By law, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) must review each national appliance standard every six years and publish either a proposed rule to update the standard or a determination that no change is warranted. As of January 2020, DOE has missed legal deadlines for twenty-one product standards. Based on the current rate of progress, DOE likely will miss several more appliance standards deadlines by January 2021.
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New York Times Op-ed
By Terry Sobolewski and Ralph Cavanagh, NRDC
Partisan fights in Washington can leave the impression that we’re hopelessly divided. The truth is there are plenty of bipartisan solutions to the energy and environmental challenges we face, and energy efficiency is near the top of the list.
NRDC blog post by Ed Osann
Twenty-five years ago this week, President George H.W. Bush ushered the federal government into our bathrooms.
This turned out to be a good thing.
In a letter to House and Senate subcommittees and to DOE Secretary Perry from "the entire group of Senate-confirmed Republican and Democratic Assistant Secretaries of Energy who led the DOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) between 1989 and 2017", standards are billed as the "little engine that could."
Little-known appliance standards rank as the #2 energy-saving tool in the US. Already saving enough annually to power 1 out of 3 homes.
New York made a big splash recently by updating water-saving standards for four common plumbing products—faucets, showerheads, toilets, and urinals. On December 6, 2019, Governor Cuomo signed a bill that will reduce water and energy waste, decrease CO2 emissions, and save consumers money on utility bills.
States took the lead on new appliance efficiency standards during the first half of 2019, helping to counter some of the federal government’s efforts to stall and even reverse energy and water efficiency progress. Legislators in ten states and the District of Columbia filed bills to adopt appliance standards for more than 15 products not covered by national standards.
Even as DOE continues to miss deadlines for updating efficiency standards, consumers are still seeing energy and dollar savings growing due to standards established prior to the current administration. Two new standards that just took effect will add to those savings by significantly reducing the consumption of two home energy hogs: dehumidifiers and furnace fans.
Dehumidifiers