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[Federal Register Volume 78, Number 225 (Thursday, November 21, 2013)]
[Notices]
[Pages 69839-69843]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2013-27941]

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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Building Technologies Office Prioritization Tool

AGENCY: Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Department of 
Energy.

ACTION: Request for information (RFI).

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SUMMARY: The U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Building Technologies 
Office (BTO) developed the Prioritization Tool to improve its 
programmatic decision-making. The tool provides an objective framework 
for most energy-saving measures and scenarios, as well as methodology, 
comparing long-term benefits and end-user costs applied to various 
markets, end-uses, and lifetimes. Currently, BTO seeks comments and 
information related to the Prioritization Tool that improves the tool's 
accuracy and applicability for technology planning within BTO. 
Specifically, this notice solicits comments and information on data, 
assumptions and outputs of various energy efficiency technologies and

[[Page 69840]]

activities analyzed by the Prioritization Tool.

DATES: Responses to this RFI must be submitted electronically to BTO_P_Tool_RFI@go.doe.gov no later than 5:00 p.m. (EST) on December 24, 
2013.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. Patrick Phelan, U.S. Department of 
Energy, Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Building 
Technologies Office, EE 2J, 1000 Independence Avenue SW., Washington, 
DC 20585-0121. Telephone: (202) 287-1906. Email: 
patrick.phelan@ee.doe.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Table of Contents

I. Background
    A. Program Overview
    B. Prioritization Tool Description
    C. Methodology
    D. Inputs and Outputs
II. Purpose
III. Disclaimer and Important Notes
IV. Proprietary Information
V. Evaluation and Administration by Federal and Non-Federal 
Personnel
VI. Request for Information Categories and Questions
    A. Category 1
    B. Category 2
    C. Category 3
    D. Category 4
    E. Category 5
    F. Category 6

I. Background

A. Program Overview

    The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Building Technologies Office 
(BTO) focuses on three key areas in order to develop innovative and 
cost-effective energy saving solutions:

 Supporting research and development of high impact building 
technologies
 Accelerating market penetration of technologies that will save 
the country energy by assisting to overcome key market barriers
 Organizing and facilitating enforcement of minimum efficiency 
standards and building codes to ensure energy savings within buildings.

BTO has developed a new technology prioritization framework to provide 
analytical support for its programmatic decision-making in order to 
further accelerate the transformation of the U.S. building energy 
efficiency sector.

B. Prioritization Tool Description

    The tool was designed to inform programmatic decision-making and 
facilitate the setting of programmatic goals. It also allows the 
evaluation of ``what if'' scenarios when pursuing potential competing 
energy efficiency measures, and it ultimately helps the BTO to create 
Funding Opportunity Announcements (FOAs) objectives. Currently, the 
tool contains data on over 500 energy efficiency measures along with 
their markets. It has the capability to perform extensive analyses 
using established methodology for calculating energy savings potential 
and the costs of conserved energy associated with each measure.
    The Prioritization Tool enables open and objective comparison of 
hundreds of technology and market-based investment opportunities 
available to BTO. The energy efficiency measures identified in the tool 
cover a spectrum of market opportunities, including residential and 
commercial buildings, new and existing buildings, as well as industrial 
and outdoor applications. Most of the measures considered fall within 
one of BTO's main focus areas in building energy end-use sectors:

 Heating, ventilation and air-conditioning (HVAC)
 Water heating
 Appliances
 Lighting
 Windows
 Envelope: insulation and roofing
 Sensors and controls
 Miscellaneous electric loads

