Dive Brief:
- The U.S. Department of Energy on Monday finalized changes to the “process rule,” which determines how appliance efficiency standards are set and updated. The new rule, effective June 24, clarifies that DOE will solicit early input on rulemakings and streamlines the standard-setting process.
- The agency’s Appliance and Equipment Standards Program reviews energy efficiency rules for a broad range of products every six years. The Biden administration took office with about 50 standards due for an update during the president’s term and observers say it has so far worked through all but about a dozen.
- On Wednesday, conservation advocates and a pair of lawmakers urged DOE to accelerate its work on the remaining standards. “The Biden administration has used up its wiggle room,” Lisa Frank, executive director of Environment America’s Washington legislative office, said in a statement.
Dive Insight:
In December, DOE estimated that the energy efficiency standards advanced by the Biden administration this term will provide nearly $1 trillion in consumer savings and avoid 2.5 billion metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions over 30 years. Efficiency advocates want the administration to make sure that happens.
“The Biden Administration should continue to build on the savings and historic progress by finalizing the remaining energy efficiency standards as quickly as possible,” Rep. Kathy Castor, D-Fla., said in a statement.
Castor, along with Sen. Peter Welch, D-Vt., and representatives of consumer and environmental advocacy groups, on Wednesday held a press conference outside DOE offices to urge the administration to accelerate its work.
DOE did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
“For the sake of our health and our planet, and to hit the pollution reduction goals set by the administration, the government needs to deliver,” Frank said. “Wiser energy use will make it easier to repower our nation with renewable energy, including solar and wind.”
The administration has made progress on the backlog of efficiency standards, but some changes have left advocates wanting more. Last week, DOE finalized new energy efficiency requirements for distribution transformers — but the rule extended compliance timelines and required less savings compared with the original proposal, after utilities and equipment manufacturers cautioned that stricter requirements could slow the clean energy transition.
“These standards significantly reduce energy waste, but they leave much bigger savings on the table,” Andrew deLaski, executive director of the Appliance Standards Awareness Project, said in a statement. “Passing up the savings that could have been achieved has a real cost for consumers, businesses, and the climate.”
The final transformer rule saves only one-third as much energy as the original proposal, ASAP said.
In October, DOE finalized rules for residential gas furnaces that have drawn a lawsuit from the American Gas Association and other groups who argue it effectively bans the sale of certain types of equipment. The agency says the new rules will cut household utility costs by $1.5 billion annually.
The process rule finalized this week will give DOE “the flexibility to tailor the appropriate rulemaking steps to each specific situation,” ASAP Deputy Director Joanna Mauer said in an email.
DOE finalized an initial set of revisions to the process rule in 2021, removing “many of the roadblocks put in place during the Trump administration for updating standards,” Mauer said. The 2021 final rule returned the process rule to non-binding status, as it had been before, she added.
The recently issued final rule makes additional revisions consistent with current DOE practice, Mauer noted. “In large part, the rule eliminates additional procedural steps not required by the statute,” as well as clarifying the agency will solicit early input and giving DOE the flexibility to tailor rulemaking steps to specific situations, she said.
The upcoming election has brought additional urgency to appliance standards updates, experts say.
“Getting all the new standards completed this presidential term will be challenging but it’s definitely doable,” said Lauren Boucher, a manager at CLASP, a non-profit focused on how energy efficiency can address climate change.
Appliance standards prevented between 1,900 and 4,400 pollution-related deaths in 2017, CLASP concluded in a March report.
Appliance efficiency standards yet to be finalized include rules for residential water heaters and commercial and industrial fans and blowers. “The Department of Energy’s proposal on home water heaters would deliver the largest energy-saving impact of any standard developed during this administration,” Environment America said in a statement.
