This section of the FEDERAL REGISTER

contains regulatory documents having general

applicability and legal effect, most of which

are keyed to and codified in the Code of

Federal Regulations, which is published under

50 titles pursuant to 44 U.S.C. 1510.

The Code of Federal Regulations is sold by

the Superintendent of Documents. Prices of

new books are listed in the first FEDERAL

REGISTER issue of each week.

Rules and Regulations Federal Register

49701 

Vol. 77, No. 160 

Friday, August 17, 2012 

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY 

10 CFR Parts 430 and 431 

[Docket Number EERE–2010–BT–NOA– 

0028] 

RIN 1904–AC24 

Energy Conservation Program for 

Consumer Products and Certain 

Commercial and Industrial Equipment: 

Notice of Policy Amendment 

Regarding Full-Fuel-Cycle Analyses 

AGENCY: Office of Energy Efficiency and 

Renewable Energy, Department of 

Energy. 

ACTION: Notice of policy amendment. 

SUMMARY: On August 18, 2011, the U.S. 

Department of Energy (DOE) announced 

its intention to use full-fuel-cycle (FFC) 

measures of energy use and greenhouse 

gas and other emissions in the national 

impact analyses and environmental 

assessments included in future energy 

conservation standards rulemakings. 

While DOE stated in that notice that it 

intended to use the Greenhouse Gases, 

Regulated Emissions, and Energy Use in 

Transportation (GREET) model to 

conduct the analyses, the Department 

also said that it would review 

alternative methods, including the use 

of the National Energy Modeling System 

(NEMS) developed by DOE’s Energy 

Information Administration (EIA). After 

evaluating both NEMS and GREET, DOE 

has determined that NEMS is ultimately 

a more appropriate tool to calculate FFC 

measures of energy use and greenhouse 

gas and other emissions. Therefore, DOE 

intends to use the NEMS model, rather 

than the GREET model, as the basis for 

deriving the energy and emission 

multipliers used to conduct FFC 

analyses in support of future energy 

conservation standards rulemakings. 

The public is free to send in comments 

on this policy amendment at any time. 

DOE will address comments on this 

policy amendment in the first notice of 

proposed rulemaking (NOPR) to utilize 

the NEMS-based approach for the FFC. 

DATES: August 17, 2012. 

ADDRESSES: Interested persons are 

encouraged to submit comments using 

the Federal eRulemaking Portal at 

http://www.regulations.gov. Follow the 

instructions for submitting comments. 

Alternatively, interested persons may 

submit comments, identified by docket 

number EERE–2011–BT–NOA–0028, by 

any of the following methods: 

• Email: To FFC-2010-NOA-0028- 

ee.doe.gov. Include EERE–2011–BT– 

NOA–0028 in the subject line of the 

message. 

• Mail: Ms. Brenda Edwards, U.S. 

Department of Energy, Building 

Technologies Program, Mailstop EE–2J, 

Notice of Policy Amendment to Full 

Fuel Cycle Analyses, EERE–2011–BT– 

NOA–0028, 1000 Independence Avenue 

SW., Washington, DC 20585– 0121. 

Phone: (202) 586–2945. If possible, 

please submit all items on a CD. It is not 

necessary to include printed copies. 

Hand Delivery/Courier: Ms. Brenda 

Edwards, U.S. Department of Energy, 

Building Technologies Program, 6th 

Floor, 950 L’Enfant Plaza SW., 

Washington, DC 20024. Phone: (202) 

586–2945. If possible, please submit all 

items on a CD. It is not necessary to 

include printed copies. Instructions: All 

submissions received must include the 

agency name and docket number or RIN 

for this rulemaking. 

Docket: For access to the docket to 

read background documents, or 

comments received, go to the Federal 

eRulemaking Portal at http:// 

www.regulations.gov. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Mr. Jeremy Dommu, 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) 586–9870. Email: 

Jeremy.Dommu@ee.doe.gov. 

Ms. Ami Grace-Tardy, U.S. Department 

of Energy, Office of the General 

Counsel, GC–71, 1000 Independence 

Avenue SW., Washington, DC 20585– 

0121. Telephone: (202) 586–5709. 

Email: Ami.Grace-Tardy@hq.doe.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Introduction and Discussion 

On August 18, 2011, the U.S. 

