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Bush eases energy efficiency standards
©Associated Press © St. Petersburg Times, published April 14, 2001 WASHINGTON -- The Bush administration on Friday proposed easing new efficiency standards for home central air conditioners and heat pumps but would still require the appliances to use 20 percent less energy than most current models. A standard adopted by the Clinton administration two days before the new president took office would have required a 30 percent decrease in energy use. "The Clinton rule placed too high a cost burden on consumers," Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham said Friday. He called the proposed 20 percent mandated reduction beginning in 2006 "a realistic standard that achieves significant energy efficiency gains and protects low-income consumers from unnecessarily high prices." The action follows the Energy Department's decision a day earlier not to suspend tougher efficiency standards for new washing machines and water heaters also adopted in January during the Clinton presidency. The Bush standard would require that all central home air conditioning units meet a minimum seasonal efficiency ratio, or SEER, of 12 compared with the minimum of 10 under the current standard. SEER is the common measurement of appliance efficiency. The higher the ratio, the more efficient the appliance. A SEER ratio of 13 was adopted by the Clinton administration. Environmental and efficiency advocates have argued that the higher efficiency was easily achievable since units with 13 SEER have been available since the mid-1980s, though at a higher cost. The Energy Department estimates the energy savings by 2030 from the new air conditioners and heat pumps will equal the output of 37 power plants, or enough electricity to light all U.S. homes for two years. But the up-front costs of meeting the standard will add $213 to the average $2,236 price of a home central air conditioning system by 2006, the government estimates. Buyers will recoup the extra cost through lower utility bills, but it will take them 9.8 years to do so, according to the estimates. The Clinton standard would have increased the average cost of the units by $335 and extended the payback period to 11 years, making them unaffordable for many families, critics had contended. The Bush standard for heat pumps would add $144 to their $3,668 average price. The Clinton standard would have added $332. Andrew deLaskie, director of the Appliance Standards Awareness Project, a coalition of consumer and environmental groups, questioned the legality of easing a regulation adopted as final in January and said it will be challenged in court. "I can't think of a more clear-cut case of where special interests have gotten their way at the expense of the public," he said. "After a month of analysis they're going to turn back what was developed after six years. That's reckless." The efficiency standards, particularly for air conditioning systems, have become a critical issue since last summer, when soaring temperatures stretched many utilities beyond their generating capacity and produced brief blackouts in some areas. "California will now have to build an additional two power plants to make up for what President Bush did today," said Philip Clapp, president of the National Environmental Trust. Abraham said, however, that the Clinton rule "placed too high a cost burden on consumers."
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From the Times wire desk
From the AP |
