How Appliance Standards Can Help Meet U.S. Climate Goals and Save Consumers Money
National standards have made today’s appliances and equipment far more efficient than models from decades ago—yet many standards have now fallen behind advancing technologies. That leaves an urgent opportunity ahead.
President-elect Biden pledged in his initial climate plan to set “aggressive” new standards. ACEEE and ASAP estimated the potential impacts of doing so, finding that updated standards could save the average American household $230 annually on utility bills by 2035—and cut carbon emissions over the next three decades by an amount equivalent to eliminating at least 13 coal-fired power plants.
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“Standards have already made these products more efficient, but the technology keeps advancing and the standards have fallen behind. Whether it’s water heaters or furnaces, if we keep installing models that use yesterday’s less-efficient technology, we’ll lock in needless energy costs and carbon emissions for decades to come. Strengthening standards ensures everyone has lower costs.” —Joanna Mauer, ASAP technical advocacy manager and lead report author.
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