Department of Energy (DOE) published 

a policy statement announcing its 

intention to use full-fuel-cycle (FFC) 

measures of energy use and greenhouse 

gas and other emissions in the national 

impact analyses and environmental 

assessments included in future energy 

conservation standards rulemakings. (76 

FR 51281) While DOE stated in that 

notice that it intended to use the 

Greenhouse Gases, Regulated Emissions, 

and Energy Use in Transportation 

(GREET) model to conduct the analysis, 

the Department also said that it would, 

from time to time, review alternative 

approaches to estimating these factors, 

including use of the National Energy 

Modeling System (NEMS) developed by 

DOE’s Energy Information 

Administration (EIA). (76 FR 51287) As 

indicated in the FFC policy statement 

notice, NEMS would continue to be 

utilized by DOE to estimate primary (or 

site) energy consumption for national 

impact analyses and environmental 

assessments, while GREET would be 

used to develop the energy and 

emission multipliers necessary to 

convert the NEMS-based primary energy 

and emission impacts into FFC values. 

Because of concerns about the potential 

effects of certain inconsistencies in the 

underlying assumptions and forecasts 

used by GREET and NEMS, subsequent 

to publication of the policy statement, 

DOE initiated a further review to 

determine whether NEMS (rather than 

GREET) might be used to develop the 

necessary FFC multipliers. 

During this review process, DOE 

examined a new methodology to 

develop FFC multipliers using the data 

and projections generated by NEMS and 

published in EIA’s Annual Energy 

Outlook (AEO). While the AEO does not 

provide direct calculations of FFC 

metrics, it does provide extensive 

information about the energy system, 

including projections of future oil, 

natural gas and coal supply, energy use 

for oil and gas field and refinery 

operations, and fuel consumption and 

emissions related to electric power 

production. This information is used to 

define a set of parameters representing 

the amount of energy used in the fuel 

production chain. For example, the 

petroleum fuel production chain 

consists of extraction, separation, 

refining and distribution of final 


tkelley on DSK3SPTVN1PROD with RULES
49702 Federal Register / Vol. 77, No. 160 / Friday, August 17, 2012 / Rules and Regulations 

1Coughlin, Katie (2012). A Mathematical 

Analysis of Full Fuel Cycle Energy Use. Energy, 

Volume 37, Issue 1, January 2012, Pages 698–708. 

products to the end user. Each of these 

process steps consumes energy in the 

form of diesel or fuel oil, natural gas, or 

grid electricity. The data are used to 

estimate an intensity parameter for each 

fuel type, which is equal to the total 

amount of that fuel needed to produce 

one unit of the final product. The FFC 

energy and emissions factors are defined 

as a function of these parameters, using 

a formula that is described in detail in: 

‘‘A Mathematical Analysis of Full Fuel 

Cycle Energy Use’’; [http:// 

www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/ 

pii/S0360544211006803] 1 Energy, 

Volume 37, Issue 1, January 2012, Pages 

698–708; 

By using the FFC multipliers derived 

from NEMS, DOE would be able to 

ensure that the assumptions and inputs 

used in FFC analyses are consistent 

with the assumptions and inputs used 

to estimate primary energy savings and 

emissions impacts. In addition, this 

approach would make it easier for DOE 

to update the multipliers with each new 

edition of the AEO. The GREET model, 

in contrast, uses a representation of the 

energy production system to develop its 

own internal projections, which 

inevitably will differ some from those in 

the AEO. 

Based on this assessment, DOE is 

proposing to use this NEMS-based 

approach to estimating the FFC energy 

and emission impacts of alternative 

energy conservation standards levels in 

energy conservation standards 

rulemakings that reach the notice of 

proposed rulemaking (NOPR) stage after 

August 17, 2012. Rulemakings that do 

not reach the NOPR stage before August 

17, 2012 will continue to use the 

estimates of primary energy and 

emission impacts described in the 

notices of proposed rulemaking. DOE 

has not used the GREET model to 

estimate FFC energy and emission 

impacts in any past or current 

rulemakings but has started to use the 

NEMS-based approach to estimating 

these impacts in several energy 

conservation standards preliminary 

analyses. 

