Despite widespread opposition to Biden’s appliance crackdown, the administration is seeking even more restrictions in the coming days and months.
The Biden administration’s energy department has plans to regulate a wide range of appliances used by Americans under the agency’s evolving “energy conservation standards.”
According to the semiannual Unified Agenda, a list prepared by federal agencies detailing the regulations they plan to undertake within the next 12 months, the Department of Energy (DOE) will be pushing ahead with proposals to regulate several more appliances in the United States.
Just a few days back, the DOE announced new energy efficiency standards for residential gas furnaces—the latest in a wave of restrictions, which had earlier covered pool pumps, battery chargers, ceiling fans, dehumidifiers, gas stoves, and incandescent light bulbs, among others.
The latest Unified Agenda list is not absolute but offers an insightful peek into the federal agencies’ outlook for American consumers moving forward.
“It’s just spreading to more and more appliances. It seems that almost everything that plugs in or fires up around the house is either subject to a pending regulation or soon will be,” Ben Lieberman, a senior fellow at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, told Fox News.
“Consumers aren’t going to like any of it. These rules are almost always bad for consumers for the simple reason that they restrict consumer choice.
“Anybody who wants to choose the more eco-friendly versions of appliances is always free to do so. But these rules force that choice on everyone, whether it makes sense for them or not,” Lieberman added.
“Almost all of these appliance standards raise the upfront costs. It’s not clear that you’ll ever earn that back in the form of energy or water savings.”
The Restriction List
Here are some of the home and commercial appliances and equipment targeted by the DOE, as revealed in the Unified Agenda Spring 2023 list.
- Dedicated-Purpose Pool Pumps
- Direct Heating Equipment
- Walk-In Coolers and Freezers
- Commercial Refrigeration Equipment
- Consumer Water Heaters
- Dishwashers
- Automatic Commercial Ice Makers
- Ceiling Fan Light Kits
- Commercial and Industrial Pumps
- Dehumidifiers
- Electric Motors
- Furnace Fans
- Refrigerated Bottled or Canned Beverage Vending Machines
- Water-Sourced Commercial Heat Pumps
- Consumer Boilers
- Ceiling Fans
- Consumer Furnaces
- Portable Electric Spas
- Fans and Blowers
- Miscellaneous Gas Products
- Metal Halide Lamp Fixtures
- Air Cleaners
- Fluorescent Lamp Ballasts
- Residential Conventional Cooking Products
- Residential Non-Weatherized Gas Furnaces and Mobile Home Gas Furnaces
- Commercial Water Heating-Equipment
- Consumer Refrigerators, Refrigerator-Freezers, and Freezers
- Consumer Clothes Washers
- Clothes Dryers
- Microwave Ovens
- Distribution Transformers
- Single Package Vertical Air Conditioners and Heat Pumps
- Computer Room Air Conditioners
- Dedicated-Purpose Pool Pump Motors
- 3-Phase, Small Commercial Package Air Conditioning and Heating Equipment With a Cooling Capacity of Less Than 65,000 Btu/h
- Small Electric Motors
- General Service Lamps
While some equipment is under the “proposed rule stage,” others are in the “final rule stage.”
The DOE and Secretary of Energy Jennifer M. Granholm justify their new efficiency standards by projecting consumer savings.
