Energy Conservation Program: Establishment of a New Product Class for Residential Dishwashers

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) received a petition from the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) to define a new product class under the Energy Policy and Conservation Act, as amended (EPCA), for standard residential dishwashers with a cycle time for the normal cycle of less than one hour from washing through drying. Based upon its evaluation of the petition and careful consideration of the public comments, DOE granted CEI's petition and proposed a dishwasher product class with a cycle time for the normal cycle of less than one hour. In this final rule, DOE establishes a new product class for standard residential dishwashers with a cycle time for the normal cycle of one hour (60 minutes) or less from washing through drying. DOE's decision to establish the new product class is based on its evaluation of CEI's petition, the comments the Department received in response to the petition and the proposed rule to establish the new product class, as well as additional testing and evaluation conducted by the Department. This rulemaking only sets out the basis for the new product class. DOE intends to determine the specific energy and water consumption limits for the product class in a separate rulemaking.