Obama is Now Coming After Your Dishwashing Machine

HHaving saddled Americans with toilets that don’t flush, the federal government is now preparing to force them to use dishwashers that don’t wash, a move that government and industry forecasts agree will harm both consumers and the dishwasher industry.  [3] Energy-efficiency standards for dishwashers proposed by the US Department of Energy would turn “back the clock to the days of hand-washing dishes,” industry claims, as the new rules aim to save $2 billion for consumers over 30 years.  [4] The Obama administration’s push to drastically reduce the amount of water used by newly manufactured home dishwashing appliances has manufacturers and fans of convenience up in arms.  [1] The department’s proposal was announced in December. It called for savings of 240 billion gallons of water over the next 30 years while reducing energy use by 12 percent.  [4] The proposed rule would force appliance makers to trim water usage for each dishwashing cycle to 3.1 gallons — an amount that industry experts warn will not effectively clean dishes and will compel people to run their machines through at least two cycles. [1] The Obama administration, naturally, claims that these regulations will benefit the environment and stave off the supposed threat of climate change. [3] The people who actually make dishwashers, who say they were not even consulted about the proposed regulations, beg to differ. [3]

A lobbyist for the Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers (AHAM) told The Hill the Obama proposal that the Department of Energy (DOE) has already asked his industry to innovate so much efficiency into its products that, essentially, “they’re trying to squeeze blood from a stone that just doesn’t have any blood left in it.”  [2] This is actually the second round of dishwasher regulations issued by the Obama Department of Energy (DOE). The first, in 2012, added $44 to the cost of the average machine, according to DOE estimates. The new regulations, which would require energy usage to drop another 24 percent and water usage to fall 38 percent, will pile on an additional $99, the DOE says. [3] The Obama administration argues that while its new rules would make dishwashers cost more initially, consumers will recoup those costs in the form of lower utility bills over the lifetime of the appliance. [3] “After accounting for the time value of money, its own calculations show that the typical consumer requires nine years to recoup the added cost in bill savings,” according to a U.S. News and World Report op-ed. “Over half — 53 percent — of all purchasers will never recover the higher upfront costs, and consumers save only $21 on average during the lifespan of a typical dishwasher.”  [14] The Energy Policy and Conservation Act of 1975 requires that DOE examine the consumer impacts of its energy efficiency rules, and after review of this rule, we now know that members of vulnerable populations will be disproportionately burdened. Senior-only households, whose dishwashers operate less frequently, can expect to wait more than 11 years to recoup the new cost premium in utility bill savings, two years more than average. Savings to these seniors average a meager $1, and 64 percent of these older customers can expect to spend more money on the dishwasher than they get back in lower energy bills. The corresponding figure for low-income users is 59 percent, as calculated by the Department of Energy.  [14] Moreover, the Department of Energy estimates that the proposed rule’s total costs are almost $5 billion greater than the estimated environmental benefits. [14]

According to The Hill, major manufacturers like General Electric and Whirlpool “tweaked” some of their models into prototypes that conform to the new rule — and the results were dirty.  [2] The new regulations could end up harming rather than helping the environment, the very opposite of their stated raison d’être.. [3] “Home appliance manufacturers recently completed several rounds of testing to the proposed standards,” AHAM wrote in a Web posting last week. The testing revealed a build-up of film, fats and grease on dishes at the end of the cycle. “They found some stuff that was pretty disgusting,” Rob McAver, AHAM’s head lobbyist, told The Hill [2] As a result of the proposed standards, it is highly likely that consumers will pre-wash dishes or choose to repeat dishwasher cycles, thereby erasing any energy or water savings.  “According to AHAM’s analysis, DOE’s forecasting models show water usage could actually increase because of product impact and altered consumer behavior in pre-rinsing dishes.”  Comments to the DOE were originally slated to end in February of this year, but pressure from appliance makers has extended the commenting period. The DOE insists it has not made a final decision on whether to change or implement the rule as feedback continues to pour in.