The Department's regulatory activities are essential to achieving its critical mission and to implementing major initiatives of the President's National Energy Policy. Among other things, the Regulatory Plan and the Unified Agenda contain the rulemakings the Department will be engaged in during the coming year to fulfill the Department's commitment to meeting deadlines for issuance of energy conservation standards and related test procedures. The Regulatory Plan and Unified Agenda also reflect the Department's continuing commitment to cut costs, reduce regulatory burden, and increase responsiveness to the public.

Retrospective Review of Existing Regulations

Pursuant to section 6 of Executive Order 13563 "Improving Regulation and Regulatory Review'' (Jan. 18, 2011), several regulations have been identified as associated with retrospective review and analysis in the Department's retrospective review of regulations plan. Some of the entries on this list may be completed actions, which do not appear in the Regulatory Plan. However, more information can be found about these completed rulemakings in past publications of the Unified Agenda on www.Reginfo.gov in the Completed Actions section. These rulemakings can also be found on www.Regulations.gov. The final agency plan can be found at http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/other/2011-regulatory-action-plans/departmentofenergyregulatoryreformplanaugust2011.pdf.

Energy Efficiency Program for Consumer Products and Commercial Equipment

The Energy Policy and Conservation Act (EPCA) requires DOE to set appliance efficiency standards at levels that achieve the maximum improvement in energy efficiency that is technologically feasible and economically justified. The Department continues to follow its schedule for setting new appliance efficiency standards. These rulemakings are expected to save American consumers billions of dollars in energy costs.

Estimate of Combined Aggregate Costs and Benefits

In 2014, the Department published final rules that adopted new or amended energy conservation standards for ten different products, including furnace fans, motors, commercial refrigeration equipment, metal halide lamp fixtures, external power supplies, commercial clothes washers; general service fluorescent lamps, and automatic commercial ice makers. The ten standards finalized in 2014 are estimated to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by over 400 million metric tons and save American families and businesses $78 billion in electricity bills through 2030.

Since 2009, the Energy Department has finalized new efficiency standards for more than 30 household and commercial products, including dishwashers, refrigerators and water heaters, which are estimated to save consumers several hundred billion dollars through 2030. To build on this momentum, the Department is committed to continuing to establish new efficiency standards that - when combined with the progress already made through previously finalized standards - will reduce carbon pollution by approximately 3 billion metric tons in total by 2030, equal to more than a year's carbon pollution from the entire U.S. electricity system.

As part of the President's Climate Action Plan, the Energy Department has committed to an ambitious goal of finalizing at least 20 additional energy efficiency standards by the end of 2016. The overall plan for implementing the schedule is contained in the Report to Congress pursuant to section 141 of EPACT 2005, which was released on January 31, 2006. This plan was last updated in the August 2015 report to Congress and now includes the requirements of the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (EISA 2007), the American Energy Manufacturing Technical Corrections Act (AEMTCA), and the Energy Efficiency Improvement Act of 2015. The reports to Congress are posted at: http://energy.gov/eere/buildings/reports-and-publications. While each of these high priority rules will build on the progress made to date, and will continue to move the U.S. closer to a low carbon future, DOE believes that seven rulemakings are the most important of its significant regulatory actions and, therefore, comprise the Department's Regulatory Plan. However, because of the current stage of four of the rulemakings, DOE has not yet proposed candidate standard levels for these products and cannot provide an estimate of combined aggregate costs and benefits for this action. DOE will, however, in compliance with all applicable law, issue standards that provide the maximum improvement in energy efficiency that is technologically feasible and economically justified. Estimates of energy savings will be provided when DOE issues the notice of proposed rulemakings for central air conditioners and heat pumps, computers and battery backup systems, commercial water heaters, and general service fluorescent lamps. For small, large, and very large commercial package air conditioning and heating equipment, DOE estimates that energy savings from electricity will be 11.7 quads over 30 years and the benefit to the Nation will be between $16.5 billion to $50.8 billion. For non-weatherized gas furnaces, DOE estimates that energy savings from electricity will be 2.78 quads over 30 years and the benefit to the Nation will be between $3.1 billion and $16.1 billion. For commercial and industrial pumps, DOE estimates that the energy savings from electricity will be 0.28 quads over 30 years and the benefit to the Nation will be between $0.41 billion and $1.11 billion.