AGENCY:

Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, U.S. Department of Energy.

ACTION:

Proposed rule; open teleconference/webinar.

SUMMARY:

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE or the Department) announces a webinar for the variable refrigerant flow multi-split air conditioners and heat pumps (VRF multi-split systems) working group. The Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA) requires that agencies publish notice of an advisory committee meeting in the Federal Register.

DATES:

Tuesday, October 1, 2019 from 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. (EDT).

ADDRESSES:

Webinar only. Please see the Public Participation section of this notice for additional information on webinar registration information, participant instructions, and information about the capabilities available to webinar participants.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Mr. John Cymbalsky, U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Building Technologies (EE-5B), 950 L'Enfant Plaza SW, Washington, DC 20024. Telephone: (202) 287-1692. Email: ASRAC@ee.doe.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

On January 10, 2018, the Appliance Standards and Rulemaking Federal Advisory Committee (ASRAC) met and passed the recommendation to form a VRF multi-split systems working group to meet and discuss and, if possible, reach a consensus on proposed Federal test procedures and energy conservation standards for VRF multi-split systems. On April 11, 2018, DOE published a notice of intent to establish a working group for VRF multi-split systems to negotiate a notice of proposed rulemaking for test procedures and energy conservations standards. The notice also solicited nominations for membership to the working group. 83 FR 15514.

On August 22, 2019, DOE published a notice announcing public meetings for the VRF working group. 84 FR 43731. This notice adds an October 1, 2019 webinar to the list of public meetings for the VRF working group.

DOE will host a webinar on October 1, 2019 from 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. (EDT).

The purpose of this meeting will be to negotiate in an attempt to reach consensus on proposed Federal test procedures and energy conservation standards for VRF multi-split systems.

Public Participation

Attendance at Webinar

The time and date of the webinar is listed in the DATES section of this document. If you plan to attend the public meeting, please notify the ASRAC staff at asrac@ee.doe.gov.

Please note that foreign nationals participating in the webinar are subject to advance security screening procedures which require advance notice prior to attendance at the public meeting. If a foreign national wishes to participate in the webinar, please inform DOE as soon as possible by contacting Ms. Regina Washington at (202) 586-1214 or by email: Regina.Washington@ee.doe.gov so that the necessary procedures can be completed.

Webinar registration information, participant instructions, and information about the capabilities available to webinar participants will be published on DOE's website: https://energy.gov/​eere/​buildings/​appliance-standards-and-rulemaking-federal-advisory-committee. Participants are responsible for ensuring their systems are compatible with the webinar software.

Procedure for Submitting Prepared General Statements for Distribution

Any person who has plans to present a prepared general statement may request that copies of his or her statement be made available at the public meeting. Such persons may submit requests, along with an advance electronic copy of their statement in PDF (preferred), Microsoft Word or Excel, WordPerfect, or text (ASCII) file format, to the appropriate address shown in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section of this notice. The request and advance copy of statements must be received at least one week before the public meeting and may be emailed, hand-delivered, or sent by postal mail. DOE prefers to receive requests and advance copies via email. Please include a telephone number to enable DOE staff to make a follow-up contact, if needed.

Conduct of the Public Meetings

ASRAC's Designated Federal Officer will preside at the public meetings and may also use a professional facilitator to aid discussion. The meetings will not be judicial or evidentiary-type public hearings, but DOE will conduct them in accordance with section 336 of EPCA (42 U.S.C. 6306). A court reporter will be present to record the proceedings and prepare a transcript. A transcript of each public meeting will be included on DOE's website: https://energy.gov/​eere/​buildings/​appliance-standards-and-rulemaking-federal-advisory-committee. In addition, any person may buy a copy of each transcript from the transcribing reporter. Public comment and statements will be allowed prior to the close of each meeting.

Docket

The docket is available for review at: https://www.regulations.gov/​docket?​D=​EERE-2018-BT-STD-0003, including Federal Register notices, public meeting attendee lists and transcripts, comments, and other supporting documents/materials. All documents in the docket are listed in the http://www.regulations.gov index. However, not all documents listed in the index may be publically available, such as information that is exempt from public disclosure.