Buildings for 

the 21st Century 

Buildings that are more energyefficient, comfortable, and 

affordable ... that's the goal 

of DOE's Office of Building 

Technology, State and 

Community Programs (BTS). 

To accelerate the development 

and wide application of energy 

efficiency measures, BTS: 

• Conducts RuD on technologies 

and concepts for energy 

efficiency, working closely 

with the building industry 

and with manufacturers of 

materials, equipment, and 

appliances 

• Promotes energy/money 

saving opportunities to both 

builders and buyers of homes 

and commercial buildings 

• Works with State and local 

regulatory groups to improve 

building codes, appliance 

standards, and guidelines 

for efficient energy use 

• Provides support and grants 

to States and communities 

for deployment of energyefficient technologies and 

practices 

CODES & 

STANDARDS 

REINVENTING THE APPLIANCE 

ENERGY EFFICIENCY 

STANDARDS PROCESS 

More than 10 years ago, Congress 

enacted legislation to establish energy 

efficiency standards for residential 

appliances. The standards have 

already provided dramatic cost-effective 

reductions in energy use and in greenhouse gases. The U.S. Department 

of Energy (DOE), however, realized 

that even greater reductions could 

be achieved sooner if delays weren't 

experienced whi le upgrading some 

of these standards. So, the whole 

process for establishing appliance 

standards has been reinvented. 

.4._ How has the process V been reinvented? 

In 1996, the DOE initiated a new, more 

collaborative process for setting energy 

efficiency standards for appliances. 

Through extensive interviews and 

numerous public workshops, a wide 

variety of stakeholders provided 

many comments and recommendations 

on the rulemaking process, which 

were incorporated into a Process 

Rule published in July 1996. 

The Process Rule contains several 

procedural, analytical, and interpretive 

improvements for establishing 

standards. The most significant 

improvements include: 

Procedural 

./ Providing for early input from 

stakeholders 

./ Increasing the predictabil ity 

of the policymaking timetable 

./ Reducing the time and cost 

of developing standards. 

Analytical 

./ Increasing the use of outside 

technical experts 

./ Eliminating problematic design 

options early in the process 

./ Conducting thorough analyses 

of impacts 

./ Using transparent and robust 

analytical methods. 

Interpretative 

./ Fully considering alternatives 

to regulation 

./ Setting policies to guide the 

selection of standards 

./ Supporting efforts to build 

consensus on standards. 

.4._ How has the Process V Rule worked in practice? 

Since 1996, the DOE has implemented 

many significant measures under 

the Process Rule: 

./ In late 1996, the DOE established 

an advisory committee composed 

of manufacturers associations, 

states, utilities, environmental 

groups, retailers, and consumers. 

The committee provides advice, 

information and recommendations 

OFFICE OF BUILDING TECHNOLOGY. STATE AND COMMUNITY PROGRAMS 

OFFICE OF ENERGY EFFICIENCY AND RENEWABLE ENERGY • U .S. DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY 
For more information about 

the DOE Office of Building 

Technology, State and 

Community Programs, 

contact: 

Energy Efficiency and 

Renewable Energy 

Clearinghouse (EREC) 

1-800-DOE-3732 

www.eren.doe.gov/buildings 

Appliance Standards 

Home Page: 

www.eren.doe.gov/buildings! 

codes-standards/index. htm 

For more information on 

Lighting and Appliance 

Standards contact: 

Ed Pollock 

Phone: 202-586-9127 

FAX: 202-586-4617 

Printed with renewable - source 

ink on paper containing at least 

50% wastepaper, including 

20% post consumer waste. 

July 1999 

DOE/G0-10099-824 

on the appliance energy 

efficiency standards process. 

Its recommendations have 

refined analyses regarding 

current policymaking. 

./ The DOE developed a process 

to prioritize the development of 

standards and test procedures. 

The results are published annually 

to inform interested parties about 

these priorities and schedules. 

Priorities also are used to 

direct resources, which keeps 

policymaking on schedule. 

./ The opportunities to discuss 

analyses have been increased. 

In addition to the workshops held 

after the publication of the advance 

notice of proposed policymaking 

and the notice of proposed 

rulemaking, the Department is also 

convening a workshop just prior 

to the publication of the notice of 

proposed ru lemaking. This workshop is to provide stakeholders 

and interested parties with the 

opportunity to comment on what 

levels of revised energy efficiency 

standards proposals they could 

support from the analyses. A senior 

DOE official facilitates this workshop. 

Before the workshop, the DOE 

provides the results of the life cycle 

cost, payback, national energy 

savings, manufacturer impact and 

environmental impact analyses. 

./ The DOE has increased the 

number of visits to manufacturers 

to enrich the engineering and 

manufacturing impact analyses. 

./ To improve analyses, the DOE has 

instituted: 

• More scenario and probability 

analyses to deal with uncertainty 

and variability. The impacts then 

can be evaluated to see if they 

are acceptable over a wide 

range of possible conditions. 

• Four new spreadsheet models 

to make analyses more 

accessible and transparent 

to all stakeholders. 

The models display the life 

cycle cost, shipments, 

national energy savings, and 

manufacturer impact analyses. 

• The use of marginal energy 

prices to better estimate the 

impacts of standards on 

consumers' energy bills. 

Marginal prices are specific 

to each household and 

each appliance. 

What standards are 

currently being pursued 

under the Process Rule? 

The DOE has undertaken the ambitious 

task of issuing energy efficiency 

standards during the summer of 2000 

for fluorescent lamp ballasts, clothes 

washers and water heaters. These 

new standards will achieve tremendous 

energy savings, as shown in the table 

below. And, under the Process Rule, 

their issuance has successfully been 

kept on schedule. 

Range of Projected Impacts 

Energy Savings Environmental 

Product Cumulative Emission Reductions -

to 2030 Cumulative to 2030 

(Quads}* Carbon (Mt) Nox (kt) 

Clothes Washers 0.3 - 8.4 6-140 15- 368 

Fluorescent Lamp Ballasts 0.5 - 3.6 6-36 20 - 117 

Water Heaters 1.0-9.7 17- 90 44 - 230 

* One quad is the approximate annual consumption of about 2.9 million people 

in the United States or one day of world energy use (1996).