Energy Conservation Program: Energy Conservation Standards for Commercial Water Heating Equipment

The Energy Policy and Conservation Act of 1975 (EPCA), as amended, prescribes energy conservation standards for various consumer products and certain commercial and industrial equipment, including commercial water heaters, hot water supply boilers, and unfired hot water storage tanks (hereinafter referred to as ``commercial water heating (CWH) equipment''). EPCA also requires that every 6 years, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) must determine whether more-stringent, amended standards would be technologically feasible and economically justified, and would save a significant amount of energy. In this action, DOE has tentatively concluded that there is clear and convincing evidence to support more-stringent standards for several classes of the equipment that are the subject of this rulemaking. DOE did not consider more-stringent standards in this action for commercial oil-fired storage water heaters, whose standards were recently amended. Therefore, DOE proposes amended energy conservation standards for certain commercial water heating equipment, and also announces a public meeting to receive comment on these proposed standards and associated analyses and results.