Source: https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2013/06/14/2013-14163/notice-of-petition-for-waiver-of-panasonic-appliances-refrigeration-systems-corporation-of-america
Timestamp: 2017-11-23 23:04:55
Document Index: 475253078

Matched Legal Cases: ['art 430', 'art 430', 'art 430', '§\u2009430', '§\u2009430', '§\u2009430', '§\u2009430']

Federal Register :: Notice of Petition for Waiver of Panasonic Appliances Refrigeration Systems Corporation of America Corporation (PAPRSA) From the Department of Energy Residential Refrigerator and Refrigerator-Freezer Test Procedure and Grant of Interim Waiver
DOE will accept comments, data, and information with respect to the PAPRSA Petition until July 15, 2013.
35894-35898 (5 pages)
EERE-2013-BT-WAV-0031
2013-06-21 Waiver application notification list
2013-04-29 Panasonic Appliances Refrigeration Systems...
PETITION FOR WAIVER AND APPLICATION FOR INTERIM WAIVER
2. Request to Test, Certify and Rate New Basic Model SR5180JBC Under Previously Approved Alternative Testing Procedure
3. Manufacturers of Other Basic Models Marketed in the United States Known to Incorporate Similar Design Characteristics
4. Grounds for Interim Waiver
https://www.federalregister.gov/d/2013-14163 https://www.federalregister.gov/d/2013-14163
This notice announces receipt of a petition for waiver from Panasonic Appliances Refrigeration Systems Corporation of America (PAPRSA) seeking an exemption from specified portions of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) test procedure for determining the energy consumption of electric refrigerators and refrigerator-freezers. PAPRSA's request pertains to the specific hybrid wine chiller/beverage center basic models set forth in its petition. PAPRSA seeks permission to use an alternate test procedure to test the wine chiller compartment of these devices at 55 °F instead of the prescribed temperature of 38 °F. That procedure would apply a K factor (correction factor) value of 0.85 when calculating the energy consumption of a tested model and replace the energy consumption calculation currently required under 10 CFR Part 430, Appendix A1. DOE solicits comments, data, and information concerning PAPRSA's petition and the suggested alternate test procedure. Today's notice also grants PAPRSA with an interim waiver from the electric refrigerator-freezer test procedure, subject to use of the alternative test procedure set forth in this notice.
You may submit comments, identified by case number “RF-031,” by any of the following methods:
Title III, Part B of the Energy Policy and Conservation Act of 1975 (EPCA), Public Law 94-163 (42 U.S.C. 6291-6309, as codified), established the Energy Conservation Program for Consumer Products Other Than Automobiles, a program covering most major household appliances, which includes the electric refrigerators and refrigerator-freezers that are the focus of this notice.[1] Part B includes definitions, test procedures, labeling provisions, energy conservation standards, and the authority to require information and reports from manufacturers. Further, Part B authorizes the Secretary of Energy to prescribe test procedures that are reasonably designed to produce results which measure the energy efficiency, energy use, or estimated annual operating costs of a covered product, and that are not unduly burdensome to conduct. (42 U.S.C. 6293(b)(3)) The test procedure for electric refrigerators and electric refrigerator-freezers is contained in 10 CFR part 430, subpart B, appendix A1.
On April 29, 2013, PAPRSA submitted a petition for waiver from the test procedure applicable to residential electric refrigerators and refrigerator-freezers set forth in 10 CFR part 430, Subpart B, Appendix A1. In its petition, PAPRSA has set forth an alternate test procedure and notes in support of its petition that DOE previously granted Sanyo E&E Corporation (Sanyo) a similar waiver pertaining to its wine chiller/beverage centers. See 77 FR 19654 (April 2, 2012) (petition for waiver) and 77 FR 49443 (August 16, 2012) (Decision and Order). The petition also notes that Sanyo E&E Corporation has since changed its corporate name to Panasonic Appliances Refrigeration Systems Corporation of America, meaning that it is the same manufacturer to which DOE granted the August 2012 waiver. On October 4, 2012, DOE issued a correction notice to the Decision and Order. That notice incorporated a K factor (correction factor) value of 0.85 when calculating the energy consumption of a tested model (77 FR 60688). PAPRSA is requesting a waiver with respect to the test procedures for its hybrid models that consist of a single cabinet equipped with a refrigerated beverage compartment in the top portion and a wine storage compartment in the bottom portion of each unit. DOE issued guidance that clarified the test procedures to be used for hybrid products such as the PAPRSA models at issue, which is available at the following link: http://www1.eere.energy.gov/​buildings/​appliance_​standards/​residential/​pdfs/​refrigerator_​definition_​faq.pdf. This guidance specifies that basic models such as the ones PAPRSA identifies in its petition, which do not have a separate wine storage compartment with a separate exterior door, are to be tested according to the DOE test procedure in Appendix A1, with the temperatures specified therein. PAPRSA asserts that the wine storage compartment cannot be tested at the prescribed temperature of 38 °F, because the minimum compartment temperature is 45 °F.
