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Consistent with the requirements under the Energy Policy and Conservation Act (EPCA), as amended, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is examining whether to amend the current energy conservation standards for direct heating equipment found at 10 CFR 430.32(i).  The statute requires DOE to either propose (and subsequently adopt) amended standards for such products or to determine that the existing standards do not need to be amended.  To this end, DOE must determine whether national standards more stringent than those currently in place would result in a significant amount of energy savings and whether such amended national standards would be technologically feasible and economically justified.  In this case, DOE issued a proposed determination not to amend the existing energy conversation standards for direct heating equipment, because the Department tentatively determined that more-stringent standards would not save a significant amount of energy, and depending on the products class, such more-stringent standards would also not be technologically feasible or economically justified. After consideration of public comments, DOE will decide how to move forward with this rulemaking. Once completed, this rulemaking will fulfill DOE’s statutory obligation discussed above.