The tool strives to be comprehensive by including most known energy 
efficiency measures proven to save energy; laboratory-demonstrated, 
field-tested, analytically derived (with peer review) savings, and 
inclusive by integrating inputs from hundreds of sources and expert 
reviews.
    While BTO has identified over five hundred energy efficiency 
measures, it chose to narrow the scope of analysis to focus on the most 
promising measures that have the greatest potential for energy savings 
across the United States. By excluding measures based on the following 
predefined criteria, BTO has created a portfolio consisting of 261 
measures which, by using the Prioritization Tool, were subsequently 
subjected to a more extensive quantitative analysis to assure only the 
highest impact measures are the focus of further effort. The approach 
was first for BTO to focus on technologies which had the highest data 
quality (i.e., where peer-reviewed energy efficiency and cost data are 
available in published reports or from technology experts).
    Then, measures were excluded from further analysis if they:
     Offered low energy savings potential (less than 100 TBtu 
in the year 2030);
     Involved fuel switching (unless the analysis team deemed a 
technology as important to assess);
     Had one or more significant market barriers;
     Were deemed impractical by the analysis team;
     Were already included in the Annual Energy Outlook (AEO) 
2010 baseline, which takes into account known technologies, 
technological and demographic trends, and current laws and regulations.

    These criteria were considered as general guidelines; exceptions 
for certain promising or cost effective measures were made on a case-
by-case basis based on expert analysis. Finally, BTO analyzed and 
prioritized, both individually and in the context of the full portfolio 
of measures, all 261 measures having relatively high energy savings 
potential and significant ability to compete in the market place.

C. Methodology

    The BTO Prioritization Tool uses established methodologies to 
evaluate under a variety of scenarios the incremental lifetime costs of 
a measure's energy savings potential. The tool calculates potential 
savings at the national or regional level and compares the results to a 
business-as-usual baseline defined in the U.S. Energy Information 
Administration's (EIA) Annual Energy Outlook 2010 (AEO).\1\ The 
following scenarios are used for the prioritization analysis and 
represent potential annual energy savings associated for each measure:
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    \1\ http://www.eia.gov/oiaf/aeo/pdf/0383(2010).pdf. The AEO 
provides annual projections through the year 2035 of national 
equipment stock and energy consumption based on end-use, type of 
fuel, geographic region, and type of building or home.
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     Technical Potential is the annual energy savings achieved 
by instant replacement of all technically suitable existing stock in 
2010 and beyond with the proposed measure, regardless of cost. Although 
the technical potential cannot be realized, it provides an upper bound 
to the maximum energy savings that can be achieved by the proposed 
measure assuming instant and complete market adoption of the 
technology.
     Maximum Adoption Potential is the total annual savings 
based on deployment of the evaluated measure given 100% market 
penetration for all end-of-life or accelerated replacements and new 
purchases or new construction installations. The entire existing stock 
is replaced at an accelerated schedule for cases when a retrofit 
opportunity is cost effective, which means the present value of the 
energy savings of other efficiency measures exceeds the full, installed 
cost of the evaluated efficiency measure. Therefore, it becomes

[[Page 69841]]

