From ceiling fans to refrigerators, the Department of Energy is updating appliance efficiency standards that would affect millions of consumers.
The Biden administration’s goal is to reduce climate-warming greenhouse gasses and save Americans billions of dollars a year in utility costs. But the administration is facing pushback from the natural gas industry, because some new standards would affect gas appliances. Conservative politicians and media have taken notice of the measures, too, and they’ve now made unsexy, technical appliance standards a flashpoint in the country’s culture war.
I don’t think I’ve seen those huge increases except on appliances with greatly increased capacity as compared with the old ones. I don’t think it’s a big deal either; you set up a washing machine or a dishwasher, and then you go do something else. Almost nobody sits around babysitting their washing machine or dishwasher.
I’ll also note that the appliances also have a ‘speed’ cycle which runs fast for those rare occasions when you need it.
When we replaced our dishwasher a couple of years ago, the “normal” cycle’s run time went from 45 min to 2.5 hours. The shortest cycle on the new washer is 1.5 hours. Previously, we also never had to clean out any kind of filter at the bottom of the washer, but on the new one we do because most brands no longer come with any kind of grinder built in. On the other hand, our new washer uses half the water and half the electricity and is silent, like if it wasn’t for the light it shines on the floor, i would have to open it to make sure it is running versus our old washer that drowned out the tv. But, most importantly, our new washer gets the dishes incredibly clean in one cycle, vs the old one that would often require 2 cycles or that you pre-rinse the dishes.