The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) NOPR Proposes Amendments to Improve the Energy Labeling Rule for Appliances including Gas Cooking Products and Miscellaneous Gas Products – Reject AGA,  APGA and NPGA Previous Comments to Add Full Fuel Cycle Metrics on Furnace/Boiler Labels.

In the February 2, 2024 Federal Register Notice, the FTC Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NOPR) “proposes amendments to improve the Energy Labeling Rule including energy labels for several new consumer product categories and changes to label display requirements. Specifically, the Notice seeks comment on labels for air cleaners, clothes dryers, miscellaneous refrigeration products, and portable electric spas; modifications to existing labels for clothes washers, televisions, and several heating products; revisions to the current requirements for affixing labels on showroom models; and several minor amendments to improve the Rule.”  Comments must be received by April 2, 2024. For Gas Products, the FTC NOPR does not propose adding labels for miscellaneous gas products such as gas fireplaces, decorative appliances, etc. or gas cooking products.  The NOPR also responds to July 11, 2022  comments submitted by AGA, APGA and NPGA to a 2022 FTC Advanced Notice of Proposed Rule Making (ANOPR) appliance rulemaking rejecting the recommended inclusion of full fuel cycle (FFC)  metrics on furnace and boiler labels as follows: “In addition, the Commission does not propose amending existing labels to add FFC or GHG emissions information about individual products. It is not clear, for instance, whether such additional technical information is helpful or whether the information already on the label (e.g., the annual fuel costs), provides an adequate proxy for relative comparisons of the FFC impacts of competing products.”  Additionally, as the electricity grid evolves toward renewables and away from sources such as coal, the difference in emissions between fuels may narrow; thus, diluting the relevance of such fuel comparisons. Further, additional FFC or GHG emissions information would clutter the label, potentially confusing consumers, and otherwise detract from the central disclosures related to the energy cost or energy efficiency of the labeled product.” The FTC ignored the argument that the furnace/boiler label has an efficiency rating AFUE on it, not cost and electric furnaces show a 100% AFUE on site rating that essentially provides biased efficiency information since the source energy usage for an electric furnace is 2 ½ to 3 times more than a comparable gas furnace. In addition, the FTC don’t appear to challenge the assertion that they can use FFC or GHG metrics on the label’s but don’t embrace it either.  AGA staff is reviewing the proposal and BECS Committee members are requested to provide comments on the NOPR for gas products by March 15.

DOE Issues an Extension for Public Comments on its RFI on Developing a National Definition for a Zero Emissions Building to March 6, 2024 – Proposing No On-Site Emissions.

As previously provided in the January 12, 2024 BECS Update on End Use Codes and Standards we reported that on January 2, 2024 the DOE’s Building Technologies Office (BTO) released a Request for Information (RFI) to “solicit feedback from industry, academia, research laboratories, government agencies, and other stakeholders on Part 1 of a draft National Definition for a Zero Emissions Building. As proposed, the definition in Part 1 of the RFI that includes, “Free of on-site emissions from energy use” is a major concern for natural gas applications. The RFI requested comments by February 5, 2024.  To respond to the DOE request, AGA decided to submit the attached letter and answers to the questions in the RFI by the February 5, 2024 deadline directly to the DOE Secretary of Energy Granholm and Jeff Marootian, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for EERE outlining the specific concerns with the proposal and to respond to the questions.  In addition, on January 19, 2024, AGA, APGA and NPGA filed a request for a 30-day extension for filing comments and DOE has issued an extension in today’s Federal Register  submit comments by March, 6, 2024.   This extension provides BECS Committee members another opportunity to file comments on the RFI or you may file comments in support of the AGA comments.

DOE Issues a Direct Final Rule and NOPR for Consumer Cooking Products Including Gas Cooking Tops and Ovens.

In last week’s Update, we reported on the DOE pre-publication of a Direct Final Rule (DFR) on Cooking Tops and also has posted a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NOPR) on cooktops as well. On Wednesday, DOE issued the attached Federal Register Notices on both the DFR and the NOPR. As outlined in the Federal Register Notices, the comment deadline on the NOPR is June 3, 2024. Comments to the NOPR regarding the Department of Justice’s Competitive Impact Comments are due on March 15, 2024.  Note that upon the publication of this NOPR,  if an adverse public comment(s) is filed by June 3, 2024 the Secretary then decides if there is a reasonable basis for withdrawing the direct final rule under based on DOE’s criteria for prescribing new or amended standards under the 42 U.S.C. 6295(o) and 42 U.S.C. 6313(a)(6)(B), e.g., technologically feasible and economically justified. AGA staff is continuing its review of the NOPR and the Technical Support Document (TSD) and request the BECS Committee also review the documents and provide us with feedback on the justification for the proposed minimum efficiency level for gas cooking tops.

State Codes Activity Update.

Attached is a weekly feature of the “Friday Update” covering state code calendar activities as presented by the online utility “Fiscal Note,” which is sponsored by APGA and AGA Code and Standards. Please review the update and determine if there are state code activities that impact your service territory or organization.