PUBLIC HEARING ON Commercial Warm Air Furnace Test Procedures and Efficiency Certification, Compliance

and Enforcement Requirements for Commercial Heating, Air Conditioning and Water Heating Equipment

January 2'7,2000

OPENING REMARKS 

### Good morning. I'm Cyrus Nasseri, senior program manager and team leader for the commercial equipment team within the Office ofBuilding Research and Standardshere at'the Department ofEnergy (DOE). The othersjoining me today are Edward Pollock, Jr., Director of the Office of Building Research and Standards,StanleyLiu and Steve Treado of the National Institute of Standardsand Technology, Edward Levy from the Department's Office of General Counsel, and Mark Friedrichs from the Ijepartment's Office of Policy and InternationalAffairs, as well as several ofmy colleaguesfrom DOE.

On behalf of the Department, I would like to thank you all for taking the time to participatein this public hearing. We will be addressing DOE'S proposals for commercial warm air furnace test procedures and for efficiency certification,compliance, and enforcement requirements for all of the covered commercial heating, air conditioningand water heating (HVAC & 

### WH) products. The format ofthis public hearing is designed to enable interested parties to present oral comments on these proposals, and to facilitate clarification, discussion, andan exchange of ideas as to these comments.
Today's hearing will consist primarily oftwo distinct parts. In the first part, the Department is seekingcomments on all facets of the proposed rule for commercial warm air furnacetest procedures,including comments on the ASHRAE referenced test standards, the definition of thermal efficiency, the test procedures for the measurement of energy efficiency, and other test standard topics. In the second part, we seek comments related to the proposed rule on the certification and enforcement procedures for all ofthe covered HVAC & WH products, including commentsrelated to certification, the Alternative Efficiency Determination Method (AEDM), the Voluntary Independent Certification Programs (VICP's), the provisions on non-participatingmanufacturers, and other certification and enforcement topics.
In addition,you may offer comments on any other pertinent issues that you wish to bring to DOE'Sattention.

The commentsreceived here today, along with comments submitted during the written comment period, will assist the Department in developing the final rules for commercial warm air furnacetest procedures as well as commercial HVAC & WH product compliance, certification and enforcement provisions.

I 

### am the presiding officer for the workshop, and our own Jim Raba will facilitate and set the guidelines for conducting the workshop.In approximatelytwo weeks, a complete copy of the transcript will be availablefor inspection and copying at the Department ofEnergy's Freedom of Information Reading Room located in Room 1 E-190. Anyone wishing to purchase a copy of the transcript may make arrangements with the court reporter.

To provide the Department with as much pertinent informationand as many views as can be reasonably obtained and to enable interested persons to express their views, the workshop will be conducted in accordance with the following procedures.

We will begin with introductionsand then review the agenda. We invite you to add issues you think are importantbut not already covered. Following the agenda review, we will entertain any general statements participants wish to make, and then we'll move to the discussion of topics on the agenda. As to each topic concerning the proposed commercial warm air furnace test procedures, Stan Liu will make a brief presentation and 

### I will summarizeany written comments we have received to date. Then participants can make any prepared statementson that topic, members ofthe panel will ask any questionsthey have, and we'll open the floor for questions and discussion. We'll move through each topic identified by the Department in the same way, and try to do the same for the topics that you might add to the agenda. We will follow a similar approach in the second part of this workshop,where Steve Treado will make presentationsregarding the topics on the certification, compliance,and enforcementprovisions for all ofthe covered commercial HVAC & WH products, followed by statements, questions and discussion.

We should have ample time to raise and discuss all important issues. We would ask,however, that all participantsrefrain fiom making prepared statements of more than 5 minutes on any point or overly lengthy follow-upremarks, so that everyone gets the floor time they need. Our facilitatorwill enforce this ground rule, and will also limit debate when speakers' points have been made and are clear.

In formulating the proposed rules we are discussing today, we have considered all oral and written commentsthat you, the stakeholders, gave to us earlier, and the published notice discusses the reasons for incorporating or not incorporating any ofyour significant recommendations.For your information,we will soon issue separatenotices ofproposed rulemakingregarding the test procedures for commercial water heaters, boilers and air conditioners. We intend to set up a single set of provisions on compliance, certification, enforcement and certain other general matters, and they would apply to all the covered commercial heating, air conditioning and water heating equipment. Therefore the other notices proposing test procedures for such equipmentwill not address these subjects.
Questions are welcome throughout any of our presentations unless you are advised otherwise. It may be necessary, however, to cut off debate on some topics to remain on schedule, although there may be time at the end of today's sessionfor additional discussion of significant issues. 

### I encourage everyone present to participate as much as possible sothat we may get a full spectrum of opinions on these topics.

The session is scheduled to adjourntoday at 5:00

### -- unless, of course, we finish early. Topics which have not been completelydiscussed by that time can be addressed in additional

### written commentswhich are due by February 28,2000. All written comments and data submissions will be availablefor public inspection at the DOE Freedom of Information Reading Room. The phone number is (202) 586-6020.

Please send your written comments to Brenda Edwards-Jones here at the Department, referring to Docket No. EE-RMlTP-99-450, when you respond. We would like to have ten copies ofyour comments and any supporting data, along with an electroniccopy of the comments or data using Word Perfect 8 for text-based information or Microsoft Excel 97 for data-based information. No faxed comments will be accepted. Anyone attending this hearing or submitting written commentswill be added to our list for future mailings concerning the subjects of this rulemaking. Again, we appreciate the time and effortyou have taken in preparing for this hearing, and
we are pleased to receive your comments and opinions. Our purpose today isto listen to your views.

I'd now like to introduce our facilitator,Mr. Jim Raba, who will review the agenda, provide some housekeeping details, and describe how we will conduct the meeting. Agenda Review

## - Jim Raba

Followed by- Introduction of Stan & 

### Steve for their presentation.