The Liberty in Laundry Act is not a joke
Dear Editor,
The incoming Donald Trump Administration is supposedly interested in efficiency. It has a whole quasi-governmental department — the Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy-chaired Department of Government Efficiency – purportedly ready to take aim at government waste. So why are the very same people going to such extremes to make wasting energy one of their highest priorities?
Among the final acts of the MAGA-led House of Representatives to end this Congress was the passage of the absurdly named Liberty in Laundry Act. It prohibits the secretary of energy from setting or enforcing energy efficiency standards for clothes washers and dryers. It is but one of several legislative attacks on energy-efficient home appliances, like dishwashers and refrigerators, advanced by the House’s Republican majority. While the Bill may have no chance of passing in the Senate, this is a clear signal about the GOP’s backwards priorities in the next Congress.
Energy efficiency simply means an appliance uses less energy to do its job. It not only can save households hundreds of dollars a year, but it is also one of the best — and most readily accessible — ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from homes and buildings and mitigate our impact on the climate. Not only that, it is an area in which the product manufacturers, sellers, and climate advocates agree.
The Department of Energy (DOE) is required by law to regularly evaluate and set energy efficiency standards for a wide range of appliances. Yet every time the DOE wants to ensure we have options that meet at least a minimum standard, it seems there is an extremist politician or talking head ready to scaremonger about ‘Big Government’ coming into your home to take your beloved appliances. In reality, energy efficiency standards simply provide consumers with better choices — more high-tech products that work even better than outdated inefficient models and will save households money and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Trump has railed against water-efficient toilets and shower heads and against replacing inefficient light bulbs that still use the same basic design from over 100 years ago and waste up to 90 per cent of the electricity powering them. After all, Thomas Edison’s invention was groundbreaking at the time, but technology has come a long way since then.
In 2023, far-right media and politicians tried to ignite a firestorm over gas stoves, peddling the falsehood that the Joe Biden Administration was trying to ban them. In reality, the DOE proposed improved efficiency standards for both gas and electric stoves that would not go into effect until 2027 and would help consumers save as much as an estimated US$1.7 billion. This is part-in-parcel of the myths being used to stoke outrage about regulations that would protect consumers – both their wallets and their health.
While it seems utilities and energy companies might not mind consumers buying more of their products than they use or need, many electric utilities actually support efficiency measures. They bring down overall demand on their grids, reducing costs for them as well as their consumers.
Most news coverage of the issue highlights interest group opposition from homebuilders. However, it seems the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) may actually be inflating the upfront costs, while ignoring the savings on utility bills over time that more than make up for them. Those savings are especially important to low-income families who carry a higher energy burden by spending a greater portion of their household income on energy bills. Low-income households are forced to spend as much as four times more on energy bills. And there is research that shows families that fall behind on their utility bills are at risk of the state taking their children away.
In Washington and state capitals alike, lawmakers need to put their constituents first and not traffic in lies and misinformation. No one benefits from wasted energy other than the fossil fuel industry executives whose bank accounts get fatter with the selling and burning of an unnecessary excess of their product.
Ben Jealous
Executive Director
Sier
ra Club