II. Public Participation 

DOE invites all interested parties to 

submit comments on this issue in 

writing at any time. In addition, 

interested parties will have an 

opportunity to review and comment on 

the specific methodologies employed by 

DOE to calculate FFC energy and 

emission impacts in NOPRs. See the 

ADDRESSES section of this notice for 

more information on how to submit a 

comment. 

III. Procedural Issues and Regulatory 

Review 

A. Review Under the National 

Environmental Policy Act 1969 

DOE has determined that this policy 

amendment falls into a class of actions 

that are categorically excluded from 

review under the National 

Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (42 

U.S.C. 4321 et seq.) and DOE’s 

implementing regulations at 10 CFR part 

1021. Specifically, this policy 

amendment describes methods for data 

analysis and how DOE plans to 

incorporate such data analysis into 

future energy conservation standards. 

For this reason, and because the policy 

amendment does not establish an energy 

conservation standard or take any action 

that might have an impact on the 

environment, it is covered by the 

Categorical Exclusion A9 under 10 CFR 

part 1021, subpart D. Accordingly, 

neither an environmental assessment 

nor an environmental impact statement 

is required. 

B. Review Under the Information 

Quality Bulletin for Peer Review 

In consultation with the Office of 

Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), 

OMB issued on December 16, 2004, its 

‘‘Final Information Quality Bulletin for 

Peer Review’’ (the Bulletin). 70 FR 2664 

(Jan. 14, 2005). The Bulletin establishes 

that certain scientific information shall 

be peer reviewed by qualified specialists 

before it is disseminated by the Federal 

government, including influential 

scientific information related to agency 

regulatory actions. The purpose of the 

Bulletin is to enhance the quality and 

credibility of the government’s scientific 

information. Under the Bulletin, NEMS 

is ‘‘influential scientific information,’’ 

which the Bulletin defines as ‘‘scientific 

information that the agency reasonably 

can determine will have or does have a 

clear and substantial impact on 

important public policies or private 

sector decisions.’’ 70 FR 2664, 2667 

(Jan. 14, 2005). The NEMS model, 

which is in the public domain, has been 

reviewed through its development and 

applications over the past 18 years. 

IV. Approval of the Office of the 

Assistant Secretary 

The Assistant Secretary of DOE’s 

Office of Energy Efficiency and 

Renewable Energy has approved 

publication of this final policy. 

Issued in Washington, DC, on August 9, 

2012. 

Kathleen B. Hogan, 

Deputy Assistant Secretary for Energy 

Efficiency, Energy Efficiency and Renewable 

Energy. 

[FR Doc. 2012–20122 Filed 8–16–12; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6450–01–P 

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION 

Federal Aviation Administration 

14 CFR Part 39 

[Docket No. FAA–2012–0423; Directorate 

Identifier 2011–NM–095–AD; Amendment 

39–17156; AD 2012–16–09] 

RIN 2120–AA64 

Airworthiness Directives; Embraer S.A. 

Airplanes 

AGENCY: Federal Aviation 

Administration (FAA), Department of 

Transportation (DOT). 

ACTION: Final rule. 

SUMMARY: We are superseding two 

existing airworthiness directives (AD) 

for all Embraer S.A. Model ERJ 170 and 

ERJ 190 airplanes. Those ADs currently 

require revising the airplane flight 

manual (AFM) to introduce limitations 

for the use of auxiliary power unit 

(APU) bleed and to prohibit dispatch 

with a failed air management system 

(AMS) controller card. This new AD 

requires replacing the AMS controller 

processor module with one containing 

new software, and a new AFM revision. 

This AD was prompted by reports of the 

possible loss of automatic activation of 

the engine inlet ice protection system. 

We are issuing this AD to prevent the 

possibility of a right-hand (RH) engine 

compressor stall after the APU becomes 

the active bleed source for the left side, 

which may result in an engine failure; 

and to prevent the intermittent 

communication failure between the 

AMS controller cards and both 

secondary power distribution 

assemblies (SPDAs), which could lead 

to the loss of automatic activation of the 

engine inlet ice protection system when 

flying in icing conditions, which could 

result in ice accretion in the engine inlet 

and subsequent dual engine failure. 

DATES: This AD becomes effective 

September 21, 2012. 

The Director of the Federal Register 

approved the incorporation by reference 

of certain publications listed in this AD 

as of September 21, 2012. 

The Director of the Federal Register 

approved the incorporation by reference 

of a certain publication listed in this AD 


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