DOE Claims To “Permanently End Home Appliance” Standards

The Claim

On July 2^nd, US DOE’s Office of Critical Minerals and Energy Innovation (that replaced the shuttered EERE) sent out an email stating, “U.S. Secretary of Energy Chris Wright today announced the Department of Energy (DOE) has issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to permanently end home appliance and equipment mandates that raise costs and disrupt consumer choice.”

On its face, this email announcement implies that all existing appliance efficiency standards would be repealed. An example being the federal ban on incandescent and halogen lamps aka the ‘45 lpW backstop.’ General Service Fluorescent Lamps (GSFL), General Service Lamps (GSL), and ceiling fan standards are three examples of DOE standards that impact the lighting industry today.

The Reality

The NOPR (proposed rule) actually is a proposed change to the DOE “Process Rule,” which establishes internal DOE guidelines for balancing energy savings, cost to consumers, and consumer product choice. The proposal would significantly shift DOE calculations toward lowering any upfront cost increase for consumers and preventing limitations on consumer choice, in favor of restricting new appliance energy efficiency standards. The proposal does NOT eliminate nor repeal any existing appliance standards, as implied in the DOE email announcement.

The Concern

This author’s concern is that DOE’s email indicates the administration’s long-term intention, and that the revised Process Rule, once finalized, will be used as justification to eliminate existing appliance standards.

If the administration eventually moves to repeal appliance standards it will violate the Energy Policy and Conservation Act (EPCA). EPCA contains an Anti-Backsliding Provision that prohibits the DOE from weakening an established energy conservation standard. If the DOE eventually attempts to repeal existing appliance standards, it will likely generate law suits.

The DOE announcement can be found here. The Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NOPR) can be found here.

David Shiller

David Shiller is the Publisher of LightNOW, and Senior Business Development Consultant at Capacity Consulting, a North American consulting firm providing business development services to advanced lighting manufacturers. The ALA awarded David the Pillar of the Industry Award. David has been co-chair of the ALA’s Engineering Committee since 2010. David established MaxLite’s OEM component sales into a multi-million dollar division. He invented GU24 lamps while leading ENERGY STAR lighting programs for the US EPA. David has been published in leading lighting publications, including LD+A, enLIGHTenment Magazine, LEDs Magazine, and more.

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