For the reasons discussed above, DOE has determined that use of the currently required DOE test procedure would provide test results so unrepresentative Start Printed Page 35896as to provide materially inaccurate comparative data. Therefore, it appears likely that PAPRSA's petition for waiver will be granted. For these same reasons, DOE has also determined that it is desirable for public policy reasons to grant PAPRSA immediate relief pending a determination of the petition for waiver. DOE grants PAPRSA's application for interim waiver from testing of its hybrid wine chiller/beverage center basic models.
The application for interim waiver filed by PAPRSA is hereby granted for PAPRSA's hybrid wine chiller/beverage center basic product lines are subject to the following specifications and conditions below. PAPRSA shall be required to test and rate its hybrid wine chiller/beverage center product line according to the alternate test procedure as set forth in section III, “Alternate test procedure.”
PAPRSA submitted an alternate test procedure to account for the energy consumption of its wine chiller/beverage centers. That alternate procedure would test the wine chiller compartment at 55 °F, instead of the prescribed 38 °F. PAPRSA shall also use the K factor (correction factor) value of 0.85 when calculating the energy consumption of one of the models listed above and replace energy consumption calculation of appendix A1 with the following:
EWine = (ET1 + [(ET2−ET1) × (55 °F−TW1)/(TW2−TW1)]) * 0.85
Through today's notice, DOE grants PAPRSA an interim waiver from the specified portions of the test procedure applicable to PAPRSA's line of hybrid wine chiller/beverage center basic and announces receipt of PAPRSA's petition for waiver from those same portions of the test procedure. DOE is publishing PAPRSA's petition for waiver in its entirety. The petition contains no confidential information. The petition includes a suggested alternate test procedure to determine the energy consumption of PAPRSA's specified hybrid refrigerators. PAPRSA is required to follow this alternate procedure as a condition of its interim waiver, and DOE is considering including this alternate procedure in its subsequent Decision and Order.
Panasonic Appliances Refrigeration Systems Corporation of America (“PAPRSA”) respectfully submits this Petition for Waiver and Application for Interim Waiver (“Petition”) pursuant to 10 C.F.R. § 430.27 on the ground that its hybrid wine chiller/beverage center model (“hybrid model”) listed below contains one or more design characteristics that prevent testing of the basic model according to the test procedures prescribed in 10 C.F.R. § 430, subpart B, appendix A1. As detailed more fully below, the Department of Energy (“DOE”) has previously granted PAPRSA's corporate predecessor, SANYO E&E Corp.,[2] a waiver from DOE's electric refrigerator and refrigerator-freezer test procedures for determining the energy consumption of substantially similar hybrid models in Case No. RF-022 (the “waiver hybrid models”). PAPRSA has developed a new basic hybrid model, SR5180JBC, that contains the same design characteristics as its waiver hybrid models that make it impossible to certify, rate, and sell this new hybrid model under the existing testing procedures.[3] PAPRSA therefore respectfully requests that it be permitted to employ the alternative testing method for this new basic hybrid model that Start Printed Page 35897has already been approved by DOE for the waiver hybrid models.
As PAPRSA previously explained, PAPRSA designed the wine storage compartments of its waiver hybrid models to operate between a minimum temperature of 45 °F and a maximum temperature of 64 °F, with an average temperature of 55 to 57 °F. In fact, heaters are used to ensure that the temperature in the wine storage compartment never drops below 45 °F, as wines chilled below this temperature risk becoming crystallized and, therefore, ruined. Currently, however, DOE's testing procedures contained in 10 C.F.R. § 430, subpart B, appendix A1, mandate that energy consumption be measured when the compartment temperature is set at 38 °F. Based on the design characteristics of its waiver hybrid models noted above, however, PAPRSA needed a waiver with respect to DOE's testing procedures in order to properly “certify, rate, and sell such models,” because the existing test procedures contained in 10 C.F.R. § 430, subpart B, appendix A1, do not contemplate a product that is designed to be incapable of achieving a temperature below 45 °F.
