Joe Biden's, Democrats' war on appliances, individual choice
Strassel continued, saying "The reason gas stoves are in the news is simple: There is a coordinated, calculated—and well-funded—strategy to kill them off. It’s the joint enterprise of extremely powerful climate groups, working with Biden administration officials who have publicly stated their aim to eliminate all 'combustion appliances' in homes. Only after the GOP called them out did anyone pretend otherwise."
The string of policy changes isn't about improving energy efficiency, though that's what it's being touted as:
The Department of Energy (DOE) said its proposal would ultimately “accelerate deployment” of electric heat pump water heaters, save Americans billions of dollars and vastly reduce carbon emissions. If finalized, the proposed standards would force less energy efficient, but cheaper, water heaters off the market. Today’s actions — together with our industry partners and stakeholders — improve outdated efficiency standards for common household appliances, which is essential to slashing utility bills for American families and cutting harmful carbon emissions," Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said in a statement.This string of policies is meant to limit people's choices. The Biden administration's hope is that they'll force the Green New Deal's dictates down our throats. Frankly, the Administration can go to hell. The Administration has no business telling We The People what our options are. If an appliance manufacturer wants to offer high-efficiency appliances, that's their right. Knock yourself out as far as I'm concerned. If that product line fails, that's We The People telling the manufacturer that we aren't interested."This proposal reinforces the trajectory of consumer savings that forms the key pillar of Bidenomics and builds on the unprecedented actions already taken by this Administration to lower energy costs for working families across the nation," she continued.
These policies are part of the Democrats' push for a Green New Deal fantasy. Rep. Chuck Edwards interrogated a DOE testifier about defining energy efficiency appliances:
First, any energy efficiency laws passed in the 1970s should be repealed or modified. Again, it's the consumer's choice to purchase high energy efficiency appliance. Further, regulations that impose a large cost to consumers must pass something called the "major questions doctrine." Once a regulation imposes a major cost on consumers or companies, the Supreme Court has ruled that the regulation must be passed by Congress. It can't be done by executive branch fiat. It requires congressional approval
Years ago energy standards for household electric motors were enacted, and as we designed them, of course they were far more expensive than what we normally built and sold. Problem was, the energy cost savings, NEVER equaled the added costs of manufacture, reflecting as it did the energy costs of creating those materials plus the highly intermittent nature of their use. Same way with light bulbs. An incandescent bulb in a closet will last 2000 hours or so. At 10 minutes every couple of days, that's a 50-year lifespan. An LED bulb would save energy costs over its 20,000 hour lifetime, but you would have to get in your closet for 500 years to get that savings! Better if government simply allows consumer choice. ESPECIALLY since all this "CO2 reduction" (even if you don't count the CO2 emissions to mine, refine, transport and manufacture all the extra material) will not alter the climate by any significant amount-- on the order of .00001 degrees, according to the flawed climate models!
ReplyDelete