economically rational to replace all of the currently deployed stock 
immediately with the efficiency measure. This scenario corresponds to 
the least expensive means to deploy a given efficiency measure into the 
marketplace. This potential is also referred to as Unstaged Maximum 
Adoption Potential.
     Staged Maximum Adoption Potential adjusts the savings of 
the Maximum Adoption Potential to avoid double-counting energy savings 
for measures with overlapping markets within a given portfolio. For 
example, the installation of compact fluorescent light bulbs would 
reduce the potential energy savings from light-emitting diodes (LEDs). 
The savings of the lowest-cost measures are accounted for first.
     Adoption-Based Potential uses the Bass diffusion model2 
\2\ to represent a more realistic potential impact on energy savings in 
the marketplace. This scenario allows simulation of the DOE programs' 
impact on measure diffusion and assumes that research and development 
and deployment activities would accelerate market introduction. It also 
allows for evaluation of standards by replacing all purchased stock 
with the technology being evaluated once a standard is set in place. 
For this RFI, outputs from this scenario are not available but will be 
addressed in future publications.
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    \2\ Bass, F.M., 1969, ``A New Product Growth Model for Consumer 
Durables,'' Management Science, Vol. 15, pp. 215-227.
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    For the unstaged and staged Maximum Adoption Potential scenarios, 
the tool also calculates the levelized cost of conserved energy (CCE), 
which is an annualized value of discounted costs and benefits of each 
measure. More specifically, the CCE allows comparison of end-user costs 
per unit of conserved energy for each measure. The end-user cost refers 
to the difference in capital, operations, and maintenance costs between 
the measure being analyzed and a typical baseline, adjusted for 
potential cost differences resulting from the variation in lifetimes 
between the proposed measure and the baseline. CCE is used during 
staging analysis, which involves adjusting the energy savings of each 
measure by taking into account competition for savings within the same 
or overlapping markets, and allocating savings within specific markets 
to measures with the lowest unstaged CCE first. Consequently, the 
staged CCE is calculated based on adjusted staged savings. Hence the 
staged CCE is defined as the annualized value of discounted cost per 
unit of conserved energy after staging of energy savings for each 
measure. Results are presented for both unstaged and staged scenarios 
by graphing unstaged or staged CCE versus unstaged or staged Maximum 
Adoption Potential savings, respectively.
    For further overview, discussion and examples of how the 
Prioritization Tool analyses are conducted, please view the video 
presentation at http://media.navigant.com/videotest/EN_DOEWebex_VID_0913.html. For more detailed description and discussion of the 
methodologies underlying the BTO Prioritization Tool's analytical 
capabilities, as well as its outputs, caveats, and functions, refer to 
the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) Technical Report: NREL/
TP-6A20-54799, available at http://www.nrel.gov/docs/fy12osti/54799.pdf.

D. Inputs and Outputs

    DOE seeks comments and information on measure inputs and 
assumptions used by the BTO Prioritization Tool as well as the outputs 
generated by the tool. The details of the inputs and outputs for the 
defined portfolio of 261 measures are provided in the spreadsheet, 
available at https://eere-exchange.energy.gov/Default.aspx?Search=prioritization%20tool&SearchType=#FoaIdc83baeea-4a16-48fa-a123-7c03796b503b and titled: RFI attachments--v11. The 
spreadsheet is divided into eight energy end-uses: Heating, ventilation 
and air-conditioning (HVAC), water heating, envelope, windows, 
appliances, sensors and controls, lighting, and miscellaneous electric 
loads (MELs). Information on each end-use is presented in two tabs: An 
input tab that contains relevant input information on each measure and 
an output tab that contains the analytical results for the year 2030. 
The inputs include data, calculations and assumptions based on the 
sources listed for each energy efficiency measure. More specifically, 
the inputs include a description of each measure, targeted market 
sector, typical technology life expectancy, energy consumption, and 
installed costs for both the baseline and high-efficiency measures. It 
also includes the percentage energy savings and cost premium of an 
efficient measure compared to the baseline measure. DOE also seeks 
comments and information with regard to the tool's outputs, which 
include estimated Technical Potential energy savings, Unstaged Maximum 
Adoption Potential savings, unstaged cost of conserved energy (CCE), 
Staged Maximum Adoption Potential savings, and staged CCE for each 
measure in the year 2030. Each column of the spreadsheet referenced 
above contains specific input or output data, and is annotated with a 
comment box that further explains the data in that column. For further 
information on the Prioritization Tool's individual measure inputs, 
refer to its notes and references columns. For further information on 
the tool's outputs, refer to NREL TP 6A20-54799 and the BTO video 
presentation, which can be found at links referenced above.

II. Purpose

    The purpose of this RFI is to solicit comments and information from 
industry, academia, research laboratories, government agencies, and 
other stakeholders on input and output data for all measures evaluated 
in the tool. DOE seeks data on new measures that may be missing from 
the tool or measures that have not been evaluated but have potential 
for significant national energy savings. This is solely a request for 
information and not a Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA). EERE is 
not accepting applications for funding related to this RFI at this 
time.

