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New Energy Regulations Will Make Every Room in Your House More Expensive

Energy Efficient Home Image from Energy.Gov 

How to Make Every Room in Your House More Expensive

Ben Lieberman, a former staff member on House Energy and Commerce Committee, has an interesting Op-Ed in the Wall Street Journal on Biden’s regulatory overreach. 

Please consider a a Regulatory Burden for Every Room of Your House by Ben Lieberman. That is a copy-free link, not behind the WSJ paywall.

  • The Kitchen. The Trump administration took steps to fix the Energy Department’s efficiency standards for dishwashers that had the unintended consequence of increasing the time to clean a load of dishes from an hour or less in older models to well over two in new ones. 
  • The Bathroom. In one of several agency measures that limit freedom of choice, the DOE has tightened water-use limits for certain types of showers. In addition, for those who prefer incandescent light bulbs surrounding their bathroom mirror (or anywhere else), the DOE is targeting these bulbs with energy-efficiency standards likely to boost their price to $7 each, leaving LEDs as the only viable option.
  • The Laundry Room. Washing machines have been hit with multiple rounds of energy and water-efficiency regulations that have compromised performance and even forced some owners to buy and use special products to eliminate the stink that accumulates in the new models. Compliant dryers, like the new dishwashers, take longer to do the job.
  • The Basement. Your next new furnace may be significantly more expensive, thanks to regulatory changes percolating through the Biden DOE bureaucracy. Furnaces are currently available in natural-gas or electric versions, but the DOE is all-in on the war against gas, which environmentalists hate because it’s a fossil fuel and thus a contributor to climate change. 
  • Any Air-Conditioned Room. The Environmental Protection Agency, under authority granted by Congress in 2020, just rolled out tough new quotas on several refrigerants blamed as contributors to climate change. The price for the one used in most home air conditioners has already quadrupled, so don’t be surprised if your next repair bill is hundreds of dollars higher than you expected.
  • The Garage. Your car’s there. Need I say more?
  • The Kitchen Sink: Specifically, the DOE is reconsidering the method for testing compliance with water-use limits for faucets, and a change could result in tighter restrictions, with some currently available models declared illegal.

All-Out Assault On Common Sense 

Biden makes the preposterous claim Build Back Better will not add to inflation.

The claim is absurd. A push to electrify everything cannot possibly do anything but make make things more expensive. 

Since the bill will not pass as-is, Biden resorted to mandates. 

“Free” college would make costs soar, and someone will have to pay that price. 

Free college won’t pass but Progressives seek $10,000 in student loan writeoffs by executive order. 

Meanwhile, by executive order, Biden is hell bent on making every room in your house more expensive, even the kitchen sink.

Is Going Green Really Worth It?

In case you missed it, please consider Is Going Green Really Worth It?

