Energy Conservation Program: Energy Conservation Standards for Automatic Commercial Ice Makers

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY <CFR>10 CFR Part 431</CFR> <DEPDOC>[Docket No. EERE-2025-BT-STD-0015]</DEPDOC> <RIN>RIN 1904-AF85</RIN> <SUBJECT>Energy Conservation Program: Energy Conservation Standards for Automatic Commercial Ice Makers</SUBJECT> <HD SOURCE="HED">AGENCY:</HD> Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Department of Energy (DOE). <HD SOURCE="HED">ACTION:</HD> Notice of proposed rulemaking; request for comments. <SUM> <HD SOURCE="HED">SUMMARY:</HD> DOE is proposing to rescind the amended water use standards for automatic commercial ice makers (ACIMs). This will return the water use standards for ACIMs to the statutory baseline. </SUM> <EFFDATE> <HD SOURCE="HED">DATES:</HD> Comments must be received on or before July 15, 2025. <E T="03">Meeting:</E> DOE will hold a public meeting webinar on Thursday, May 29, 2025 from 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. See section III of this document, “Public Participation,” for registration information, participant instructions, and information about the capabilities available to webinar participants. DOE invites public input on its proposal. </EFFDATE> <HD SOURCE="HED">ADDRESSES:</HD> Interested persons are encouraged to submit comments using the Federal eRulemaking Portal at <E T="03">www.regulations.gov</E> under docket number EERE-2025-BT-STD-0015. Follow the instructions for submitting comments. Alternatively, interested persons may submit comments, identified by docket number EERE-2025-BT-STD-0015, by any of the following methods: (1) <E T="03">Email: ApplianceStandardsQuestions@ee.doe.gov.</E> Include the docket number EERE-2025-BT-STD-0015 and/or RIN 1904-AF85 in the subject line of the message. Submit electronic comments in WordPerfect, Microsoft Word, PDF, or ASCII file format, and avoid the use of special characters or any form of encryption. (2) <E T="03">Postal Mail:</E> Appliance and Equipment Standards Program, U.S. Department of Energy, Building Technologies Office, Mailstop EE-5B, 1000 Independence Avenue SW, Washington, DC 20585-0121. If possible, please submit all items on a compact disc (CD), in which case it is not necessary to include printed copies. (3) <E T="03">Hand Delivery/Courier:</E> Appliance and Equipment Standards Program, U.S. Department of Energy, Building Technologies Office, 1000 Independence Avenue SW, Washington, DC 20585-0121. Telephone: (202) 287- 1445. If possible, please submit all items on a CD, in which case it is not necessary to include printed copies. No telefacsimiles (faxes) will be accepted. For detailed instructions on submitting comments and additional information on this process, see section III (Public Participation) of this document. <E T="03">Docket:</E> The docket for this proposed rulemaking, which includes <E T="04">Federal Register</E> notices, comments, and other supporting documents and materials, is available for review at <E T="03">www.regulations.gov.</E> All documents in the docket are listed in the <E T="03">www.regulations.gov</E> index. However, not all documents listed in the index may be publicly available, such as information that is exempt from public disclosure. The docket web page can be found at <E T="03">www.regulations.gov/docket/EERE-2025-BT-STD-0015.</E> The docket web page contains instructions on how to access all documents, including public comments, in the docket, as well as a summary of the rulemaking. See section III of this document, “Public Participation,” for further information on how to submit comments through <E T="03">www.regulations.gov.</E> In accordance with 5 U.S.C. 553(b)(4), a summary of this rule may be found at <E T="03">www.regulations.gov,</E> under the docket number EERE-2025-BT-STD-0015. <FURINF> <HD SOURCE="HED">FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:</HD> Mr. David Taggart, U.S. Department of Energy, Office of the General Counsel, GC-1, 1000 Independence Avenue SW, Washington, DC 20585-0121. Telephone: (202) 586-5281. Email: <E T="03"> DOEGeneralCounsel@hq.doe.gov.</E> For further information on how to submit a comment or review other public comments and the docket contact the Appliance and Equipment Standards Program staff at (202) 287-1445 or by email: <E T="03">ApplianceStandardsQuestions@ee.doe.gov.</E> </FURINF> <SUPLINF> <HD SOURCE="HED">SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:</HD> <HD SOURCE="HD1">Table of Contents</HD> <EXTRACT> <FP SOURCE="FP-2">I. General Discussion</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-2">II. Procedural Issues and Regulatory Review</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">A. Review Under Executive Orders 12866 and 13563</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">B. Review Under the Regulatory Flexibility Act</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">C. Review Under the Paperwork Reduction Act</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">D. Review Under the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">E. Review Under Executive Order 13132</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">F. Review Under Executive Order 12988</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">G. Review Under the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act of 1995</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">H. Review