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Update: DOE Appliance Minimum Efficiency Standards

By <a class="post-author" href="/about#m_krebs">Mark Krebs</a> -- September 19, 2023

“It started with gas cooking.  It will end with getting gas out of homes and business entirely, If they can. Basically, what we’re witnessing is the energy equivalent of ethnic cleansing. I’ve been saying this for years but now it should be obvious.”

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) under the Biden Administration has significantly accelerated the pace of minimum appliance efficiency rulemaking. With this acceleration, there has been a marked decrease in DOE’s analytical quality and transparency. The purpose of this update is to summarize:

  1. Energy Conservation Standards for Consumer Conventional Cooking Products
  2. Energy Conservation Standards for Consumer Products; Boilers
  3. Energy Conservation Standards for Consumer Water Heaters

Note: In DOE-speak, the term ‘consumer’ means non commercial/industrial, or just residential.

Part 1: Consumer Cooking Products

On April 27, 2023, MasterResource published DOE vs.

Did DOE “flip the bird” to the DC Circuit?

By <a class="post-author" href="/about#m_krebs">Mark Krebs</a> -- August 8, 2023

“All three Notice of Proposed Rulemakings demonstrate the same anti-consumer biases of the Executive Branch’s Department of Energy: to ban non-condensing appliance products. Each suffers the same analytic and procedural defects that caused the Circuit Court to vacate DOE’s Final Rule for commercial boilers.  DOE’s continued flaunting of its authority, despite the Court’s action inspired my post title (above).”

On July 10, 2023, MasterResource published Energy Appliance Victory! (DC Circuit vs. DOE). The “victory” was overturning a DOE Final Rule that would have banned non-condensing commercial boilers.  In so doing, it also rejected the long-standing assumptions with the administrative state’s super weapon; its cherished “Chevron Deference.”[1]

The opening paragraph of my July 10th article read:

“The ‘wheels of justice turn slowly,’ but they indeed turned, even within the District of Columbia’s ‘uni-party.’ As

Energy Appliance Victory! (DC Circuit vs. DOE)

By <a class="post-author" href="/about#m_krebs">Mark Krebs</a> -- July 10, 2023

“The ‘wheels of justice turn slowly,’ but they indeed turned, even within the District of Columbia’s ‘uni-party.’ As for holding on to this victory, it is far from a slam-dunk for preserving consumer choice and free markets. I expect the struggle to escalate in Biden’s all-of-government war against natural gas and other fossil fuels.”

Beleaguered energy consumers were just handed a far-reaching victory by the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia (DC Circuit). The ruling vacated a Final Rule from the U.S, Department of Energy (DOE) that would have banned the manufacture and sale of non-condensing boilers for use in commercial applications. DOE’s rule was challenged several years ago by natural gas interests–and later joined with a separate but similar case brought by the Air-Conditioning, Heating, and Refrigeration Institute (AHRI).…

DOE vs. Gas Cooking: A Review of Critical Comments

By <a class="post-author" href="/about#m_krebs">Mark Krebs</a> -- April 27, 2023

The White House State: ‘Regulatory Reform’ in Sheep’s Clothing (OMB Circular A-4)

By <a class="post-author" href="/about#m_krebs">Mark Krebs</a> -- April 13, 2023

Dangerous ‘Deep Decarbonization’ (Krebs PowerPoint to Cooler Heads Coalition)

By <a class="post-author" href="/about#m_krebs">Mark Krebs</a> -- January 13, 2023

“Rare Earths,” Electrification Mandates, and Energy Security (Part II)

By <a class="post-author" href="/about#m_krebs">Mark Krebs</a> -- January 12, 2023

“Rare Earths,” Electrification Mandates, and Energy Security (Part I)

By <a class="post-author" href="/about#m_krebs">Mark Krebs</a> -- January 11, 2023

Gas Furnaces and Big Brother Revisited

By <a class="post-author" href="/about#m_krebs">Mark Krebs</a> -- November 3, 2022

Environmentalists Petition EPA to Ban Natural Gas Use in Buildings

By <a class="post-author" href="/about#m_krebs">Mark Krebs</a> -- September 9, 2022