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24 Comments
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BillSanDiego
BillSanDiego
4 years ago
California already beat him to it on the light bulb issue. Incandescent light bulbs cannot be bought at any price in this state.
Dutoit
Dutoit
4 years ago
should it be replaced by a LED ?
TexasTim65
TexasTim65
4 years ago
I still have plenty of incandescent bulbs in my house. There is just no need for a $5 LED closet light when that light might be turned on for a minute or two a day and some days not at all. The incandescent bulbs in closets and other rarely used spaces will last decades.
Obviously I use LEDs in high use areas because those do save money and they are cooler (a feature in Florida where AC is my biggest bill/concern).
Changing gas furnaces to electric is VERY expensive. My parents went the other way (electric to gas) in the 90’s and it was on the order of 10K. Now I bet it’s over 20K and close to 30K because to go the other way you need an entire new breaker box (big money) for the increased load on the furnace and hot water heater.
Felix_Mish
Felix_Mish
4 years ago
Humans can be put on a bell curve of “Want others to buy what we buy”.
At the west end of the curve are people who don’t say anything to others about what they buy. On the east end, are those who want laws to force others to buy what they buy. In the middle are product reviewers. And people who apply social pressure on others to not buy “cheap junk from [SOME_FAR_LOCATION]”. And so on. Most of us.
Sadly, I’m naturally inclined to the far east side of that bell curve. I don’t enjoy buying things and want no one else in the world to buy things, either. If I gave in to my instincts, I’d vote for a law to stop all commerce.
But to counter my instincts, I note that people like me, who act on their far-east-end-of-that-curve instincts, bring a huge amount of pain and suffering to the world. All while being insufferably sanctimonious about it.
What this world needs are many, many simulated worlds – call them “metaverses” – where people trained to ineptly tell others what to do can be safely sequestered and kept busy and satisfied.
Casual_Observer2020
Casual_Observer2020
4 years ago
Prepare to pay more for stuff that won’t last. At some point the standard of living will decline because of this. For some it already has. Maybe stuff that just works forever will come back.
Okienomics
Okienomics
4 years ago
We actually add water manually to our water-saving washing machine so that clothes get clean.  It’s a pain in the arsenal.  But what really surprised me is when our refrigerator wasn’t working properly and the tech who came out had to do a SOFTWARE UPDATE.  It’s incredible.  We have a 30-year old fridge in the garage that just keeps on working.  I’d call the old one a hell of a lot more efficient.
Felix_Mish
Felix_Mish
4 years ago
Reply to  Okienomics
What happens if you simply run the washing machine twice on each load? 🙂
TexasTim65
TexasTim65
4 years ago
Reply to  Felix_Mish
You use 2x the electricity and 2x the detergent/softener etc. Why would anyone want to do that?
Felix_Mish
Felix_Mish
4 years ago
Reply to  TexasTim65
To get them clean? 🙂
I recently got the lowest end washer from Home Depot. It just does the job, but it does have some kind of optional-use load-sensor. Maybe yours does too, and it’s not working right? Makes no sense that the machine would not fill the tub unless something were bongoed. Otherwise, why have the extra tub height?
Reefer: Yeah, I look at appliances and find out what each extra 100 bucks buys. Then I ask, “Is it worth it?” And then I ask, “Is this just one more thing to break?” It’s startling how often the answers are “No” and “Yes”.
TexasTim65
TexasTim65
4 years ago
Reply to  Felix_Mish
Or you run once and add extra water like Okienomics is doing 🙂
BillSanDiego
BillSanDiego
4 years ago
Reply to  Felix_Mish
Like the water saving toilet that I have to flush twice with each use to prevent it from stopping up. When it stops up I have top flush it three or four times.
thimk
thimk
4 years ago
It’s happening at the  city level . NY bans NAT GAS for new construction . 
Hopefully I won’t hear a knock on my door from Biden’s Climate corps ;;; After they spot my wood burning fireplace/chimney . As far as water usage I’m on a private well. 
gonna buy an extra refrigerator with few electronics as a spare , . a year ago I bought a 2nd ICE car as back up for my pickup truck.
BillSanDiego
BillSanDiego
4 years ago
Reply to  thimk
California has that in the works – coming soon, along with mandating the conversion of 18 million cars to electric by 2030. Going to be tricky, since we are importing electric power now and cannot keep up with current power usage.
Eddie_T
Eddie_T
4 years ago
In the more arid areas of the country low-flow shower heads and toilets have been around for more than 20 years. I can’t remember the last time I bought an old-fashioned shower head. They do save water at the expense of good function. No thanks. They just have a choke washer and are easily altered to make them work as originally intended.  Not sure that’s legal but then I always tear that tag off the mattress too.
I haven’t had gas appliances in 30 years. I do miss them, but there is no gas service here outside the city proper. Lots of rural people use propane, but that has it’s own set of issues. More expensive than typical gas utility prices. 
I’m continuing to think about building a house out on my rural place before I retire. Getting to the now-or-never zone. I’d be happy with a barndominium, but I have a picky partner to make happy. I once was thinking of a Monolithic dome, and they are so efficient that heating and cooling would be a small fraction of what I spend on the energy hog I live in now. Whatever I build will have thermal mass on the inside and lots of insulation not he outside.
Six000mileyear
Six000mileyear
4 years ago
Reply to  Eddie_T
Domes are efficient in part because there it is the minimal surface area per volume for heat to escape.
Doug78
Doug78
4 years ago
Reply to  Eddie_T
I have always dreamed of a dome but my wife would never go for it so I just dream. I am 100% electric and I don’t like gas. It’s great for cooking but I don’t like its other caracteristics at all. 
The geopolitical situation is looking worse and worse. 
StukiMoi
StukiMoi
4 years ago
Just as, by now old, regulations make the house itself around 10x as expensive as it would be of we had a housing market. Instead of just a -racket serving no other function than enriching rank retards at the expense of more competent people.
Tanner 0
Tanner 0
4 years ago
Reminds me of building codes forcing home prices up.    Must build to withstand a hurricane that might hit once every hundred years. 
whirlaway
whirlaway
4 years ago
All of those so-called policies are for the consumption of the DONORcrat Party voters.   What he will actually do is to go grant a few hundred more licenses for oil drilling etc.
Tony Bennett
Tony Bennett
4 years ago
“Meanwhile, by executive order, Biden is hell bent on making every room in your house more expensive,”
Just doubling down on manufacturers planned  Obsolescence.
Everyone has a story.  Mine a few years ago the contractor installing the dishwasher (bosch) told me – you’ll be getting a new one in 5 or 6 years.  What will likely fail will  be the chip board ($300).  By time I order a new one and install you could get new.
Tex
Tex
4 years ago
Reply to  Tony Bennett
I’ve not researched “manufacturers’ planned Obsolescence.” No opinion. But I long ago realized that Anything government at any level dictates raises the associated price, either immediately or eventually.
I recently had an under-dash a/c issue with my 2011 F-150. Three days at Ford, $536.40 labor to replace a $39.22 part. Dash had to be disassembled and glovebox removed, part replaced, all reassembled. Gawd, I miss my 1955 Ford Tudor, 272 V8, automatic, radio and heater; parts are still available. I see no way for the ever worsening Insanity to end but Very Ugly! ✝️❤️
TexasTim65
TexasTim65
4 years ago
Reply to  Tony Bennett
Same happened with my 2014 Whirlpool Stainless Steel Fridge. It quit cooling. Called a local repair guy who told me it was the motherboard. Cost of a new one was 300 + 1 hr labor. That was still cheaper than a new fridge at 1000+ so I had the board replaced. Hoping I get a bunch more years out of it.
Bohm-Bawerk
Bohm-Bawerk
4 years ago
Reply to  Tony Bennett
About a year ago my Bosch broke down, and because of covid we didn’t want service people in the house, I had to learn to fix it myself: Ultimately for a $15 part it lasted another year. Then it broke down again this year (on Christmas Eve of course) two weeks later service man came and said it would be $800 to fix it, and months to get the parts so buy a new one.   My wife called around, and of course new ones are 6-12 months wait, so do we want to put a 10% deposit down to get on the list?  I went back to work, and replaced the main control board and motor for $400 in parts.  working like new again so far but I would have preferred to spend $1200 on a new dishwasher.  Time, aggravation, and who knows how long it will last?  Our country is becoming Cuba.
ILHawk
ILHawk
4 years ago
All out on common sense.  But in COVID policy we trust.

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