Environment America joins nationwide campaign calling on states to adopt energy-saving standards for common products

Media Contacts
Allie Astor

Environment America

BOSTON—  Environment America, along with a national coalition of environmental and consumer allies, is pressing nine states across the country to embrace updated appliance efficiency standards on 18 products, including commercial dishwashers, commercial fryers, water coolers and faucets. If adopted nationwide, the updated rules would reduce climate-altering carbon pollution by 11 million metric tons.

“Appliance efficiency standards are a sensible and significant way to improve the health of both people and the planet,” said Allie Astor, Clean Energy Associate with Environment America. “Applying these common sense measures will take a big bite out of pollution by reducing the amount of unnecessary energy wasted by common products.”

In some states, such as Massachusetts, and Washington, bills have been officially filed for the upcoming legislative session. Other states, including Colorado, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Oregon, are working through their options with legislative and administrative avenues. In support of campaigns in these states, Environment America and its state partner groups will meet with legislators, produce informational factsheets, submit verbal and written testimony, coordinate organizational sign on letters, write op-ed pieces, organize letters to the editor and run social media outreach campaigns.

Adopting the recommended standards in all U.S. states would result in annual savings of approximately 20 billion kWh of electricity by 2025, according to the Appliance Standards Awareness Project, a national organization working to advance, win and defend new efficiency standards for appliances, equipment and lighting. That’s enough to power over 1.9 million houses for a year, according to Environment America calculations.

From a pollution standpoint, a national adoption of the recommended standards would annually prevent as much CO2 from entering our atmosphere as taking approximately 2,391,000 cars off the road each year, by 2025. The standards would also reduce smog causing pollution (nitrogen oxides) and fine particulate pollution (sulfur dioxide).

In addition, annual water savings would total an estimated 241 billion gallons in less than a decade, enough to meet the annual water consumption needs of over 2 million average U.S. households. This measure would also save U.S. consumers over $6 billion annually by 2025.

“Appliance standards are the best climate and energy policy you’ve never heard of,” said Marianne DiMascio, State Policy Director at the Appliance Standards Awareness Project. “People are always surprised to learn how much energy, water, and money is saved just by increasing the minimum efficiency of common items such as computers, faucets, water coolers and lighting, among others.”

“History shows that once a number of states adopt energy-saving standards like these, the rest of the country follows,” Astor added. “We look forward to working with leadership states to leverage the tremendous benefits of these standards nationwide.

Environment America joins Appliance Standards Awareness Project, Northeast Energy Efficiency Partnerships, American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy, Consumer Federation of America, National Consumer Law Foundation, National Resources Defense Council, Southwest Energy Efficiency Project, Northwest Energy Coalition, and the California Energy Commission in this initiative.

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Environment America is the national federation of statewide, citizen-based advocacy organizations working for a cleaner, greener, healthier future.