From Watts Up With That?

Essay by Eric Worrall

“Freedom to choose” is bad?

Appliance efficiency standards save consumers billions, reduce pollution and fight climate change

Published: April 17, 2025 10.41pm AEST
David J. Vogel
Professor Emeritus of Business Ethics and Political Science, University of California, Berkeley

President Donald Trump has said he wants to reverse decades of regulations about energy efficiency in American household appliances, claiming doing so will provide Americans with “freedom to choose” products that meet their needs.

In an April 9, 2025, statement, Trump claimed he could alter government regulations on his own, without the legally required process of public notice and comment.

But as a scholar of environmental regulations, I know those regulations were created to save energy and lower utility bills for consumers. I also know that many companies and consumers have supported federal regulation to strengthen energy efficiency standards and generally have opposed weakening them.

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These appliance standards have reduced American energy use, including electricity. The existing national standards are projected to reduce overall national energy consumption by 10% between 2025 and 2035.

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Making appliances more energy efficient has proved popular. A national survey released by the Consumer Federation of America in 2018 found that 71% of Americans “support the idea that the government should set and update energy efficiency standards for appliances.” Significantly, 72% of those surveyed named lowering electrical bills and 57% stated that avoiding construction of new power plants to keep electricity rates from rising were important reasons to increase appliance efficiency. 

…Read more: 

https://theconversation.com/appliance-efficiency-standards-save-consumers-billions-reduce-pollution-and-fight-climate-change-253673

I don’t understand why greens like David Vogel have such a problem with freedom.

If 71% of Americans prefer more efficient appliances, there is no need for a law to enforce appliance efficiency – most people will choose energy efficient appliances of their own free will.

The 29% who have other priorities likely have good reasons. Sometimes the low energy choice is a problem.

For example, in 2021 California introduced laws banning stationary generators and gasoline powered fire pumps, everything has to be solar and batteries.

Net Zero California Governor Just Banned Backup Generators and Fire Pumps

Some Californians might be fine with battery power for when the grid fails – I fully support their right to choose batteries if they prefer. But people in remote areas, where power outages are measured in weeks or months rather than hours, perhaps not so much.

Whatever is or has happened in the USA on the energy efficiency front, Britain, Europe and Australia have it far worse.

When Britain first introduced compliance efficiency standards, the only lightbulbs on sale for a while were compact fluorescent lightbulbs which contain mercury. At the time my kid was just a baby, and on one occasion I accidentally broke two fluorescent bulbs in one day in our bathroom. Appliance efficiency standards exposed my baby to mercury pollution.

I would not of my own free will have chosen mercury containing appliances, especially when my kid was so young – young children are particularly vulnerable to mercury exposure. But the British State took away my right to choose.

EU appliance efficiency standards also robbed Brits of decent lawnmowers – the only lawnmowers available to ordinary consumers are underpowered, and made mowing my lawn an ordeal of restarting the mower every time it got stuck. My Aussie lawnmower is far more powerful, it hardly ever gets stuck even when the grass is wet. There are energy appliance standards in Australia, but they were applied with a lighter touch, at least when it comes to lawn mowers.

Gasoline automobiles are where the real madness manifests:

Ford Threatens to Ration Gasoline Vehicle Sales to Comply with UK Net Zero Diktats

Australia is also threatening to phase out gasoline, but with Australia’s vast empty spaces and poor road and electricity infrastructure, that isn’t going to happen, regardless of what ignorant city based politicians think they can force people to accept.

Aussie ABC: Electric Vehicles Could Overload the Grid

My point is, I’m happy to choose energy efficient appliances when they make sense – I love my energy efficient refrigerator, it is quiet, keeps the food cold, and costs very little to run. My LED lightbulbs last forever and cost nothing to run. But nobody should have to tolerate bureaucrats dictating what they can and cannot choose when it comes to home appliances, automobiles, and how to live their lives.