A bill to amend the Energy Policy and Conservation Act to modify the definition of water heater under energy conservation standards, and for other purposes.

II 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION S. 4584 To amend the Energy Policy and Conservation Act to modify the definition of water heater under energy conservation standards, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES SEPTEMBER 16, 2020 Ms. STABENOW (for herself and Mrs. BLACKBURN) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources A BILL To amend the Energy Policy and Conservation Act to modify the definition of water heater under energy conservation standards, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. WATER HEATERS. 3 (a) DEFINITION OF WATER HEATER.—Section 321 4 of the Energy Policy and Conservation Act (42 U.S.C. 5 6291) is amended by striking paragraph (27) and insert- 6 ing the following: 7 ‘‘(27) WATER HEATER.— 8 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:12 Sep 23, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4584.IS S4584 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •S 4584 IS ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘water heat- 1 er’ means a product that utilizes oil, gas, or 2 electricity to heat potable water for use outside 3 the heater on demand, including— 4 ‘‘(i) storage type units that heat and 5 store water at a thermostatically controlled 6 temperature, including— 7 ‘‘(I) gas storage water heaters 8 with an input of 75,000 Btu per hour 9 or less, including heat pump type 10 units that meet the current and volt- 11 age limits under clause (iii); 12 ‘‘(II) oil storage water heaters 13 with an input of 105,000 Btu per 14 hour or less; and 15 ‘‘(III) electric storage water heat- 16 ers with an input of 12 kilowatts or 17 less, including heat pump type units 18 that meet the current and voltage lim- 19 its under clause (iii); 20 ‘‘(ii)(I) instantaneous type units that 21 heat water but contain not more than 1 22 gallon of water per 4,000 Btu per hour of 23 input; and 24 ‘‘(II) in the case of— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:12 Sep 23, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4584.IS S4584 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •S 4584 IS ‘‘(aa) gas instantaneous water 1 heaters, have an input of 200,000 Btu 2 per hour or less and are designed and 3 marketed to provide outlet hot water 4 at a thermostatically controlled tem- 5 perature of less than 180 degrees 6 Fahrenheit; 7 ‘‘(bb) oil instantaneous water 8 heaters, have an input of 210,000 Btu 9 per hour or less; and 10 ‘‘(cc) electric instantaneous water 11 heaters, have an input of 12 kilowatts 12 or less; 13 ‘‘(iii) heat pump type units (including 14 add-on heat pumps, integrated heat pumps 15 with storage, split-system heat pumps that 16 consist of a separate heat pump and stor- 17 age tank that are designed and marketed 18 to operate together, and all ancillary equip- 19 ment, such as fans, storage tanks, pumps, 20 electric resistance heating elements, or 21 controls necessary for the device to per- 22 form its function) that— 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:12 Sep 23, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4584.IS S4584 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •S 4584 IS ‘‘(I) have a maximum current 1 rating of 24 amperes at a voltage not 2 greater than 250 volts; and 3 ‘‘(II) are designed to transfer 4 thermal energy from 1 temperature 5 level to a different temperature level 6 for the purpose of heating water; 7 ‘‘(iv) solar thermal-assisted electric 8 storage units; and 9 ‘‘(v) solar thermal-assisted fossil fuel 10 storage units. 11 ‘‘(B) EXCLUSIONS.—Unless otherwise de- 12 termined by the Secretary under section 13 325(e)(7)(B), the term ‘water heater’ does not 14 include— 15 ‘‘(i) electric storage type units de- 16 scribed in subparagraph (A)(i)(III) that— 17 ‘‘(I) are designed and marketed 18 exclusively for commercial building 19 applications; and 20 ‘‘(II)(aa) are designed, con- 21 structed, inspected, tested, and 22 stamped in accordance with Section 23 IV, Part HLW, or Section X of the 24 Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code pro- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:12 Sep 23, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4584.IS S4584 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •S 4584 IS mulgated by the American Society of 1 Mechanical Engineers; 2 ‘‘(bb) exclusively use 3-phase 3 electricity, are designed and marketed 4 to provide outlet hot water at a 5 thermostatically controlled tempera- 6 ture of 180 degrees Fahrenheit or 7 greater, and operate only at rated 8 voltages of not less than 208 volts; or 9 ‘‘(cc) exclusively use single-phase 10 electricity, are designed and marketed 11 to provide outlet hot water at a 12 thermostatically controlled tempera- 13 ture of 180 degrees Fahrenheit or 14 greater, and operate only at a rated 15 voltage of 277 volts; or 16 ‘‘(ii) gas storage type units described 17 in subparagraph (A)(i)(I) that— 18 ‘‘(I) are designed and marketed 19 exclusively for commercial building 20 applications; and 21 ‘‘(II) are designed, constructed, 22 inspected, tested, and stamped in ac- 23 cordance with Section IV, Part HLW, 24 of the Boiler and Pressure Vessel 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:12 Sep 23, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4584.IS S4584 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 6 •S 4584 IS Code promulgated by the American 1 Society of Mechanical Engineers. 