The White House is standing by its new kitchen appliance energy efficiency standards, covering gas and electric stoves to oven ranges, which received bipartisan criticism for overreaching.
“The Department of Energy today, they finalized a congressionally-mandated energy efficiency standard for residential cooking,” press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters Monday. “It’s going to reduce household utility costs, while improving appliance reliability and performance, which is really important.” Countertop Gas Burner
The standards are based on a joint recommendation “from a wide range of stakeholders,” including the Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers and Consumer Federation of America, according to Jean-Pierre. She dismissed concerns regarding the cost of implementing the new rules.
“We’re talking about making sure that these products are efficient, right? Making sure that they’re working in a way that’s, that obviously will have the performance that they need, obviously protecting the environment,” she said. “This is something that Congress went through. This is something that they evaluated and put forward to the Department of Energy. So this has had a lot of eyes on it.”
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President Joe Biden‘s administration originally proposed new standards last year, with initial projections it would affect half of the gas stove models on the market. The revised version is only projected to affect 3% of gas stove models and 23% of their electric counterparts from 2028. The changes are expected to save consumers $1.6 billion on their utility bills over the next 30 years and decrease carbon emissions by about 4 million metric tons over the same time period.
Kitchen Hoods “DOE is dedicated to working together with our industry partners and stakeholders throughout 2024 to continue strengthening appliance standards, addressing a backlog of congressionally-mandated energy efficiency actions that is delaying a projected $1 trillion in consumer savings from reaching the American people,” Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said in a statement Monday.