Energy Department to Repeal Efficiency Rules for Appliances

New York Times

12-05-2025

The Energy Department said on Monday that it was preparing to roll back energy and water conservation standards for a long list of electric and gas appliances, targeting 47 regulations that it said were 'driving up costs and lowering quality of life for the American people.'
The moves follow an executive order last week from President Trump directing the Energy Department to 'eliminate restrictive water pressure and efficiency rules that make household appliances less effective and more expensive.'
But energy-efficiency experts and climate advocates said the Energy Department's moves would increase the cost of running household appliances like dehumidifiers and portable air-conditioners as well as air compressors used in industry.
'If this attack on consumers succeeds, President Trump would be raising costs dramatically for families as manufacturers dump energy- and water-wasting products into the market,' said Andrew deLaski, executive director of the Appliance Standards Awareness Project, a coalition of environmental and consumer groups, utilities and government agencies.
Mr. deLaski also said that the effort violated an anti-backsliding provision in a decades-old underlying statute, which prohibits the federal government from adopting standards that are more lenient than ones already on the books.
'It's patently illegal, so hold your horses,' he said in a statement.
Like many other countries, the United States has for decades adopted standards that govern how much energy or water that appliances — including lightbulbs, dishwashers, water heaters and washing machines — can use.
By government scientists' own accounting, efficiency standards saved the average American household about $576 in 2024 on water and gas bills while cutting the nation's annual energy consumption by 6.5 percent and public water use by 12 percent. Thanks in part to those measures, the total amount of energy and water used by American households has not grown nearly as fast as the population.
But the Trump administration has framed the standards as an example of governmental overreach. Mr. Trump has also made a habit of complaining about shower heads with weak water pressure, or toilets that don't flush properly, and has blamed efficiency standards for those issues. Conservative groups have also argued that efficiency standards hurt the performance of appliances like dishwashers.
The Energy Department's list of appliance regulations it has targeted includes air cleaners, battery chargers, compressors, cooking tops, dehumidifiers, external power supplies, microwave ovens, dishwashers and faucets.
Getting rid of the standards would 'cut more than 125,000 words from the Code of Federal Regulations,' the department said. Still, rolling back the standards would require a new rule-making process thatcould take months or longer. The rollback is also likely to face legal challenges.
The department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Environmental Protection Agency, meanwhile, is planning to eliminate Energy Star, the popular energy-efficiency certification for dishwashers, refrigerators, dryers and other home appliances.
In the past, manufacturers have been supportive of government efficiency standards, but now they are moving to take advantage of Mr. Trump's deregulatory drive.
The Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers, which represents 150 manufacturers behind 95 percent of the household appliances shipped for sale within the United States, said it was still evaluating Monday's announcements.
But Jill A. Notini, a spokeswoman for the association, pointed to a statement in which the association said that the standards had 'helped achieve decades of successful improvements in appliance efficiency.' The association added, 'With most appliances operating near peak efficiency, additional meaningful savings are unlikely for some products' without some loss of performance.
In addition to repealing efficiency measures, the Energy Department is planning to eliminate several clean energy and climate change programs. It will rescind reporting requirements for a voluntary program under which companies can report their greenhouse gas emissions, and end a program that provides payments for electricity produced with renewable power.
The Energy Department is also getting rid of what it calls 'unscientific' diversity, equity and inclusion requirements for grant recipients. Specifically, it is proposing to repeal regulations to ensure grant recipients are not discriminated against on the basis of sex, race or age.
Some proposals seem to have little to do with the department's purview. One proposed repeal, for example, is for 'Ending Requirements for Members of One Sex to Be Able to Try Out for Sports Teams of the Opposite Sex.'