The Biden administration on Tuesday adopted stricter energy efficiency standards for home water heaters. This is the most important measure in a series of changes aimed at reducing the energy used by many common household appliances, including stoves, dishwashers and light bulbs.
The Department of Energy said that, taken together, the new standards will save American households and businesses nearly $1 trillion over 30 years, with the average household saving more than $100 a year in lower utility bills. The changes will also reduce greenhouse gas emissions by the equivalent of taking 18 million gas-burning vehicles off the road during that time, officials said.
But the changes have come under intense attack from Republican lawmakers who say the new rules will make appliances more expensive in the short term. Late last year, several lawmakers introduced bills with names such as the Hands Off Home Appliances Act, the Laundry Freedom Act, and the Repeal of the Unreachable Dishwasher Standards Act.
The proposed bill was just the latest salvo in a long battle waged by conservative groups and politicians who say the standards limit consumer choice. For example, Republican politicians and their allies have accused the administration of planning to ban gas stoves, and conservative groups have blamed environmental regulations for the decline of American dishwashers. There is.
The new standards are part of President Biden's “radical environmentalist agenda,” said Arizona Rep. Debbie Lesko, who proposed the “Leave Home Appliances Act.” “It would negate worthy choices,” he told the House Energy and Commerce Committee. December.
There is no prohibition on the use of gas stoves. Rather, the DOE's final energy efficiency guidelines for gas stoves slightly strengthen older standards, and about 97 percent of models on the market already meet those standards. Updates to dishwasher standards have also been modest, based on compromises between manufacturers and efficiency advocates.
Consumer Reports, a nonprofit organization that conducts independent product testing, found that energy-efficient washers and dryers performed no worse, on average, than less efficient washers and dryers. .
“Most of these standards haven't been updated in over 10 years,” said Andrew DeLasky, executive director of the Appliance Standards Awareness Project, a nonprofit that advocates for stricter energy efficiency guidelines. “While technology has improved significantly, there are still products on the market that use far more energy to do the same job.”
Still, political backlash is gaining some momentum. In January, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit sided with a group of 11 states led by Louisiana and ordered the Biden administration to reconsider its efforts to overhaul efficiency standards for dishwashers and washing machines.
Household appliances are a big problem for energy use and climate change. Forty percent of the energy used in the United States is consumed by residential and commercial buildings, with most of that energy used in appliances and equipment such as water heaters. Producing that electricity releases large amounts of greenhouse gases that are dangerously warming the world.
Because U.S. households are among the highest energy users in the nation, more efficient home water heaters are expected to provide the largest savings ever over a single DOE regulation standard . The new regulations have moved most new electric water heaters to heat pump technology, which typically uses less than half the amount of electricity that many older models do. The new regulations also require gas-fired water heaters to meet more stringent standards.
After 30 years of shipping, the new standard is expected to save Americans $124 billion on their energy bills and reduce the amount of global warming carbon dioxide emissions produced by 43 million households in a single year. ing. According to the DOE, replacing a traditional water heater with an electric heat pump water heater can save a household an average of about $1,800 in utility costs over the life of the appliance.
To encourage people to replace old appliances, the Inflation Control Act, a climate law passed by Congress in 2022, includes $4.5 billion in rebates for households to buy new appliances.
“Nearly every home in America has a water heater, and for too long, outdated energy efficiency standards have led to higher utility bills for households,” said U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer M. Granholm. “The Biden-Harris administration continues to put American consumers first with new, effective rules backed by industry that save both energy and money.”
Under the Energy Policy and Conservation Act of 1975, signed into law by Republican Gerald R. Ford, the Department of Energy periodically sets minimum efficiency standards for a wide range of equipment used in both residential and commercial buildings. It is mandatory to update. These standards require product designers and manufacturers to produce appliances and equipment that use less energy and water.
The Trump administration delayed these updates amid a broader policy of rolling back environmental regulations. The Biden administration is now trying to make a comeback by updating efficiency standards for ceiling fans, lamps, air conditioners, commercial walk-in coolers and refrigerated beverage vending machines.
