The Department of Energy (DOE) has received and published a petition from Air Innovations seeking a waiver from the standard DOE test procedures for certain wine cellar cooling systems. Air Innovations claims that the current test, which evaluates systems at a 35°F temperature, does not accurately reflect the energy usage of their models, which are designed for wine storage at 55°F. DOE has issued an Interim Waiver Order allowing Air Innovations to use an alternate test procedure with revised temperature and humidity settings for these systems while they consider the petition further. Public comments on the matter are invited until February 11, 2021.
Simple Explanation
The U.S. Department of Energy is letting a company called Air Innovations temporarily use a different way to check how much energy some of their special coolers use, because the usual test doesn't match how their coolers work. They're asking people to send in their thoughts about this until February 11, 2021.