On August 9, 2012, DOE granted PAPRSA a waiver from DOE's electric refrigerator and refrigerator-freezer test procedures for determining the energy consumption of the basic models listed in its June 2, 2011 petition for waiver. See Federal Register, Vol. 77, No. 159, 49443-44. In permitting PAPRSA to test the wine chiller compartment at 55 °F, DOE noted “that the test procedures for wine chillers adopted by the Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers (AHAM), California Energy Commission (CEC), and Natural Resources Canada all use a standardized compartment temperature of 55 °F for wine chiller compartments, which is consistent with [PAPRSA's] approach.” Id. at 49444.
EWine = (ET1 + [(ET2-ET1) × (55 °F-TW1)/(TW2-TW1)]) * 0.85
As indicated above, PAPRSA has developed a new basic hybrid model, SR5180JBC, that shares the same design characteristics that led DOE to approve PAPRSA's June 2, 2011 petition for waiver. SR5180JBC is a single cabinet hybrid model that would be classified as a compact refrigerator with automatic defrost without through-the-door ice service, but which has a wine-chiller compartment designed for an average temperature of 55 to 57 °F. Just as PAPRSA's waiver hybrid models, SR5180JBC contains a heater that makes it impossible for the temperature of the wine-chiller compartment to reach a temperature below 45 °F. Thus, testing SR5180JBC at 38 °F is simply not possible and not representative of the energy consumption characteristics of this new basic hybrid model.
Accordingly, PAPRSA respectfully requests that it be permitted to use this approved alternative testing method to test, certify and rate new basic hybrid model SR5180JBC in the same manner as its waiver hybrid models subject to the existing waiver.
After reviewing publicly available product manuals of comparable hybrid models, PAPRSA was unable to locate a basic model marketed in the United States that incorporates similar design characteristics and that also would be considered a “covered product” under Section 430.62 of DOE's rules.[4]
Further, as DOE has previously stated, “[f]ully recognizing that product development occurs faster than the test procedure rulemaking process, the Department's rules permit manufacturers of models not contemplated by the test procedures . . . to petition for a test procedure waiver in order to certify, rate, and sell such models.” GC Enforcement Guidance on the Application of Waivers and on the Waiver Process at 2 (rel. Dec. 23, 2010); [5] see also DOE FAQ Guidance Regarding Coverage of Wine Chillers, Etc. in the R/F Standard/Start Printed Page 35898Test Procedure at 2 (rel. Feb. 10, 2011) (“DOE recognizes the potential disparity in treatment among these hybrid products. As DOE indicated . . . , the Department plans to engage in a future rulemaking to more comprehensively address these types of products.”).
Thus, given that this Petition is likely to be granted and PAPRSA will face economic hardship unless an interim waiver is granted, permitting PAPRSA to immediately certify new basic hybrid model SR5180JBC under the alternative testing method already approved by DOE is in the public interest.
Counsel for Panasonic Appliances Refrigeration Systems Corporation of America
2. Effective April 1, 2013, SANYO E&E Corporation changed its corporate name to Panasonic Appliances Refrigeration Systems Corporation of America. Throughout this Petition, PAPRSA will be used to refer to both SANYO E&E Corporation and Panasonic Appliances Refrigeration Systems Corporation of America, unless otherwise indicated.
3. At present, PAPRSA intends to market three derivative individual models based on basic hybrid model SR5180JBC that have variances in their cosmetic features: JUB24FLARS0 *, JUB24FRARS0 *, and JUB24FRACX0 *. To the extent this Petition is granted, PAPRSA may develop additional derivative individual models based on basic hybrid model SR5180JBC in the future.
4. PAPRSA cannot guarantee that its search disclosed every possible competing model, as PAPRSA ordinarily does not search for and retain this information in the normal course of business, but to the best of PAPRSA's knowledge, certain GE hybrid models appear to be the closest substitutes to SANYO E&E's hybrid models in terms of both functionality and design characteristics. However, GE represents in its product manuals that its hybrid models, specifically, ZDBC240, ZDBT240, ZDBR240, and ZDBI240, do not achieve temperatures below 40 °F and thus would not be considered a covered product under DOE regulations. PAPRSA is uncertain if GE means that the average temperature of the entire cabinet does not drop below 40 °F, which is the case with all PAPRSA's hybrid models, or whether GE is representing that no portion of its single-cabinet models can achieve temperatures below 40 °F. Based on this uncertainty, PAPRSA excluded GE from this section. PAPRSA's research did not reveal any other basic models that, after review of the design characteristics, were comparable to PAPRSA's hybrid models.
5. Available at http://www.gc.energy.gov/​documents/​LargeCapacityRCW_​guidance_​122210.pdf.
[FR Doc. 2013-14163 Filed 6-13-13; 8:45 am]