Air-Cooled Unitary Air Conditioners and Heat Pumps

DOE published a direct final rule to establish amended energy conservation standards for air-cooled commercial package air conditioners and heat pumps with a rated cooling capacity greater than or equal to 65,000 Btu/h in the Federal Register on May 20, 2024. DOE has determined that the comments received in response to the direct final rule do not provide a reasonable basis for withdrawing the direct final rule. Therefore, DOE has published this Federal Register notice confirming the effective and compliance dates of those standards.

• The effective date of September 17, 2024, for the direct final rule published on May 20, 2024, (89 FR 44052) is confirmed. Compliance with the standards established in the direct final rule will be required on and after January 1, 2029.

DOE has published a Federal Register final rule pertaining to test procedures for air-cooled, evaporatively cooled, and water-cooled commercial package air conditioners and heat pumps. DOE is amending the test procedures for equipment with a rated cooling capacity greater than or equal to 65,000 Btu/h, evaporatively cooled commercial package air conditioners, and water-cooled commercial package air conditioners to incorporate by reference the latest versions of the applicable industry test standards. Specifically, DOE is amending the current test procedure for this equipment for measuring the current cooling and heating metrics—integrated energy efficiency ratio (IEER) and coefficient of performance (COP), respectively; and establishing a new test procedure for this equipment that adopts two new metrics—integrated ventilation, economizer, and cooling (IVEC) and integrated ventilation and heating efficiency (IVHE). Testing to the IVEC and IVHE metrics will not be required until such time as compliance is required with any amended energy conservation standard based on the new metrics. Additionally, DOE is amending certain provisions of DOE’s regulations related to representations and enforcement for the subject equipment.

• The effective date of this rule is August 5, 2024.
• The amendments will be mandatory for testing the subject equipment starting May 15, 2025.
• The incorporation by reference of certain material listed in this rule is approved by the director of the Federal Register August 5, 2024. The incorporation by reference of certain other materials listed in this rule were approved by the director of the Federal Register as of January 22, 2016.

On August 2, 2022 DOE published a notice of intent to establish a working group for commercial unitary air conditioner and commercial unitary heat pumps to negotiate a notice of proposed rulemaking for test procedures and energy conservation standards.  Information regarding the CUAC and CUHP working group is located on the working group webpage. The commercial package air conditioners and heat pumps energy conservation standards and test procedures rulemaking docket EERE-2022-BT-STD-0015 contains all notices, public comments, working group and public meeting transcripts, and supporting documents pertaining to this rulemaking.

For the latest information on the planned timing of future DOE regulatory milestones, see the current Office of Management and Budget Unified Agenda of Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions. All planned dates are preliminary and subject to change.

The small air-cooled commercial package air conditioners and heat pumps energy conservation standard rulemaking docket EERE-2022-BT-STD-0008 contains all notices, public comments, public meeting transcripts, and supporting documents pertaining to this rulemaking.

Public Meeting Information

There is no public meeting scheduled at this time. 

Submitting Public Comments

The comment period is closed.

The commercial package air conditioners and heat pumps test procedure rulemaking docket EERE-2022-BT-STD-0015 contains all notices, public comments, public meeting transcripts, and supporting documents pertaining to this rulemaking.

Public Meeting Information

There is no public meeting scheduled at this time. 

Submitting Public Comments

The comment period is closed.

Air-cooled unitary air-conditioners and heat pumps manufactured and distributed in commerce, as defined by 42 U.S.C. 6291(16), must meet the energy conservation standards specified in the Code of Federal Regulations at  10 CFR 431.97.

To determine that air-cooled unitary air-conditioners and heat pumps that are currently manufactured or distributed into commerce are in compliance with DOE standards, manufacturers must follow the test procedure methods specified at 10 CFR 431.96.

Compliance

DOE has established regulations on certification, compliance, and enforcement in the CFR at 10 CFR Part 429.  These regulations cover statistical sampling plans, certified ratings, certification reports, record retention, and enforcement.  More information on these regulations is available here.

Waivers

For information on current test procedure waivers, see DOE’s Waivers webpage. 

For information about obtaining test procedure waivers, see 10 CFR part 431, subpart V.

Exceptions

DOE's Office of Hearings and Appeals has not authorized exception relief for air-cooled unitary air-conditioners and heat pumps.

For information about obtaining exception relief, see 10 CFR part 1003.

Guidance and Frequently Asked Questions

For information on further guidance and answers to frequently asked questions on all covered products, see DOE’s Further Guidance database.

State Exemptions to Federal Pre-emption

DOE has not exempted any state from this energy conservation standard. States may petition DOE to exempt a state regulation from preemption by the federal energy conservation standard. States may also petition DOE to withdraw such exemptions. For details, see 10 CFR part 431, subpart W.

For more information related to this product, please email:
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