Fossil Fuel Tool - Rick Perry

Former Texas governor, Rick Perry, is the US Secretary of Energy.  His Department of Energy has decided that it’s time to change the energy standards for dishwashers.  Not to make them more energy and water use efficient, but to turn back the clock and make them far less energy efficient.  Suggesting that consumers want machines that work faster, the DOE is proposing to lift all energy efficient standards.

Under the guise of responding to consumer complaints that today's energy- and water-efficient dishwashers take too long, the Department of Energy has proposed creating a new class of dishwashers that wouldn't be subject to any water or energy efficiency standards at all. The move would not only undermine three decades of progress for consumers and the environment, it is based on serious distortions of fact regarding today's dishwashers.

According to a large consortium of consumer groups and appliance manufacturers, there is no ground swell of demand for a “new class of dishwashers”.  In fact, even the most basic machines currently on the market have fast wash and dry modes that provide users with a speedy option if they need a rapid turn around of plates and glasses.  This DOE move is just another effort to attack energy standards in general by creating a false demand for a product no one really wants. 

When it all comes out in the wash, DOE's attempts to carve out a class of dishwashers exempt from energy efficiency standards are unlawful and unsupported by the facts. If they succeed, the result would be less-efficient dishwashers, less guardrails on energy and water waste, and higher energy and water bills for households across the U.S.

If my energy bill goes up, who benefits?