DOE has published a Federal Register notice announcing public meetings and webinars for the Commercial Unitary Air Conditioner and Commercial Unitary Heat Pump (CUAC and CUHP) working group. 

• Wednesday, April 12th, 2023 from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. at National Renewable Energy Laboratory, 901 D Street SW, Suite 930, Washington DC, 20024.
• Thursday, April 13th, 2023 from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. at National Renewable Energy Laboratory, 901 D Street SW, Suite 930, Washington DC, 20024.
• Wednesday, April 26th, 2023 from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. at National Renewable Energy Laboratory, 901 D Street SW, Suite 930, Washington DC, 20024.
• Thursday, April 27th, 2023 from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. at National Renewable Energy Laboratory, 901 D Street SW, Suite 930, Washington DC, 20024.

• To attend the meetings in person and/or to make oral statements regarding any of the items on the agenda, email asrac@ee.doe.gov. In the email, please indicate your name, organization (if appropriate), citizenship, and contact information.
• To register for the webinars please visit the Working Group webpage here. 
• Foreign Nationals attending in-person or participating via webinar are subject to advance security screening procedures. Please email Regina.Washington@ee.doe.gov to complete the necessary documentation at least two weeks prior to scheduled meeting date.
• Additional 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/public-meetings-and-comment-deadlines

DOE has issued a pre-publication Federal Register final rule pertaining to energy conservation standards for air cooled, three-phase, small commercial air conditioners and heat pumps with a cooling capacity of less than 65,000 British thermal units per hour (Btu/h) and air-cooled, three-phase, variable refrigerant flow air conditioners and heat pumps with a cooling capacity of less than 65,000 Btu/h. The Energy Policy and Conservation Act (EPCA) requires DOE to consider the need for amended standards each time the relevant industry standard is amended with respect to the standard levels or design requirements applicable to that equipment, or periodically under a six-year-lookback review provision. In this final rule, DOE is adopting amended standards for air cooled, three-phase, small commercial air conditioners and heat pumps with a cooling capacity of less than 65,000 Btu/h and air-cooled, three-phase, variable refrigerant flow air conditioners and heat pumps with a cooling capacity of less than 65,000 Btu/h that rely on new efficiency metrics and align with amended efficiency levels in the industry standard. For the relevant equipment classes, DOE has determined that it lacks clear and convincing evidence required by the statute to adopt standards more stringent than the levels specified in the industry standard.

• The text of this rule is subject to correction based on the identification of errors as defined in 10 CFR 430.5 before publication in the Federal Register. Readers are requested to notify DOE by email at ErrorCorrectionInfo@EE.DOE.Gov of any typographical or other errors, as described in such regulations, by no later than midnight on May 5, 2023, in order that DOE may make any necessary corrections in the regulatory text submitted to the Office of the Federal Register for publication
• The effective date of this rule is 60 days after the final rule has published in the Federal Register. DOE will send a follow-up e-mail once the notice publishes to announce the effective date. 
• Compliance with the amended standards established for air cooled, three-phase, small commercial air conditioners and heat pumps with a cooling capacity of less than 65,000 Btu/h and air-cooled, three-phase, variable refrigerant flow air conditioners and heat pumps with a cooling capacity of less than 65,000 Btu/h in this final rule is required on and after January 1, 2025.

DOE has published a Federal Register notice announcing public meetings to begin negotiations in an attempt to reach consensus on energy conservation standards for the Commercial Unitary Air Conditioner and Commercial Unitary Heat Pump (CUAC and CUHP) working group. The Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA) requires that agencies publish notice of an advisory committee meeting in the Federal Register.

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.

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.

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.