Energy Conservation Program for Consumer Products: Energy Conservation Standards for Direct Heating Equipment and Pool Heaters

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is initiating a rulemaking to consider amended energy conservation standards for direct heating equipment and pool heaters. Once completed, this rulemaking will fulfill DOE's statutory obligation to either propose amended energy conservation standards for these products or to determine that the existing standards do not need to be amended. This RFI seeks to solicit information to help DOE determine whether national standards more stringent than those that are currently in place would result in a significant amount of additional energy savings and whether such amended national standards would be technologically feasible and economically justified. In overview, this document presents a brief description of the analysis DOE plans to perform for this rulemaking and requests comment on various issues relating to each of the analyses (e.g., market assessment, engineering analysis, energy use analysis, life-cycle cost and payback period analysis, national impact analysis, and manufacturer impact analysis). Although this document contains several specific topics on which the Department is particularly interested in receiving written comment, DOE welcomes suggestions and information from the public on any subject within the scope of this rulemaking, including topics not raised in this RFI.