III. Disclaimer and Important Notes

    This RFI is not a Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA); 
therefore, EERE is not accepting applications at this time. EERE may 
issue a FOA in the future based on or related to the content and 
responses to this RFI; however, EERE may also elect not to issue a FOA. 
There is no guarantee that a FOA will be issued as a result of this 
RFI. Responding to this RFI does not provide any advantage or 
disadvantage to potential applicants if EERE chooses to issue a FOA 
regarding the subject matter. Final details, including the anticipated 
award size, quantity, and timing of EERE funded awards, will be subject 
to Congressional appropriations and direction.
    Any information obtained as a result of this RFI is intended to be 
used by the Government on a non-attribution basis for planning and 
strategy development; this RFI does not constitute a formal 
solicitation for proposals or abstracts. Your response to this notice 
will be treated as information only. EERE will review and consider all 
responses in its formulation of program strategies for the identified 
materials of interest that are the subject of this request. In 
accordance with the Federal Acquisition Regulations, 48 CFR 15.201(e), 
responses to this notice are not offers and cannot be accepted by the 
Government to form a binding contract. EERE will not provide 
reimbursement

[[Page 69842]]

for costs incurred in responding to this RFI. Respondents are advised 
that DOE is under no obligation to acknowledge receipt of the 
information received or provide feedback to respondents with respect to 
any information submitted under this RFI. Responses to this RFI do not 
bind EERE to any further actions related to this topic.

IV. Proprietary Information

    Because information received in response to this RFI may be used to 
structure future programs and FOAs and/or otherwise be made available 
to the public, respondents are strongly advised to NOT include any 
information in their responses that might be considered business 
sensitive, proprietary, or otherwise confidential. If, however, a 
respondent chooses to submit business sensitive, proprietary, or 
otherwise confidential information, it must be clearly and 
conspicuously marked as such in the response.
    Responses containing confidential, proprietary, or privileged 
information must be conspicuously marked as described below. Failure to 
comply with these marking requirements may result in the disclosure of 
the unmarked information under the Freedom of Information Act or 
otherwise. The U.S. Federal Government is not liable for the disclosure 
or use of unmarked information, and may use or disclose such 
information for any purpose.
    If your response contains confidential, proprietary, or privileged 
information, you must include a cover sheet marked as follows 
identifying the specific pages containing confidential, proprietary, or 
privileged information:

    Notice of Restriction on Disclosure and Use of Data: Pages [list 
applicable pages] of this response may contain confidential, 
proprietary, or privileged information that is exempt from public 
disclosure. Such information shall be used or disclosed only for the 
purposes described in this RFI: DE-FOA-0001024. The Government may 
use or disclose any information that is not appropriately marked or 
otherwise restricted, regardless of source.

    In addition, (1) the header and footer of every page that contains 
confidential, proprietary, or privileged information must be marked as 
follows: ``Contains Confidential, Proprietary, or Privileged 
Information Exempt from Public Disclosure'' and (2) every line and 
paragraph containing proprietary, privileged, or trade secret 
information must be clearly marked with double brackets or 
highlighting.

V. Evaluation and Administration by Federal and Non-Federal Personnel

    Federal employees are subject to the non-disclosure requirements of 
a criminal statute, the Trade Secrets Act, 18 U.S.C. 1905. The 
Government may seek the advice of qualified non-Federal personnel. The 
Government may also use non-Federal personnel to conduct routine, 
nondiscretionary administrative activities. The respondents, by 
submitting their response, consent to DOE providing their response to 
non-Federal parties. Non-Federal parties given access to responses must 
be subject to an appropriate obligation of confidentiality prior to 
being given the access. Submissions may be reviewed by support 
contractors and private consultants.

