Energy Conservation Program for Consumer Products: Test Procedures for Furnaces/Boilers, Vented Home Heating Equipment, and Pool Heaters

On Monday, August 23, 1993, the Department of Energy (DOE or Department) published a proposed rule amending furnace and boiler, vented home heating equipment, and pool heater test procedures (58 FR 44538). Among the various proposed technical changes and revisions, that notice proposed a revision to the existing Energy Factor and proposed a new energy efficiency descriptor, Annual Efficiency. A multiplication factor (F-factor), which represented the ratio of the energy consumed at the power plant to generate the auxiliary electric energy delivered to the fossil-fueled appliance to the useful heat equivalent of that electrical energy delivered at the appliance, was applied to the auxiliary energy in the calculation of the proposed Energy Factor and Annual Efficiency. Today's notice announces a reopening of the comment period to seek comment on an alternative definition of the F-factor based on the ratio of the national average cost of the auxiliary electrical energy to the national average cost of the fossil fuel energy on a common unit energy basis. DOE is soliciting comments, data, and information respecting this alternative energy cost factor.