When US president Barack Obama was sworn into office on the January 20 this year, everybody knew that the tide had turned for climate change policy, and that this was likely to have a positive impact on energy efficiency policy too. However, the speed of change on energy efficiency policy itself was surprising even for the most optimistic among us.
A few days later, on February 5, Obama swiftly signed a presidential memorandum requesting that the Department of Energy (DOE) set new energy efficiency minimum requirements for common household appliances. The process for setting these minimum requirements – called ‘standards’ in the US – had stalled during the Bush administration, or the ones that had been set were generally considered too weak by energy efficiency experts.
More recently, Obama went a step further and personally announced new requirements on fluorescent light tubes – the long ones used mostly in offices and industrial facilities.
“We were very glad that the Obama administration significantly strengthened new standards for fluorescent tube lights,” Andrew DeLaski of the Appliance Standards Awareness Project (ASAP) tells Coolproducts, adding that these proposals are stronger than those that had been drafted during the Bush administration. “We were even more pleased that the President himself chose to announce the new standards – that makes twice this year already that the President has personally announced actions,” he adds.
This is all great news, especially considering that a new McKinsey report estimates there is an extremely cost-effective potential to boost energy efficiency in the US, worth around $1.2 trillion. Individual homes and businesses could save about 28% off their current energy spending, while the industrial sector could save 20%.
However, of course this does not mean that everything is sorted and we can now relax that the US is soon to become the most energy efficient economy in the world. For the moment, Europe remains far more energy efficient. But the fact that president Obama has personally committed to meet all of the deadlines and to accelerate requirements with the largest savings is good news. The debate on Coolproducts in the US is happening at a much higher political level than in the EU. One can only dream of hearing heads of state like German chancellor Angela Merkel or French president Nicolas Sarkozy personally and publicly committing to strengthening the Eco–Design of Energy Using Products directive….(one wonders if they are even being vaguely briefed about it by any of their staff...).
The U.S. DOE will set or update about 26 requirements during the current Presidential term.
Next year, we expect requirements on reflector light bulbs, domestic water heaters, refrigerators, commercial clothes washers, central air conditioners and home furnaces. For most of these products, there are existing requirements. The task for the government is to strengthen the existing ones.
On clothes washers, the editor of this blog has a personal plea – as a European who spent some time living in the US recently – can we please get rid of top-loading washing machines? They are very antiquated, inefficient and they use a huge amount of water – definitely not in line with the brave new world of Coolproducts for a Cool Planet.