Tell the Senate: Don’t Make America Waste More Energy

The cheapest, cleanest electricity is the electricity we never have to generate.

For decades, federal efficiency standards have quietly made refrigerators, air conditioners, washing machines and other everyday products use less energy — cutting utility bills while reducing the pollution driving climate change.

Now Congress could put that progress into reverse.

Sen. Mike Lee’s Energy Efficiency Reform Act would overhaul the Department of Energy’s appliance efficiency program, eliminate the requirement that DOE review standards at least every six years, impose new hurdles on future standards and wipe out certain existing efficiency requirements.

That would be a serious mistake — especially now.

America’s electricity demand is rising rapidly, driven in part by enormous new data centers and other power-hungry development. We should be finding every reasonable way to use electricity more efficiently, not making it harder to improve efficiency for millions of appliances and other products.

The benefits are enormous. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory estimates that existing appliance standards have reduced total U.S. energy consumption by 6.5%. The same analysis estimates that existing standards save the average household about $576 every year.

And Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee ranking member Martin Heinrich warns that the Energy Efficiency Reform Act could increase electricity demand by as much as 32 gigawatts by 2040.

That means more pressure on the grid — and potentially more fossil fuel generation and climate pollution — just to accomplish tasks we could perform with less energy at lower cost.

Even major appliance and equipment manufacturers have opposed backsliding on established efficiency standards, which can undermine investments companies have already made to meet them.

Efficiency is not glamorous. But it is one of the simplest tools we have for cutting pollution, reducing energy demand and lowering household bills.

Congress should strengthen that progress, not reverse it.

Please sign the petition urging the Senate to reject the Energy Efficiency Reform Act and protect strong federal energy-efficiency standards.

The petition to the U.S. Senate reads: Reject the Energy Efficiency Reform Act. Protect and strengthen federal energy-efficiency standards that reduce electricity demand, save consumers money and help cut the climate pollution driving the climate crisis.

_______

Source:

https://insideclimatenews.org/news/16092026/senate-considers-energy-efficiency-reform-act/

https://www.energy.senate.gov/press/dem/heinrich-sounds-off-on-trump-admin-plan-to-sell-off-part-of-yosemite-national-park-raises-alarm-on-senate-republicans-attacks-on-energy-efficiency-standards-and-tribal-protections/