On Tuesday, December 31st, the Department of Energy (DOE) published a " Proposed Determination of Hearth Products as Covered Consumer Products" in the Federal Register. The rulemaking seeks to establish "coverage" over essentially all gas hearth products. The Proposed Determination has the potential to impact even more products than the rulemakings that HPBA successfully challenged in federal court. Although there are no energy standards directly proposed or put into place by this proposal, DOE indicates adoption would be seen as "positively determin[ing] that future standards may be warranted and should be explored in subsequent energy conservation standards and test procedure rulemakings." In other words, if these gas appliances are covered, DOE is free to impose energy efficiency standards on them.

The proposed DOE definition of "hearth product" is "a gas-fired appliance that simulates a solid-fueled fireplace or presents a flame pattern (for aesthetics or other purpose) and that may provide space heating directly to the space in which it is installed."

DOE goes on to say that the "proposed definition includes (but is not necessarily limited to) all vented and unvented hearth products. More specifically, it includes vented decorative hearth products, vented heater hearth products, vented gas logs, gas stoves, outdoor hearth products, and ventless hearth products." Virtually every gas-fired product would be subject to having energy efficiency requirement, input limits, or other restrictions applied to it.

The publication in the Federal Register started a 30-day comment period. All comments on the proposal must be submitted no later than Thursday, January 30, 2014. While DOE will accept comments on any aspect of the Proposed Determination, comments are specifically being sought on: 

It is a virtual certainty that DOE is anticipating a future rulemaking to address energy efficiency or conservation standards for at least some gas hearth products. While it is not yet known exactly on which products DOE will seek to apply efficiency standards, the reality is that this rulemaking would open the door for them to do so for any of the products listed. This rule could severely limit what products manufacturers could produce, retailers could sell, or customers could purchase.  

HPBA is already working to reach manufacturers to determine the most effective regulatory response to the Proposed Determination. A major update for manufacturers of gas-fired appliances will be provided via teleconference on Wednesday, January 8, 2014 at 3:00 pm EST (2:00 pm CST/1:00 pm MST/12:00 noon PST).

If you have any questions about the DOE Proposed Determination, please contact Ryan Carroll, Associate Director of Government Affairs at  carroll@hpba.org or at (703) 522- 0086, ext. 112. For any manufacturers seeking more information on next week's call, please contact Rachel Feinstein at  feinstein@hpba.org.