuel used in the economic analyses, and (3) defining a range of 

primary energy conversion factors and associated emission reductions based on the generation of 

energy and emissions that would be displaced by energy conservation standards for each 

 

b

 Advisory Committee, No. 96 refers to the recommendations of the Advisory Committee on Energy 

Efficiency Standards and is available for inspection at the U.S. Department of Energy, Forrestal Building, 

Room 1J-018 (Resource Room of the Building Technologies Program) in the file under “Energy Conservation 

Program for Consumer Products: Procedures for Consideration of New or Revised Energy Conservation 

Standards for Consumer Products,” RIN [1904–AA83], as document number 96. 

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rulemaking. As discussed above, DOE conducted the LCC analysis with electricity prices based 

on electric utility tariffs to capture the full range of CMERs. Thus, DOE incorporated the use of 

consumer marginal energy rates into the analysis. Also, DOE incorporated a range of future 

energy prices in the analysis. 

1.4 STRUCTURE OF THE DOCUMENT 

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

consists of 14 chapters, an environmental assessment, a regulatory impact analysis, and 

appendices. 

Chapter 1 Introduction: provides an overview of the appliance and equipment 

standards program and how it applies to the beverage vending machine 

rulemaking, and outlines the structure of the document. 

Chapter 2 Analytical Framework: describes the rulemaking process step by step. 

Chapter 3 Market and Technology Assessment: characterizes the beverage vending 

machine market and the technologies available for increasing equipment 

efficiency. 

Chapter 4 Screening Analysis: determines which technology design options are 

viable for consideration in the engineering analysis. 

Chapter 5 Engineering Analysis: discusses the methods used for developing the 

relationship between increased manufacturer selling prices and increased 

efficiency. 

Chapter 6 Markups to Determine Equipment Price: discusses the methods used for 

establishing markups for converting manufacturer prices to customer 

equipment prices. 

Chapter 7 Energy Use Characterization: discusses the process used for generating 

energy use estimates of beverage vending machines for a variety of 

equipment classes, climate locations, and standard levels. 

Chapter 8 Life-Cycle Cost and Payback Period Analyses: discusses the effects of 

energy conservation standards on individual customers and users of the 

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

higher energy conservation standards. 

Chapter 9 Trial Standard Levels: discusses the trial standard levels and the methods 

used to derive the energy consumption equations corresponding to the 

proposed energy conservation standards. 

Chapter 10 Shipments Analysis: discusses the methods used for forecasting 

shipments with and without higher energy conservation standards, 

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including how equipment purchase decisions are economically influenced 

and modeled with econometric equations. 

Chapter 11 National Impact Analysis: discusses the methods used for forecasting 

national energy consumption and national economic impacts based on 

estimates of future equipment efficiency distributions and annual 

equipment shipments in the absence and presence of higher energy 

conservation standards. 

Chapter 12 Life-Cycle Cost Sub-Group Analysis: discusses the effects of energy 

conservation standards on a subgroup of beverage vending machine 

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

higher energy conservation standards for these customers. 

Chapter 13 Manufacturer Impact Analysis: discusses the effects of energy 

conservation standards on the finances and profitability of equipment 

manufacturers. 

Chapter 14 Utility Impact Analysis: discusses the effects of energy conservation 

standards on the installed generation capacity of electric utilities. 

Chapter 15 Employment Impact Analysis: discusses the effects of energy 

conservation standards on national employment. 

Chapter 16 Environmental Assessment for Beverage Vending Machines: discusses 

the effects of energy conservation standards on airborne emissions of 

electric utilities. 

Chapter 17 Regulatory Impact Analysis: discusses the impact of the present 

regulatory actions and of non-regulatory alternatives to setting energy 

conservation standards. 

Appendix A Instructions for Using the Engineering Analysis Spreadsheet: 

accompanies Chapter 5, Engineering Analysis. 

Appendix B Engineering Data: accompanies Chapter 5, Engineering Analysis. 

Appendix C Detailed Data for Equipment Price Markups: accompanies Chapter 6, 

Markups for Equipment Price Determination. 

Appendix D Methodology for developing the weighting factors for Beverage Vending 

Machines: accompanies Chapter 7, Energy Use Characterization. 

Appendix E User Instructions for Life-Cycle Cost Spreadsheet: accompanies Chapter 

8, Life-Cycle Cost and Payback Period Analyses. 

Appendix F Detailed Life-Cycle Cost Output: accompanies Chapter 8, Life-Cycle 

Cost and Payback Period Analyses. 

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1-8

Appendix G User Instructions for National Energy Savings and Net Present Value 

Spreadsheet: accompanies Chapter 10, National Impact Analysis. 

Appendix H Detailed National Energy Savings and National Net Present Value Output: 

accompanies Chapter 10, National Impact Analysis. 

Appendix I Site-to-source Conversion: accompanies Chapter 11, National Impact 

Analysis. 

Appendix J Manufacturer Impact Analysis Interview Guides and Government 

Regulatory Impact Model: accompanies Chapter 13, Manufacturer Impact 

Analysis. 

Appendix K Utility Impacts: accompanies Chapter 14, Utilities Impact Analysis. 

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