2 ‘‘(C) MULTI-INPUT ELECTRIC STORAGE 3 WATER HEATER.—The term ‘multi-input elec- 4 tric storage water heater’ means a product 5 that— 6 ‘‘(i) is not a heat pump type unit de- 7 scribed in subparagraph (A)(iii); and 8 ‘‘(ii) is designed, marketed, or shipped 9 from the manufacturer with a capability of 10 operating or being configured to operate at 11 inputs greater than, equal to, or below 12 12 kilowatts. 13 ‘‘(D) SOLAR THERMAL-ASSISTED ELECTRIC 14 STORAGE UNIT.—The term ‘solar thermal-as- 15 sisted electric storage unit’ means a unit that— 16 ‘‘(i) has an input of 12 kilowatts or 17 less; 18 ‘‘(ii) has at least 2 dedicated ports in 19 addition to the ports used for introduction 20 and delivery of potable water for the sup- 21 ply and return of water or a heat transfer 22 fluid heated externally by solar panels; 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:12 Sep 23, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4584.IS S4584 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 7 •S 4584 IS ‘‘(iii) does not have electric resistance 1 heating elements located in the lower half 2 of the storage tank; 3 ‘‘(iv) has the temperature sensing de- 4 vice that controls the auxiliary electric heat 5 source located in the upper half of the 6 storage tank; and 7 ‘‘(v) has a ratio of less than 0.70 for 8 the proportion that the certified first hour 9 rating bears to the nominal volume of the 10 storage tank.’’. 11 (b) STANDARDS FOR WATER HEATERS.—Section 12 325(e) of the Energy Policy and Conservation Act (42 13 U.S.C. 6295(e)) is amended by adding at the end the fol- 14 lowing: 15 ‘‘(7) EXEMPTED WATER HEATERS.— 16 ‘‘(A) DEFINITION OF EXEMPTED WATER 17 HEATER.—In this paragraph, the term ‘exempt- 18 ed water heater’ means a water heater de- 19 scribed in section 321(27)(B). 20 ‘‘(B) MONITORING OF SHIPMENTS.— 21 ‘‘(i) SUBMISSION OF DATA.—Not later 22 than 90 days after the date of enactment 23 of this paragraph, and not later than May 24 1 of each year thereafter, the Secretary 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:12 Sep 23, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4584.IS S4584 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 8 •S 4584 IS shall require each manufacturer of water 1 heaters to report to the Secretary the 2 quantity of exempted water heaters, in 3 each category of exempted water heaters, 4 that the manufacturer shipped in the pre- 5 ceding calendar year. 6 ‘‘(ii) CONFIDENTIALITY REQUIRE- 7 MENTS.—The Secretary shall treat ship- 8 ment data reported by manufacturers 9 under clause (i) as confidential business in- 10 formation subject to appropriate confiden- 11 tial data safeguards. 12 ‘‘(iii) PUBLICATION.— 13 ‘‘(I) BASELINE SHIPMENT 14 DATA.—Not later than 120 days after 15 the date of enactment of this para- 16 graph, the Secretary shall publish an 17 analysis of the data collected under 18 clause (i) for public comment, subject 19 to applicable confidentiality safe- 20 guards, which shall serve as the base- 21 line data for the analysis described in 22 subclause (II)(bb). 23 ‘‘(II) PERCENTAGE GROWTH 24 FROM BASELINE.—Not later than 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:12 Sep 23, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4584.IS S4584 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 9 •S 4584 IS June 1 of each year after the year in 1 which the Secretary publishes data 2 under subclause (I), the Secretary 3 shall publish— 4 ‘‘(aa) an analysis of the data 5 collected under clause (i) for pub- 6 lic comment, subject to applicable 7 confidentiality safeguards; 8 ‘‘(bb) the percentage growth 9 in the number of shipments with- 10 in each category of exempted 11 water heater relative to the base- 12 line data described in subclause 13 (I); and 14 ‘‘(cc) the determination of 15 the Secretary as to whether the 16 number of shipments for any cat- 17 egory of exempted water heater 18 have increased by more than 25 19 percent compared to the baseline 20 data for that category. 21 ‘‘(C) INCLUSION OF EXEMPTED WATER 22 HEATERS.