Contact: Ben Somberg, 202-658-8129, bsomberg@aceee.org
Washington, DC— A bill introduced today by Senator Mike Lee would make it virtually impossible for the Department of Energy to update energy efficiency standards for equipment and would give the executive branch new powers that could be used to weaken or revoke existing standards.
The bill, known as the Energy Efficiency Reform Act, includes a series of restrictions on updating standards, even as technology improves. It could raise costs for households by about $160 each year while adding strain on the electric grid and increasing climate pollution.
“This would lock in using outdated technologies that require more energy to do the same job. There’s no reason to throw in the towel on progress,” said Andrew deLaski, executive director of the Appliance Standards Awareness Project. “This bill says you can take your high energy costs and stuff it.”
The Lee bill’s restrictions include a requirement that any new product standard set by the Department of Energy (DOE) be achievable using any technologies or materials found in any such products sold today—even the very least-efficient ones. Even if more efficient technologies or materials are already incorporated in many models on the market, standards couldn’t be set at levels that used those technologies rather than older ones.
The provision giving the executive branch new powers could be used to attack existing cost-saving standards. Manufacturers have invested in updating product lines to meet these standards.
Among numerous other harmful provisions, the bill would:
- Revoke recent standards for gas furnaces that are set to save purchasers $350 over the lifetime of a more efficient furnace relative to previous models;
- Block states from setting safety protections and other requirements for products that have federal efficiency standards; and
- Eliminate the primary accountability tool ensuring DOE regulators review standards on a regular eight-year cycle and—if technologically feasible and economically justified—update them.
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