The Biden administration has announced new regulations on air conditioners that some say will harm lower-income households.
The new energy efficiency mandates, revealed by the Department of Energy (DOE) in a press release last week, are aimed at “tackling the climate crisis.”
The DOE claims the regulations will save consumers $1.5 million annually and more than $25 billion over the next 30 years on electricity bills.
Jeremy Ortiz, deputy press secretary for the DOE, told The Dallas Express that these numbers were determined by the “combined impacts from room air conditioners and portable air cleaners based on the individual analyses conducted in the rulemakings.”
“For room ACs, annual savings on electricity bills are $816 million per year and $11.5 billion over 30 years of shipments,” he explained. “For air cleaners, it’s $689 million per year and $13.7 billion over 30 years of shipments.
The rules will apply to room air conditioners and portable air cleaners. Air cleaner regulations will take effect in 2024, while the air conditioner standards will be implemented in 2026.
U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm said these regulations “will help save on people’s energy bills and reduce our nation’s carbon footprint.”
“DOE will continue to engage with our public and private sector partners to finalize additional proposals like today’s that lower household energy costs and deliver the safer, healthier communities that every American deserves,” she said in the press release.
However, critics say these regulations constitute government overreach and will hurt lower-income Americans.
The Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers said these standards are “too stringent and will have a negative, disproportionate impact on low-income households and historically marginalized communities,” reported The Free Press.
Compliance with these regulations is expected to cost manufacturers roughly $82 million, according to The Hill.
Ben Lieberman, a senior fellow at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, told Fox News that these mandates “enforce a level of efficiency that doesn’t make sense” and “compromise product quality.”
“Their philosophy is energy efficiency at all costs or energy efficiency no matter the cost,” an unnamed former senior DOE official reportedly told Fox News. “That means we are going to see, as a result of their efficiency standards, higher-priced appliances. It’s that simple.”
“The reality is that we are not talking about saving huge amounts of energy from these new regulations,” the official said.
The Biden administration faced similar criticism earlier this year when officials proposed restrictions on gas stoves over similar climate impact concerns.