Under the Treasury and General Government Appropriations Act, 1999</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">I. Review Under Executive Order 12630</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">J. Review Under the Treasury and General Government Appropriations Act, 2001</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">K. Review Under Executive Order 13211</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">L. Review Under the Information Quality Bulletin for Peer Review</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">M. Review Under Additional Executive Orders and Presidential Memoranda</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-2">III. Public Participation</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">A. Attendance</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">B. Procedures</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">C. Conduct of the Meeting</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">D. Submission of Comments</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">E. Issues on Which DOE Seeks Comments</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-2">IV. Approval of the Office of the Secretary</FP> </EXTRACT> <HD SOURCE="HD1">I. General Discussion</HD> The Energy Policy and Conservation Act, Public Law 94-163, as amended (EPCA), <SU>1</SU> <FTREF/> authorizes DOE to regulate the energy efficiency of a number of consumer products and certain industrial equipment. 42 U.S.C. 6291-6317. Title III, Part C  <SU>2</SU> <FTREF/> of EPCA, established the Energy Conservation Program for Certain Industrial Equipment. 42 U.S.C. 6311-6317. This includes ACIM equipment, the subject of this proposed rulemaking. 42 U.S.C. 6311(1)(F). <FTNT> <SU>1</SU>  All references to EPCA in this document refer to the statute as amended through the Energy Act of 2020, Public Law 116-260 (Dec. 27, 2020), which reflect the last statutory amendments that impact Parts A and A-1 of EPCA. </FTNT> <FTNT> <SU>2</SU>  For editorial reasons, upon codification in the U.S. Code, Part C was redesignated Part A-1. </FTNT> Pursuant to this authority, DOE is proposing to rescind the amended water conservation standards for ACIMs, which are codified at section 431.136 of title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR). Congress required certain types of ACIMs—water-cooled ice-making head ACIMs and water-cooled self-contained ACIMs—to have maximum condenser water use in gallons per 100 pounds of ice using formulas of 200-0.022H (where H is the harvest rate in pounds per 24 hours) and 191-0.0315H (where H is the harvest rate in pounds per 24 hours). See 42 U.S.C. 6313(d)(1). DOE, by regulation, has set more stringent water use requirements, as certain types of batch water-cooled ice-making head and water-cooled self-contained ACIMs now have maximum condenser water use of 145 gallons per 100 pounds of ice and 112 gallons per 100 pounds of ice. 10 CFR 431.136. DOE also established new water conservation standards for certain types of continuous water-cooled ice-making head to have maximum condenser water use of 180-0.0198H (where H is the harvest rate in pounds per 24 hours) and 130.5 gallons per 100 pounds of ice, and continuous water-cooled self-contained ACIMs 153-0.0252H (where H is the harvest rate in pounds per 24 hours). <E T="03">Id.</E> DOE proposes to rescind the water factor requirements in their entirety and seeks comment on all aspects of that proposal. The rescission would return the water use requirements to the statutory standards in 42 U.S.C. 6313(d)(1). The Secretary has tentatively determined that the anti-backsliding provision in 42 U.S.C. 6295(o)(1), referenced for ACIMs through a cross-walk in 42 U.S.C. 6316(a), does not apply here, because section (o)(1) only applies to water use “in the case of showerheads, faucets, water closets, or urinals.” Additionally, the Secretary has tentatively determined that DOE lacks authority to regulate the water use of ACIMs. Part A-1 of EPCA defines “energy conservation standard” as “(A) a performance standard that prescribes a minimum level of energy efficiency or a maximum quantity of energy use for a product; or (B) a design requirement for a product.” 42 U.S.C. 6311(18). The purpose of Part A-1 refers only to improve the efficiency of electric motors and pumps and certain other industrial equipment in order to conserve the energy resources of the Nation. <E T="03">Id.</E> at section 6312(a). Conserving water resources is not a purpose of this part of EPCA. Therefore, when the statute directs DOE to issue a final rule for ACIMs to determine whether amending the applicable standards is technologically feasible and economically justified, that direction is only applicable to the energy conservation standards, not the water use standards. <E T="03">See id.</E> at section 6313(d)(3). Moreover, the Secretary is proposing a new policy to reduce regulatory burden wherever possible. Unless a regulatory standard is required by statute, the Secretary proposes eliminating that requirement. This new policy would support energy and water abundance, allowing Americans to produce and consume as much en ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Preview showing 10k of 44k characters. Full document text is stored and available for version comparison. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━