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October 12, 2010
How Obama Is Invading Your Home
How Obama is invading your home
The Obama administration isn't satis fied giving the American public vast things we don't want — from stimulus packages to bailouts to ObamaCare: It's a small-scale nuisance, too — witness its attempt to redesign home appliances.
In the pipeline are dumb regulations for almost everything that plugs in or fires up in your home.
Just weeks after taking office, the president ordered the Energy Department to speed up the process of issuing harsh new energy-efficiency standards for appliances. Since then, the agency boasts, it "has issued or codified new efficiency standards for more than 20 different products," and still more are on the way.
These regulations are sure to raise the price of appliances — often by more than consumers are ever likely to earn back in the form of energy savings. And some will make the product perform well.
The administration is meddling with every room in the house:
The basement:New standards are in the works for water heaters and furnaces. For water heaters, the Energy Department estimates price hikes from $67 to $974, depending on size and type.
The bathroom:The same 1992 law that gave us those awful low-flush toilets also restricted the amount of water showerheads could use to 2.5 gallons per minute. Some consumers who disliked the resulting weak trickle opted for models with two or more showerheads, each using the maximum 2.5 gallons. But Team Obama has now eliminated this "loophole" by requiring that the total flow must comply with the limit.
The kitchen: Think remodeling a kitchen is expensive now? Pending regulations target refrigerators, dishwashers, microwaves, ovens and ranges.
For refrigerators (at least), this is a clear case of overkill. The American fridge has already been hit by several rounds of tighter standards, with each new rule saving less energy than the last — but boosting the price and compromising performance and reliability. Even the Energy Department admits that most consumers will lose money on its latest refrigerator regulation.
The laundry room:New standards are on the way for washers and dryers. When the last clothes-washer regulation hit in 2007, Consumer Reportslamented that several ultra-efficient models "left our stain-soaked swatches nearly as dirty as they were before washing" and that "for best results, you'll have to spend $900 or more." The Obama rules will probably mean even worse news.
Any air-conditioned room:Both central air conditioners and window units are scheduled for new regulations. When the Energy Department rolled out its last round of central-AC rules back in January 2001 (one of those last-minute Clinton administration "midnight" regulations), it admitted that many homeowners would never recoup the added up-front costs. The new standards will follow the same "logic" — and thus should make for another lousy deal.
The Obama regulations come on top of all the past ones, including the worst one of all — the Bush-era requirement that will effectively ban incandescent light bulbs starting in 2012.
In nearly every case, consumers who want more efficient appliances — or those compact fluorescent light bulbs — are free to buy them. Energy-use labels tell you everything you need to know to make comparisons. All the federal rules do is is to force the government's preferred choice on everyone.
Government "of the people, by the people, and for the people" is busy enacting a bunch of things the people don't want, including these appliance regulations. Add them to the growing list of Obama (and Bush) measures ripe for repeal.
Ben Lieberman is an associate fellow in environmental policy with the Competitive Enterprise Institute, in Washington, DC.
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Wild Thing's comment.......
Nothing in the Federal Constitution calls for Congress to have to power to set standards for home appliances. Period. They don't have the power. Interstate commerce? Nope. That's limited by plain language and the founder's writings, regardless of what the Supremes say.
This is classic liberalism. The average person is too dumb to make the “right” choices in their lives whether it be toilets or light bulbs so the liberal elites must make the decisions for us and have big daddy government assure that we do the “right” thing by shoving mandates down our throats.
Posted by Wild Thing at October 12, 2010 04:50 AM
Comments
Refrigerators are the least efficient appliances. If they are pushing Solar power or Wind Power those systems go nuts trying to power a Refrigerator. Motor driven applieances will play havoc with this inefficient Green energy. Motors especially, alot of this green stuff has to be changed to DC then back to AC in order to run the appliance. NO wind what do you do go back on the grid. There are so many problems assiciated with this crap, they will be pulling their hair out trying to keep up with all the hassel this is going to cause.
Ths solar and wind power supposedly can be sold back to the power company. How do you ground these systems so that they are compatible with the power company and not have stray voltage floating around your home. They used to say just put a ground rod in, first the earth is a lousy conductor, second when you add a ground rod that is isolated from the system you create a potential difference between the new rod and the one installed at the home for the power company.
This happens very often on farms where there are too many unconnected ground rods cattle and other animals are adversely affected by 5-10 volts stray that's floating on metal parts and the earth.
The get these lawyers who know absolutely nothing about how these systems work and they let them write laws they we have to comply with and screw up the whole system.
Posted by: Mark at October 12, 2010 07:33 AM
Control. It's all about the govt. controlling our lives. Low water flush toilets. God I hate those things. That regulation was introduced by a Democrat from Michigan who went to Canada and bought a standard flush crapper for his own home. I could kick George Bush's ass for signing that insane bill that kills incadescent light bulbs. Wait until they find out how those things affect our eyes when we try to read by them. Also, there are light fixtures those damn bulbs won't fit in.
It is all about govt. control. The elites telling the unwashed masses what to do and how to do it.
Posted by: TomR, armed in Texas at October 12, 2010 10:23 AM
Get a fucking rope!
Posted by: Eddie (Enemy of the State) at October 12, 2010 02:08 PM
Mark, thank you so much for explaining that. I never knew that and I bet a lot of people don't too. Electrical things are amazing and there is so much to know about them.
Like you said too, they will just get people that have no knowledge about these things and have them write the horrible laws about them.
Posted by: Wild Thing at October 12, 2010 06:47 PM
Tom, how horrible, and I agree, I hate those kind of toilets too.
I also agree about the light bulbs. Nick bought one just to see what it was like. He put it in our master closet and it was so dark with the stupid enviro light bulb I could hardly see things plus oh my gosh it made my eyes hurt. It was such a weird feeling, like an ache behind my eye sockets.
Posted by: Wild Thing at October 12, 2010 06:53 PM
Eddie, yep, and if there was real law and justice in our country we would still have people punished for treason. We need to bring that back and man oh man the list is long that should be tried for treason.
Posted by: Wild Thing at October 12, 2010 06:56 PM
I asked a leftard in reference to conserving toilet paper how many SHEETS (SH*TS) one should use after doing one's business...
The Leftys only use one sheet? Heck, a brown bear in the woods uses at least two rabbits!
Posted by: darthcrUSAderworldtour07 at October 12, 2010 08:52 PM
