Schedule Setting for the Appliance Standards Rulemaking Process

Appliance Standards Schedule

On January 31, 2006, the Department of Energy released a schedule for setting new appliance efficiency standards that will save American consumers billions of dollars in energy costs. The five-year plan outlines how DOE will address the appliance standards rulemaking backlog and meet all of the statutory requirements established in the Energy Policy and Conservation Act (EPCA) and the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (EPACT 2005).

Statutes require DOE to set appliance efficiency standards at levels that achieve the maximum improvement in energy efficiency that is technologically feasible and economically justified. Standards already in place for residential products are expected to save consumers nearly $93 billion, by 2020, and to save enough energy to operate all U.S. homes for approximately two years.

The five-year plan, which was developed considering the recent public comments received on appliance rulemaking, provides for the issuance of one rulemaking for each of the 18 products in the backlog. The plan also provides for setting appliance standards for products required under EPACT 2005. The Department is aggressively implementing process improvements to speed up the development and issuing of appliance standards rulemakings.

The schedule also provides for issuance of a number of on-going test procedures and new test procedures required by EPACT 2005.

Some of the following documents are available as Adobe Acrobat PDFs. Download Adobe Reader.

• Downloadable version of the Five-Year Schedule for Issuance of Appliance Rulemakings (PDF 131 KB)

The overall plan for implementing the schedule is contained in the Report to Congress, which was released January 31, 2006. The report is posted below as a PDF file. Section 141 of EPACT pertains to the Department's failure to meet deadlines for new or amended energy conservation standards. The report identifies all products for which DOE has missed the deadlines established in the Energy Policy and Conservation Act (EPCA) (42 U.S.C. § 6291. et seq., as amended). It also describes the reasons for such delays and the Secretary's plan for expeditiously prescribing new or amended standards. Section 141 requires both an initial report and semi-annual implementation reports. The first semi-annual implementation report is also posted below as a PDF file.

• Report to Congress on Appliance Energy Efficiency Rulemakings - "Implementation Report: Energy Conservation Standards Activities," February 2008 (PDF 311 KB)
  
  
• Third Semi-Annual Report to Congress on Appliance Energy Efficiency Rulemakings - "Implementation Report: Energy Conservation Standards Activities," August 2007 (PDF 153 KB)
  
  
• Second Semi-Annual Report to Congress on Appliance Energy Efficiency Rulemakings - "Implementation Report: Energy Conservation Standards Activities," February 2007 (PDF 262 KB)
  
  
• Report to Congress on Appliance Energy Efficiency Rulemakings - "Implementation Report: Energy Conservation Standards Activities," August 2006 (PDF 214 KB)
  
  
• Report to Congress on Appliance Energy Efficiency Rulemakings, January 2006 (PDF 924 KB)

Meeting on Appliance Standards Scheduling

The Department of Energy held a public meeting on November 15, 2005, in Washington, D.C., to discuss appliance standards scheduling issues. The Department received comments on the desire to bring all appliance rulemaking activities into compliance with the applicable statutory requirements. The Department based its standards scheduling plan on consideration of comments received during and following the public meeting.

Further information on that meeting is shown below. Analytical updates or revisions to last year's data sheets and spreadsheets are specified as 2006 analyses where applicable.

Schedule Setting Documents

• Preliminary Agenda for the November 15, 2005 meeting (PDF 42 KB).
  
  
• The Department issued a statement on November 15, 2005, that it will release, no later than January 31, 2006, schedules to complete all affected rulemakings (PDF 12 KB)
  
  
• The Federal Register Notice published on October 24, 2005, contains more details about the public meeting and how to provide comments (PDF 61 KB).
  
  
• DOE Appliances & Commercial Equipment Standards Program—Rulemaking Activities contains a list of rulemakings with any specified statutory cycle deadlines (PDF 647 KB).
  
  
• 2006 Draft Rulemaking Activities Data Sheets contain last year's data sheets with some 2006 updates. Revised data sheets are labeled "revised for 2006" (PDF 528 KB).
  
  
• 2006 Rulemaking Spreadsheets contains Excel spreadsheets for 17 products, including two new spreadsheets for commercial refrigeration, and ceiling fans and ceiling fan light kits. This spreadsheet contains calculations for potential energy savings (ZIP 631 KB).
  
  
• DRAFT TECHNICAL REPORT: Analysis of Amended Energy Conservation Standards for Residential Refrigerator-Freezers, October, 2005. This additional analysis was prepared in response to a petition by stakeholders to amend the standards (PDF 2.1 MB).

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