The Department of Energy published a final compressor coverage determination on November 15, 2016, with an effective date of December 15. It places certain compressors within the federal energy-conservation equipment program and establishes a definition. The document is a final rule, but that label does not mean it sets a final numerical efficiency standard for the equipment it defines. [2016-26693][2012-31393]

There are three different questions here. Coverage asks which equipment belongs in the program. A test procedure determines how performance is measured. An energy-conservation standard sets the required level. DOE’s December 31, 2012 proposal explicitly said that a final coverage determination would lead it to consider both testing procedures and standards, rather than treating either as an automatic consequence with predetermined contents. [2016-26693][2012-31393]

The November final text says those other rulemakings are being conducted separately. Its definition describes machinery that converts energy into gas pressure and includes a pressure ratio greater than 1.3 at full-load operating pressure. That number is a boundary in the equipment definition. It is not an efficiency rating, a savings percentage or a replacement deadline for existing machinery. [2016-26693][2012-31393]

This retrospective account therefore distinguishes a completed coverage decision from separate performance-policy questions. The two retained documents are stages of the same DOE proceeding, not independent assessments. They establish the agency’s reasoning and the classification adopted; they do not establish measured reductions in energy use. Claims about future standards or operating savings would require evidence beyond this coverage decision. [2016-26693][2012-31393]

Source documents

  1. Energy Conservation Program for Consumer Products and Certain Commercial and Industrial Equipment: Final Determination of Compressors as Covered Equipmenthttps://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2016-11-15/html/2016-26693.htm
  2. Energy Conservation Program for Consumer Products and Certain Commercial and Industrial Equipment: Proposed Determination of Commercial and Industrial Compressors as Covered Equipmenthttps://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2012-12-31/html/2012-31393.htm