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Affordable manufactured housing versus unaffordable climate regulations
The Biden administration had a field day piling on one costly climate-related regulation after another, not knowing – or caring – that affordability would emerge…
National Review
House Passes Bill Pushing Back on Federal Appliance Meddling
They’re the regulations that literally hit home, and rarely in a good way. The Department of Energy sets energy efficiency standards for just…
Blog
House to consider two bills that would place limits on federal appliance meddling
It is time for Congress to place limits on costly and intrusive federal meddling in home appliances. Two House bills coming up for a vote…
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News Release
New Biden Admin Rule Unnecessarily Tells Americans How Much Water They Can Use in the Shower
The Biden Administration today announced a finalized rule restricting the amount of water showerheads with multiple nozzles can use. The final rule reverts back…
Blog
Is It Finally Goodbye for Incandescent Light Bulbs—and Consumer Choice?
President George W. Bush initiated the federal government’s targeting of incandescent light bulbs in energy legislation he signed in 2007. Subsequent Department of Energy…
The Washington Examiner
Biden Declares War on Showerheads
President Joe Biden may lack the authority to reach into your shower and turn the dial down in order to save water. Still,…
News Release
Biden EPA Rule Strictly Limiting Common Refrigerant Will Increase Costs Air for Consumers and Businesses
WASHINGTON – The Biden Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) plans to strictly limit the use of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), the most commonly used refrigerant in air conditioners…
Blog
Cost of Air Conditioning to Heat up, Thanks to New EPA Climate Regulation
We can soon add air conditioning to the long list of products contributing to inflation, thanks to a new Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) rule,…
Comment
Comments to DOE Regarding Water Use Limits For Showers
Docket Number EERE-2021-BT-STD-0016; Energy Conservation Program: Definition of Showerhead; Notice of Proposed Rulemaking And Public Meeting 86 FR 38,594 (July 22, 2021) Comments Submitted by…
Blog
Washington’s War against the Incandescent Light Bulb Is Back
The Trump administration called a truce in the regulatory war against the incandescent light bulb by declining to target them with additional efficiency standards, but…
Blog
War on Natural Gas—End User Edition
No matter that it is clean-burning, domestically plentiful, and affordable, natural gas is demonized by the Biden administration as a fossil fuel and for that…
Blog
Free Market Organizations Oppose Costly EPA Air Conditioner Regulations
With temperatures in Washington D.C. topping 90 degrees in recent days and with most of the summer yet to go, it is hard to imagine…
Real Clear Policy
Is Joe Biden Coming After Your Air Conditioner?
America’s air conditioning season is underway, and millions of unlucky homeowners whose systems break down between now and the fall will be in for an…
Blog
Biden Administration to Impose Wave of Costly Regulations on Home Appliances
The spring 2021 Unified Agenda of Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions (Unified Agenda) has been released. It’s the roadmap of federal regulatory priorities, and being…
Inside Sources
Is the Biden Administration Coming After Your Air Conditioner?
We’re reaching the point where it is easier to list the things the Biden administration isn’t doing in the name of fighting climate change. One such Environmental…
Blog
EPA Proposes Rule Cracking Down on Refrigerants
On April 30, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released a notice of proposed rulemaking to create a rationing scheme for hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), a widely…
Blog
Does the Rebound Effect Undercut Savings from Energy Efficiency Standards?
There are plenty of reasons to oppose Department of Energy (DOE) efficiency standards for home appliances such as those for air conditioners, refrigerators, clothes washer/dryers,…
Blog
Trump DOE Finalizes More Flexible Regulation for Residential Furnaces
In one of the Trump Department of Energy’s (DOE) last regulatory actions, the agency on January 15 revised the energy efficiency standards for residential…
News Release
New Law Banning Refrigerant Will Harm Consumers and Benefit Special Interests
WASHINGTON, DC – Congress intends to include ban a chemical commonly used in air-conditioners and refrigerators and extend billions in existing government spending toward unreliable…
Blog
The Bipartisan War on Affordable Air Conditioning
Congressional Democrats and Republicans are currently collaborating on a bill that will make air conditioning more expensive. Hooray for bipartisanship! Both the House and Senate…
News Release
Energy Department Reforms #Neverneeded Regulations on Consumer Washers, Dryers, Showerheads
Today the U.S. Department of Energy issued a set of two new rules that, respectively, allow the sale of faster clothes washers and dryers…
Comment
CEI Comments to DOE on Proposed Change to Shower Regulations
Introduction The Competitive Enterprise Institute is a policy and analysis organization committed to advancing the principles of free markets and limited government. For over 20…
Blog
Senate Reaches Bipartisan Deal to Raise Air Conditioner Costs
Democrats and Republicans on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee just agreed to a measure that would raise the cost of air conditioning…
Blog
Department of Energy Proposes More Water and Less Government Intrusion in Showers
The Department of Energy has proposed a rule loosening existing the federal requirements and allowing more water from showers. This is good news for those…
Blog
Can 15 States Be Wrong? Yes, When They Want More Federal Appliance Regulations!