VI. Request for Information Categories and Questions

    DOE requests that manufacturers, utilities, research organizations, 
state and municipal energy programs, and other stakeholders submit 
their comments and additional information on the Prioritization Tool's 
inputs and outputs for measures as attachments to an email. It is 
recommended that attachments with file sizes exceeding 25MB be 
compressed (i.e., zipped) to ensure message delivery. Only electronic 
responses will be accepted. Respondents may answer as many or as few 
questions as they wish. EERE will not respond to individual submissions 
or publish publicly a compendium of responses. A response to this RFI 
will not be viewed as a binding commitment to develop or pursue the 
project or ideas discussed, nor does it provide an advantage to future 
Funding Opportunity Announcements. Respondents are requested to provide 
the following information in their response to this RFI:
     Company/institution name;
     Company/institution contact;
     Contact's address, phone number, and email address.
    DOE invites comments and information from respondents on all of the 
input and output data that are provided in the spreadsheet (https://eere-exchange.energy.gov/Default.aspx?Search=prioritization%20tool&SearchType=#FoaIdc83baeea-4a16-48fa-a123-7c03796b503b), as well as any of the elements previously 
discussed or additional issues the respondent deems important. Use the 
following email address: BTO_P_Tool_RFI@go.doe.gov. Additional high-
quality data sources and references are needed to evaluate any other 
possible initiatives to expand the portfolio and help identify the most 
promising cost-effective energy reduction measures for buildings. 
Specifically, DOE is requesting comment and information on the 
following topics:

A. Category 1: Information on BTO Prioritization Tool's Inputs

    Please provide your comments on the accuracy of the inputs of the 
Prioritization Tool, listed in the input tab for each energy end-use 
field in the spreadsheet (https://eere-exchange.energy.gov/Default.aspx?Search=prioritization%20tool&SearchType=#FoaIdc83baeea-4a16-48fa-a123-7c03796b503b). These inputs include the measure's 
description, targeted market sector, technology typical life 
expectancy, energy consumption and installed cost for both baseline and 
efficient measures, and/or percentage energy savings and cost premium 
of an efficient measure compared to the baseline measure.

B. Category 2: Additional Information on BTO Prioritization Tool's 
Inputs

    Please provide additional up-to-date, peer-reviewed and published 
information, studies, and reports on any of the inputs of the evaluated 
energy efficiency measures.

C. Category 3: BTO Prioritization Tool's Generated Outputs

    Please provide your comments on the perceived accuracy of the 
tool's generated outputs listed in the spreadsheet, whether as a whole 
for the entire portfolio of measures or in part for each measure. 
Specifically, these outputs include: Technical Potential; Unstaged 
Maximum Adoption Potential, unstaged CCE; Staged Maximum Adoption 
Potential, and staged CCE.

D. Category 4: Information on Absent Buildings-Related Energy 
Efficiency Measures That May Enhance the Tool or Measures That Are 
Listed But Were Excluded From Analysis

    Please provide any up-to-date, peer-reviewed and published 
information, studies and reports on buildings-related energy efficiency 
measures missing from the tool or measures that are listed but were 
excluded from analysis due to a lack of reliable peer-reviewed, 
published data. While only a couple hundred measures are included in 
the final analysis, hundreds of others are available for analysis and 
can be viewed in the tab called ``Excluded Measures'' in the 
spreadsheet referenced above. For each measure, DOE is specifically 
interested in information on measure description, its incremental cost 
and

[[Page 69843]]

energy savings over its baseline technology, life expectancy, and a 
description of the market to which the measure can be applied.

E. Category 5: Benefits or Risks of Using the BTO Prioritization Tool

    What are potential or perceived benefits or risks of using the BTO 
Prioritization Tool to inform decision-making within BTO?

F. Category 6: Public Access to the BTO Prioritization Tool

    What is the perceived value in the BTO Prioritization Tool models 
and analysis, and interest in having public access to the BTO 
Prioritization Tool? If the BTO Prioritization Tool is to be made 
publically available, what format is preferred (e.g., real-time online 
execution, downloadable Excel file, downloadable non-Excel file, etc.)? 
An example of a similar publically available software tool is the 
System Advisor Model for renewable energy systems (https://sam.nrel.gov/).

    Issued in Washington, DC, on November 13, 2013.
Roland J. Risser,
Director, Building Technologies Office, Energy Efficiency and Renewable 
Energy.
[FR Doc. 2013-27941 Filed 11-20-13; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6450-01-P
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