Thousands petition White House to act on efficiency standards

On Friday, December 20th, advocates from Environment America Research & Policy Center delivered a petition signed by more than 7,600 Americans to President Biden and key leaders of his energy team, urging them to finalize pending energy efficiency standards that would save energy, reduce harmful pollution, and lower energy bills for consumers.

“The cleanest energy is the energy you never use in the first place,” said Johanna Neumann, Senior Director of the Campaign for 100% Renewable Energy at Environment America Research & Policy Center. “Every time a consumer buys an appliance that uses more energy than it needs to, it locks in decades of energy waste that we all pay for. Common-sense energy saving standards help fix that.” 

The petition comes after leaders of national environmental and public health groups have also urged for action.

According to Department of Energy data compiled by the Appliance Standards Awareness Project, the pending standards could reduce consumer and business utility bills by $8.7 billion annually and cut climate-warming emissions by more than 850 million metric tons over 30 years, equivalent to the pollution of taking 74 average-sized gas fired power plants offline for that same time period.