Experts predict that Biden’s green regulations will increase appliance costs and decrease performance.

The Future of Consumer Goods: Tighter Environmental Standards and Higher Prices

News Analysis

A pledge by the Biden administration in December 2022 to take “more than 100 actions” to impose significantly tighter environmental standards on consumer goods is now becoming reality, and consumer groups are predicting a future in which Americans pay more for products that do less, while manufacturers warn of shortages and supply chain breakdowns.

The Biden administration’s promise to tighten environmental standards on consumer goods is now coming to fruition, and it’s causing concern among both consumer groups and manufacturers. The new regulations will make it so that the majority of current products on the market don’t meet the standards and have to be redesigned or removed from the market. This means that everyday products that people want will become more expensive or disappear altogether, and the products that will be available will be more expensive but not better.

These new regulations from the Department of Energy (DOE) come on top of new Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) emissions regulations on cars and electric utilities, and efforts to ban gas stoves, which critics say will have similar consequences in those industries. Many of these new regulations will be finalized by next year and would give manufacturers several years to comply.

New Regulations Will Have a Significant Impact on Consumer Goods

The DOE rules will force dishwasher and washing machine manufacturers to cut water use and energy consumption by one-third. In addition, new DOE rules would effectively eliminate 98 percent of all top-loading washing machines on the market today, would mandate that the machines be larger, and remove the central agitator that increases cleaning performance. Microwave ovens are also on the list of targeted appliances.

Manufacturers say these rules would add $200 to the cost of a washing machine, and would also halt the production of less expensive clothes dryers that don’t meet strict federal Energy Star efficiency standards.

Instead of allowing appliance manufacturers to innovate products for features that consumers want, “they are literally going to have to redesign products that will look closer to the 1950s than they do to 2020,” Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers spokesperson Jill Notini said.

Liberal States Join in Pushing Green Agenda

Regulations are not only coming down from federal agencies; left-leaning states are also instituting bans on internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles, gas stoves, gas heating, and other fossil-fuel-powered products. In response to state auto emissions mandates, Stellantis, which owns the Dodge, Chrysler, and Jeep brands, said it will reduce shipments of gas-powered cars to states including California, New York, Massachusetts, Vermont, Maine, Pennsylvania Connecticut, Rhode Island, Washington, Oregon, New Jersey, Maryland, Colorado, Minnesota, Nevada, Virginia, and New Mexico in order to comply with new emissions rules in those states that seek to force consumers to switch to EVs over the next decade.

A car dealer in Delaware told the Wall Street Journal that he will no longer receive regular supplies of popular gas-powered Jeep models, but will instead offer electric SUVs that will cost $20,000 more than their gasoline counterparts. If federal subsidies don’t convince enough consumers to buy EVs, carmakers may be forced to reduce the number of gas-powered cars they produce.

Concerns Over the Impact of New Regulations

While the Biden administration claims that these new measures will save Americans money, consumer advocates doubt it. Appliance makers say consumers will not be happy with the products that are left to buy. The regulations are legally faulty because they rest on poor reasoning and shaky facts. This kind of bureaucratic overreach lies far outside the scope of the federal government envisioned by the Constitution.

As the push for a greener future continues, it remains to be seen how these new regulations will impact the consumer goods industry and the American people.