The Biden administration has proposed new regulations that would help increase the energy efficiency standards used for washing machines and refrigerators. As they claim this action will help “reduce pollution” as well as help reduce consumer spending.
The Department of Energy (DOE) announced that if approved the two regulations would go into effect in 2027 and they could help reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 233 million metric tons within 30 years. They also estimate that the higher energy standards would mean that certain appliances would no longer be allowed on the market, which could save $3.5 billion annually.
Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm in a statement said that this proposal would help “ensure tomorrow’s appliances” were far more energy efficient and could reduce American energy spending.
She added that over the past four decades, the DOE has taken the direction of Congress and has focused on promoting “innovation, improving consumers’ options, and raising efficiency standards for household appliances’ along with ensuring that more reliable appliances were brought into the market.
These new standards are only the latest move of the administration towards better energy efficiency. In 2022, the Biden administration took 110 actions targeting appliances. When President Biden took office in January 2021, he signed an executive order that would require the Department of Energy to revise the application regulation standards that had been set by his predecessor. Within a month, the agency had posted more than a dozen new energy efficiency regulations that affected a wide range of appliances including water heaters, cooking products, and lamps.
