[Federal Register Volume 77, Number 129 (Thursday, July 5, 2012)]
[Notices]
[Pages 39690-39691]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2012-16455]
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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy
Proposed Agency Information Collection
AGENCY: Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Department of
Energy (DOE).
ACTION: Submission for Office of Management and Budget (OMB) review;
comment request.
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SUMMARY: The Department of Energy has submitted to the OMB for
clearance, a proposal for collection of information pursuant to the
Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995. The collection would be used to
develop a scorecard that would assist DOE's Clean Cities Coalitions and
stakeholders in assessing the level of readiness of their communities
for plug-in electric vehicles. Information collected would allow DOE to
provide respondents with an objective assessment of their communities'
readiness for PEV adoption and an understanding of their commitment to
successful deployment of PEVs, and is needed to ensure appropriate
evaluation of progress in deploying PEVS.
DATES: Comments regarding this collection must be received on or before
August 6, 2012. If you anticipate that you will be submitting comments,
but find it difficult to do so within the period of time allowed by
this notice, please advise the OMB Desk Officer of your intention to
make a submission as soon as possible. The Desk Officer may be
telephoned at 202-395-4650.
ADDRESSES: Written comments should be sent to: Desk Officer for the
Department of Energy, Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs,
Office of Management and Budget, New Executive Office Building, Room
10102, 735 17th Street NW., Washington, DC 20503. And to Ms. Linda
Bluestein, Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EE-2G),
U.S. Department of Energy, 1000 Independence Avenue SW., Washington, DC
20585-0121, or by fax at 202-586-1600, or by email at
Linda.Bluestein@ee.doe.gov.
[[Page 39691]]
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ms. Linda Bluestein at the address
listed above in ADDRESSES.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This information collection request
contains: (1) OMB No.: {New{time} ; (2) Information Collection Request
Title: Clean Cities Plug-In Vehicle Community Readiness Scorecard; (3)
Type of Request: New collection; (4) Purpose: DOE's Clean Cities
initiative has developed a voluntary scorecard to assist its coalitions
and stakeholders in assessing the level of readiness of their
communities for plug-in electric vehicles. The principal objective of
the scorecard is to provide respondents with an objective assessment
and estimate of their respective community's readiness for PEV
deployment as well as understand the respective community's commitment
to deploying these vehicles successfully. DOE intends the scorecard to
be completed by a city/county/regional sustainability or energy
coordinator. As the intended respondent may not be aware of every
aspect of local or regional PEV readiness, coordination among local
stakeholders to gather appropriate information may be necessary.
The scorecard assessment effort will rely on responses to questions
the respondent chooses to answer. The multiple-choice questions address
the following topic areas: (1) Electric vehicle supply equipment
permitting and inspection process; (2) PEV and electric vehicle supply
equipment availability and numbers; (3) laws, incentives, and
financing; (4) education and outreach; (5) utility interaction; and (6)
vehicle and infrastructure planning. Respondents will provide answers
through a user-friendly online interface. The answers will then be
translated through a simple algorithm that will establish appropriate
quantitative criteria, translating the readiness measures across
several weighted categories into numeric data. Using a numberless color
spectrum, a community will be rated against itself, with the colored
spectrum results made available only to the respondent community. The
total rankings will be normalized into a ``score'', and communities
will see their own rating and may be compared to other cities.
The scorecard will use one information collection system, an online
system. No other data collection system will be employed to support the
scorecard. The online scorecard system DOE has developed provides
several advantages. First, it avoids the need to download any forms or
materials, though respondents may print out the full list of questions
and answers, or a portion thereof if they wish. Second, avoiding
downloads also limits potential security threats. Third, the designed
system allows respondents to dynamically compare historical records,
providing the opportunity to revisit the scorecard however often they
like to track progress. Further, employing an online system also
eliminates version control concerns, allowing for a single update to
ensure that all scorecard users are using the current version.
The voluntary scorecard may be completed at any time, and there is
no date by which the scorecard questions must be completed. Calculation
of outcomes will be undertaken on an ongoing basis, immediately
following completion of the scorecard questionnaire.
While there are approximately 90 Clean Cities Coalitions across the
United States, DOE expects that other communities may want to avail
themselves of the opportunity to assess their respective community's
PEV readiness. Therefore, DOE expects a total respondent population of
approximately 100 respondents. Selecting the multiple choice answers in
completing a scorecard questionnaire is expected to take under 30
minutes, although additional time of no more than 20 hours may be
needed to assemble information necessary to be able to answer the
questions, leading to a total burden of approximately 2,050 hours in
the first year. Assembling information to update questionnaire answers
in future years on a voluntary basis would be expected to take less
time, on the order of 10 hours, as much of any necessary time and
effort needed to research information would have been completed
previously; (5) Type of Respondents: Public; (6) Annual Estimated
Number of Respondents: 100; (7) Annual Estimated Number of Total
Responses: 100; (8) Annual Estimated Number of Burden Hours: 2,050; (9)
Annual Estimated Reporting and Recordkeeping Cost Burden: There is no
cost associated with reporting and recordkeeping.
Statutory Authority: 42 U.S.C. Sec. 13233; 42 U.S.C. Sec.
13252(a)-(b); 42 U.S.C. 13255.
Issued in Washington, DC, on June 20, 2012.
Patrick B. Davis,
Program Manager, Vehicle Technologies Program, Energy Efficiency and
Renewable Energy.
[FR Doc. 2012-16455 Filed 7-3-12; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6450-01-P