And your new gas stove.
Ever since Jerry Ford’s administration, federal regulators have been trying to make, and have succeeded in making, various appliances less useful.
President Trump’s people put a pause to some of that. Biden’s employees have started it going again.
The latest is washing machines. They already use less water than their counterparts of 20 years ago. Biden’s regulators want to require that new washing machines use even less water. This would mean that washing your clothes will take longer and/or that your clothes will come out dirtier.
Collin Anderson writes:
Biden’s Energy Department last month proposed new efficiency standards for washing machines that would require new appliances to use considerably less water, all in an effort to “confront the global climate crisis.” Those mandates would force manufacturers to reduce cleaning performance to ensure their machines comply, leading industry giants such as Whirlpool said in public comments on the rule. They’ll also make the appliances more expensive and laundry day a headache—each cycle will take longer, the detergent will cost more, and in the end, the clothes will be less clean, the manufacturers say.
The proposed washing machine rule marks the latest example of the administration turning to consumer regulations to advance its climate change goals. Last month, the Energy Department published an analysis of its proposed cooking appliance efficiency regulations, which it found would effectively ban half of all gas stoves on the U.S. market from being sold. The department has also proposed new efficiency standards for refrigerators, which could come into effect in 2027. “Collectively these energy efficiency actions … support President Biden’s ambitious clean energy agenda to combat the climate crisis,” the Energy Department said in February.
How exactly does using less water “confront the global climate crisis?” Are his regulators even aware that the main user of water in the United States is agriculture? Allowing farmers to sell the water allocated to them rather than use it in low-value uses would make water more plentiful to us consumers. The water saved if the new regulations even achieved their stated goal would be a small fraction of one percent of the water that could be saved if farmers cut their usage by only one percent. Co-blogger Scott Sumner gives some of the data on water usage here.
