Washing machines, fridges, freezers face tougher energy standards

The Biden administration on Friday proposed tougher energy standards for household washing machines, refrigerators and freezers – rules aimed at reducing emissions while also saving consumers money.

The Energy Department said the new regulations, which have not been updated in over a decade, would save Americans about $3.5 billion a year on energy and water bills while reducing emissions of harmful greenhouse gases.

Homeowners would save an average of $295 over the 14-year life of a new clothes washer and $130 over the life of a new refrigerator.

“With today’s proposals, we’re building on a decadeslong effort with industry to ensure tomorrow’s appliances work more efficiently and save Americans money,” said Energy Secretary Jennifer M. Granholm.

“Over the last 40 years, at the direction of Congress, DOE has worked to promote innovation, improve consumers’ options, and raise efficiency standards for household appliances without sacrificing the reliability and performance that Americans have come to expect.”

The new appliance standards, which could come into effect as early as 2027, comes amid a national furor over possible federal regulation of gas stoves and their potential health impacts.

Conservatives have sought to depict the Biden administration as waging a war on household appliances, but experts in energy efficiency say the standards proposed Friday are long overdue, and could produce big savings for consumers.

Under the Energy Policy and Conservation Act, the Energy Department is required to conduct regular reviews of appliance efficiency standards.

Although the department is not required to make the standards more stringent, it has usually chosen to tighten the standards.

The Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers, however, wants to end the reviews that come every six years under the act.

“More stringent federal efficiency standards are likely to increase costs for manufacturers and consumers without providing meaningful energy savings,” the group says on its website. “Most appliances covered by the program now operate at or near peak efficiency.”

But Andrew deLaski, executive director of the Appliance Standards Awareness Project, said that “the best models (of refrigerators and washing machines) have gotten much more efficient while others still use older technologies that cause higher utility bills each month.”

Today, 15 million refrigerators are sold every year and a typical new one uses 75% less energy than its 1973 counterpart – while offering roughly 20% more storage capacity and more useful features, the Energy Department said in a news release.

Over that time span, the Energy Department has raised the efficiency standard for refrigerators three times.

The Energy Department says the future holds more innovation.

It estimated that, over 30 years, the standards proposed Friday for refrigerators and freezers would save the country as much as $20.4 billion on energy and water bills, cutting energy use by 12% and carbon dioxide emissions by as much as 179.2 million metric tons.

Over the same time period, the United States could save as much as $14.5 billion from new clothes washers and reduce carbon dioxide emissions by as much as 53.2 million tons over the 30-year period.

The Biden administration proposed new standards for household clothes dryers last year.

If approved, the new regulations would be a landmark for appliances that were caught up in President Donald Trump’s efforts to freeze or roll back energy efficiency standards.

At that time, the Natural Resources Defense Council – along with consumer and low-income advocates, and a number of states – sued the Energy Department over its failure to take action on 25 standards.