Fifteen states have threatened to sue the Trump administration unless the Department of Energy sets new energy efficiency standards for 25 appliances. Almost every point…
Blog
Air Conditioning Can Help Fight COVID-19—If Federal Policy Allows It To
COVID-19 persists into the time of year when most Americans rely on air conditioning, so many are asking whether cranking up the cold air helps…
Blog
Wood Heaters—One Cheer for Trump EPA’s Modest Regulatory Reform
The Trump administration’s reforms of past regulatory excesses range from excellent to little better than no change at all. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA)…
Blog
Are “Earth-Friendly” New Refrigerants Toxic?
Bills have been introduced in both the House and Senate to restrict hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), the refrigerants currently used in most air conditioning and refrigeration systems.
Blog
Refrigerants Debate Moves to House
American consumers dodged a bullet when the American Innovation and Manufacturing Act failed to become part of the larger Senate energy package, which has stalled on…
Blog
Washington’s Latest Attack on Air Conditioning
Think air conditioning isn’t expensive enough? Then you’ll love a proposed amendment to the Senate energy bill that restricts the refrigerants used in millions of…
Blog
Department of Energy Finalizes Process Rule for Appliance Efficiency Standards
There are a number of problematic Department of Energy (DOE) efficiency standards for home appliances. Perhaps worst of all is the one resulting in dishwashers…
Blog
2019: A Great Year for Light Bulb Freedom
Whatever else one may say about 2019, it was a banner year for consumer choice when it comes to light bulbs, culminating in the December…
Blog
Trump Can’t Do Much About Toilets, But Can Stop Other Anti-Homeowner Regulations
President Trump created more controversy than usual last week when he complained about water-saving faucets, shower heads, and—especially—toilets. “You turn on the faucet and you…
Blog
Free-Market Groups Support Trump Light Bulb Reform
The Bush and Obama administrations imposed a number of restrictions on light bulbs, but the Trump administration is pushing back on behalf of consumers. Today,…
Inside Sources
5 Reasons Trump Is Right to Save Incandescent Light Bulbs
Americans will have more freedom of choice now that the Trump administration’s Department of Energy has set about undoing Obama-era regulations targeting incandescent light bulbs in favor…
Inside Sources
Air Conditioning – Saving Lives but Getting No Love
Every summer brings heat waves, but recent summers have also brought waves of criticisms about air conditioning. We are told that it is unnecessary, unhealthy and…
Blog
Department of Energy Expands Consumer Choice in Light Bulbs
The Trump administration took a pro-consumer step today as the Department of Energy finalized a rule that will allow certain types of lower-cost light bulbs to…
Blog
Department of Energy Grants Petition To Speed Up Dishwashers
The Department of Energy (DOE) on July 2nd announced the first step in reversing energy efficiency standard that resulted in dishwashers taking hours to clean…
Blog
Can Trump Save Your Air Conditioner from the Deep State?
It happens every spring—on the first hot day, homeowners switch on their air conditioners that have sat idle since September, cross their fingers, and pray…
The Washington Examiner
The Inefficiency of Efficiency: Appliance Standards Often Cost More Than They Save
It is hard to find anything in Washington more inefficient than an efficiency standard for home appliances. Each standard can require more than 30 bureaucratic…
Blog
EPA Takes on Costly, Unnecessary Wood Heater Regulations
The Obama-era Environmental Protection Agency cranked out so many bad major rules that it was hard to pay attention to all the also-bad, but relatively…
Blog
Bricks and Wood Heaters Also Need Relief from Obama-era Overreach
Several of the Obama-era Environmental Protection Agency’s most expensive and far-reaching Clean Air Act regulations are back in the news now that the Trump administration is…
Blog
Three States Join California in Raising Air Conditioning, Refrigeration Costs
Maryland, New York, and Connecticut are following California’s lead in proposing restrictions on hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), the class of refrigerants widely used…
Blog
Department of Energy Proposes ending Obama-era Rules on Incandescent Light Bulbs
Energy and Environment News reported Wednesday that the Trump Department of Energy (DOE) is pushing back against two last-minute Obama regulations that would expand…
Comment
Comments Regarding the DoE’s Fiscal Year 2004 Priorities for Appliance Standards
Full Document Available in PDF Since its enactment in 1987, the…
The Washington Examiner
Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac Untouched in Financial Overhaul
The mortgage crisis was caused largely by the reckless government-sponsored mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and by federal affordable-housing mandates. But Obama’s…
News Release
Department of Energy Planning Costly New Rules for Clothes Washers
A Bad Deal For American Consumers A Bad Deal For American Consumers Washington, DC, December 4, 2000 –…
Op-Eds
Wasting Energy on Appliances
Uncle Sam is designing your next refrigerator, whether you like it or not. The humble refrigerator, an all-American invention that had become — without government…