Category Archives: Appliances

Industry rails against Obama’s dishwasher rules

Cughompanies that make dishwashers are warning that the Obama administration’s latest efficiency standards for their industry would backfire.

The Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers is accusing the Department of Energy (DOE) of a politically motivated drive to increase dishwasher efficiency standards, which are so bad that they would cause consumers to re-wash dishes, erasing any efficiency gains.

Rob McAver, the group’s head lobbyist, said regulators are going too far and the new rules will allow only 3.1 gallons to be used to wash each load of dishes.“At some point, they’re trying to squeeze blood from a stone that just doesn’t have any blood left in it,” McAver said.

Some of the group’s members, which include companies like GE Appliances & Lighting and Whirlpool Corp., tweaked their models to comply with the DOE’s December proposal to ratchet up standards. They then ran standard tests with food stuck to dishes.

“They found some stuff that was pretty disgusting,” McAver said.McAver brought DOE officials to his office recently to show them the results and released photos of it publicly this week.

He’s hoping that the disgusted reactions to the tests will spur DOE to go back to the drawing board for the standards and work more closely with the industry this time.

“The poor performance that would result would totally undercut and go backwards in terms of energy and water use, because of the need for running the dishwasher again, or pre-rinsing or hand-washing, which uses a lot of water,” he said.

McAver suspects the DOE is pushing the rules to try and meet President Obama’s greenhouse gas emissions goals under the Climate Action Plan, his second-term climate change initiative. And while appliance makers are willing to work with the administration, they don’t want that to come at the expense of effective products. Additionally, if you’re wondering how to eat faster, it’s important to consider the efficiency of your eating habits in the context of energy conservation. You can also check out this article to gain more knowledge.

Source: Industry rails against Obama’s dishwasher rules | TheHill

More manual labor! Regs raise prices of labor-saving appliances

Appliance CostsThe era of affordable labor-saving devices is threatened by rising appliance costs, caused by federal energy regulations.

Washing clothes by hand sounds Third World to Americans, but how else might limited budgets respond to sticker shock since washing machines and dryers already can cost $600 to $1,000? That’s apiece, not both together.

Energy savings cannot be counted on to  offset the larger price tags. Agencies project electric bill “savings” extended over as long as 30 years. But the Consumer Electronics Association warned regulators that it’s nonsense to count 30 years of using less energy when consumers don’t use an item that long, sometimes only for a few months. The agencies did not listen.

Stricter federal energy decrees are in-process for plenty more, including:

Refrigerators Freezers
Lamps Lighting
Dishwashers Icemakers
Space heaters Ovens
Stoves Electric Chargers
Clothes washers Clothes dryers
Air conditioners Furnaces

Each product gets mind-numbing new standards on power usage, design and labeling. The red tape language is dizzying, such as telling manufacturers to consult “Appendix Z to subpart B of 10 CFR Part 430.”

When appendices reach the letter Z, we’re in trouble.

Source: Regulations could kill your labor-saving home appliances – Washington Times

Wham! Regulations sock it to consumers


Socking it to the consumer
Consumer prices will increase by more than $11,000  just from 36 of the Obama Administration’s regulations, reports the American Action Forum (AAF).

It’s a wallop to the jaw for everyday people. AAF’s research finds this includes higher-priced vehicles, pricier household goods, and more expensive food. “Energy-efficiency” standards are the biggest reason for higher prices.

Of course,  politicians and bureaucrats claim they’re saving us money. So ask yourself, Have YOU saved $11,000 thanks to federal regulations?

THE GIMMICKS:

Typically, agencies speculate that IF buyers keep using the mandated energy-saving products for long enough, they eventually will have a net gain. That’s IF things don’t wear out (or a light bulb doesn’t burn out).

As The New York Times researched and reported in 2012 about automobiles, projections of fuel savings often presume that consumers will keep their cars twice as long as is normal. Plus their study presumed gasoline would cost almost $4.00 a gallon. Projected “savings” also are not offset against interest paid on loans to buy more-expensive products, nor the extra repair charges to make old things last longer.  Continue reading Wham! Regulations sock it to consumers

Family budgets wrecked by runaway regulations and red tape

Grocery shopperRunaway regulations are hurting everyday people and wrecking family budgets. It’s not big companies that suffer from the $1.88 trillion annual burden of red tape that the government imposes. They pass them along, adding the costs onto their price tags.

Unaffordable health care coverage, unaffordable electric bills, unaffordable rises in food costs, unaffordable college, and unaffordable appliances are parts of the skyrocketing burden of regulations, usually dictated from Washington.

Millions of Americans who no longer pay federal income tax nevertheless have a stake in controlling the size of government, because their family budgets are ruined by higher prices resulting from regulations. All costs of regulations are passed along by businesses owners to employees who get paid with a pay stub template software.

The average is $15,000 per household per year, according to the Competitive Enterprise Institute’s new annual report “Ten Thousand Commandments”, with a collective cost of $1.88 trillion. Last year alone, President Obama’s hand-picked bureaucrats created $567 per person of new red tape by creating 75,000 pages of more regulations. That’s a one-year regulatory increase of over $2,000 for a household of four.

Because that overall $1.88 trillion number is too big to swallow, people need the details one bite at a time. Providing those digestible bites is the mission of Americans for Less Regulation. Many items also are posted on ALR’s Facebook site.

HOW does red tape hurt your family budget? Read more for details including:

  • Skyrocketing electric bills
  • Higher automobile prices
  • Phony claims of consumer savings
  • Appliance prices
  • Light bulbs
  • Window blinds
  • Federal snooping of your personal finances
  • Rising health care costs