— 23 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary 24 shall, by regulation, revise the definition of 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:12 Sep 23, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4584.IS S4584 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 10 •S 4584 IS water heater under section 321(27) to in- 1 clude an exempted water heater under sub- 2 paragraph (A) of that section if the Sec- 3 retary makes an affirmative determination 4 under subparagraph (B)(iii)(II)(cc) for 5 that category of exempted water heater. 6 ‘‘(ii) ENERGY CONSERVATION STAND- 7 ARDS.—Any category of exempted water 8 heater included in the definition of water 9 heater under clause (i) shall be required to 10 meet the energy conservation standards 11 applicable to an electric or gas storage type 12 water heater under this part. 13 ‘‘(iii) EFFECTIVE DATE.—For any 14 category of exempted water heater, the 15 Secretary shall carry out clause (i), and re- 16 quire compliance under clause (ii), not 17 later than 1 year after the date on which 18 the Secretary makes the affirmative deter- 19 mination described in clause (i) for that 20 category. 21 ‘‘(8) STANDARDS FOR MULTI-INPUT ELECTRIC 22 STORAGE WATER HEATERS.—A multi-input electric 23 storage water heater shall be subject to the test pro- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:12 Sep 23, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4584.IS S4584 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 11 •S 4584 IS cedures, energy conservation standards, labeling (if 1 applicable), and certification requirements— 2 ‘‘(A) for electric storage water heaters 3 under this part; and 4 ‘‘(B) for storage water heaters under part 5 C. 6 ‘‘(9) TECHNOLOGY-NEUTRAL ELECTRIC STOR- 7 AGE WATER HEATER STANDARDS.—Notwithstanding 8 any other provision of this Act, the Secretary may 9 not create separate product classes for heat pump 10 water heaters and other electric storage water heat- 11 ers.’’. 12 (c) DEFINITION OF COMMERCIAL WATER HEATER.— 13 Section 340 of the Energy Policy and Conservation Act 14 (42 U.S.C. 6311) is amended by striking paragraph (12) 15 and inserting the following: 16 ‘‘(12)(A) STORAGE WATER HEATER.— 17 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘storage 18 water heater’ means a water heater that— 19 ‘‘(I) heats and stores water within an 20 appliance at a thermostatically controlled 21 temperature for delivery on demand; and 22 ‘‘(II) is not a water heater described 23 in section 321(27)(A). 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:12 Sep 23, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4584.IS S4584 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 12 •S 4584 IS ‘‘(ii) EXCLUSION.—The term ‘storage 1 water heater’ does not include a unit with an 2 input rating of 4,000 Btu per hour or more per 3 gallon of stored water. 4 ‘‘(B) INSTANTANEOUS WATER HEATER.—The 5 term ‘instantaneous water heater’ means a water 6 heater that— 7 ‘‘(i) has an input rating of at least 4,000 8 Btu per hour per gallon of stored water; and 9 ‘‘(ii) is not a water heater described in sec- 10 tion 321(27)(A). 11 ‘‘(C) UNFIRED HOT WATER STORAGE TANK.— 12 The term ‘unfired hot water storage tank’ means a 13 tank used to store water that is heated externally.’’. 14 (d) LABELING REQUIREMENTS.—Section 344 of the 15 Energy Policy and Conservation Act (42 U.S.C. 6315) is 16 amended by adding at the end the following: 17 ‘‘(l) LABELS FOR CERTAIN COMMERCIAL WATER 18 HEATERS.— 19 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other 20 provision of this section, water heaters described in 21 section 321(27)(B) shall be required to bear a per- 22 manent label, applied at the point of manufacture, 23 that, subject to paragraph (3), satisfies the require- 24 ments described in paragraph (2). 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:12 Sep 23, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00012 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4584.IS S4584 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 13 •S 4584 IS ‘‘(2) REQUIREMENTS.—A label required under 1 paragraph (1) shall— 2 ‘‘(A) be made of material not adversely af- 3 fected by water; 4 ‘‘(B) be attached by means of nonwater- 5 soluble adhesive; and 6 ‘‘(C) bear the following notice printed in 7 16.5 point Arial Narrow Bold font: ‘IMPOR- 8 TANT INFORMATION: Exclusively intended 9 for commercial installations. This model is not 10 certified by the U.S. Department of Energy as 11 a residential water heater. This model does not 12 have a certified First Hour or UEF rating.’. 13 ‘‘(3) REVISION UPON PETITION.—On receipt of 14 a petition by an interested party, the Secretary may 15 conduct a rulemaking to revise the scope and re- 16 quirements of the label required under paragraph 17 (1).’’. 18 (e) EFFECTIVE DATE.—This section and the amend- 19 ments made by this section shall take effect 180 days after 20 the date of enactment of this Act. 21 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:12 Sep 23, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00013 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S4584.IS S4584 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS