Energy Department Sued for Restricting Water Use in Clothes Washers, Dishwashers

The Department of Energy building in Washington on Nov. 13, 2023. (Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times)

The Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), accusing the agency of illegally limiting the use of water in dishwashers and clothes washers.

The lawsuit was filed June 13 on behalf of two plaintiffs in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas. It accused the DOE of going “beyond its statutory authority” by imposing water efficiency rules on dishwashers and washing machines “without lawful authority.”

Dan Greenberg, CEI general counsel, accused the regulations of being “lawless” and anti-consumer. “Whether it is good policy to set a water cap that requires appliances to run multiple, wasteful cycles just to get clothes and dishes clean is a question for our elected officials in Congress to debate,” he said.

“The question for the court is whether regulators should be allowed to ignore the text of congressional statutes to achieve their own policy goals.”

Energy efficiency standards have forced manufacturers to make washers that use lower amounts of water and electricity. With less water, rinsing is less efficient, resulting in a longer rinsing process. It’s a similar case with dishwashers.

In February, the DOE issued a final rule setting water efficiency standards for clothes washers. And in April, the agency issued another water efficiency final rule for dishwashers.

The efficiency standards describe how much water and energy can be consumed by these machines depending on the product models. For instance, a standard-size dishwasher can only consume a maximum of 3.3 gallons of water per cycle under the new regulations.

DOE said the new rules for clothes washers were expected to save Americans up to $39 billion on their energy and water bills. The agency projected a reduction of roughly 71 million metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions, equivalent to the annual emissions of nearly nine million homes.

The dishwasher standards are estimated to save almost $3.2 billion in utility bills over 30 years and achieve cumulative emission reductions of 9.5 million metric tons of carbon dioxide.

“Congress requires DOE to issue energy efficiency standards for a range of appliances and we have successfully met this mandate through robust collaboration between industry, manufacturers, and consumer groups,” Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm said in April.

Extent of DOE Authority

The complaint revolves around the Energy Policy and Conservation Act of 1975 (EPCA) which aimed to limit energy use of residential appliances to minimize America’s dependence on OPEC oil.

Congress amended EPCA through the Energy Policy Act of 1992 to expand the definition of consumer products to specifically include showerheads, faucets, water closets, and urinals.

In the lawsuit, plaintiffs argue the DOE does not have the authority to implement appliance regulations other than for “showerheads, faucets, water closets, and urinals.”

On Jan. 8, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals pointed out that “no part of that text [of EPCA] indicates Congress gave DOE power to regulate water use for energy-using appliances (like dishwashers and washing machines).”

Plaintiffs noted that, as “unlawfully regulated” consumers, they were harmed by the restrictive nature of the rules.

In October last year, DOE listed several appliances they intended to target over a one-year period, which included ceiling fan light kits, consumer water heaters, direct heating equipment, consumer boilers, fans and blowers, electric motors, furnace fans, microwave ovens, clothes dryers, and air cleaners.

The DOE’s energy efficiency standards have already targeted pool pumps, battery chargers, ceiling fans, dehumidifiers, and gas stoves.

The agency said the new energy standards ultimately result in consumer savings.

“At the direction of Congress, DOE is continuing to review and finalize energy standards for household appliances, such as residential furnaces, to lower costs for working families by reducing energy use and slashing harmful pollutants in homes across the nation,” Ms. Granholm said last year.

The Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers (AHAM) states that more stringent energy efficiency standards could raise costs for both manufacturers and consumers without providing any meaningful additional energy savings.

It warned that severe restrictions could end up putting the performance of appliances at risk.

The Environment America Research & Policy Center backed the DOE rules on clothes washers. Much of the energy savings from the washing machine efficiency standards would come from making “inefficient top-loading washing machines” on par with their efficient counterparts, it said.

The group noted that efficient washing machines also cut down energy consumption of dryers since the clothes that come out tend to be less wet, giving the dryer less work.

“People agree that we can have clean clothes without needlessly wasting energy and water,” said Johanna Neumann, senior director of the group’s Campaign for 100 Percent Renewable Energy.

“To build the energy system of the future, we need to work smarter, not harder … Making sure appliances such as washers and dryers don’t needlessly waste energy checks that box.”