Tag Archive for: Department of Energy

New Biden Admin Mandate Will Raise Costs On Mobile Homeowners For ‘Zero’ Climate Benefit, Experts Say

The Biden administration’s upcoming rules requiring stricter energy efficiency standards for mobile homes will raise costs for low-income homebuyers while failing to meaningfully limit emissions, industry experts told the Daily Caller News Foundation.

The Department of Energy’s (DOE) rules — set to go into effect May 31, one year after they were finalized — update insulation and sealing requirements among other efficiency standards for mobile homes, formally known as manufactured homes, which the agency estimates could save the average consumer between $177 to $475 per year on utilities while boosting average manufactured home prices by $4,100 to $4,500. The rule will have an “adverse” impact on low-income homebuyers via increased prices — the median household income for manufactured homeowners is $35,000, according to the Manufactured Housing Institute —  but will likely have a “negligible” effect on carbon emissions, Jonathan Lesser of the Manhattan Institute told the DCNF.

“According to the DOE’s own estimates, over a 30-year period, the new rule will reduce CO2 emissions by 80.4 million metric tons,” Lesser noted, citing the DOE’s regulatory analysis. “By comparison, according to the 2022 BP Statistical Review of World Energy, US energy-related CO2 emissions were 4.7 billion metric tons. So, over a 30-year period, the new rule will reduce CO2 emissions by the equivalent of 150 hours of US emissions in 2022.  …  Obviously, this rule will have zero impact on climate.”

At the same time, the elevated prices will further hinder homeownership affordability that “is already near a record low,” Heritage Foundation economist E.J. Antoni told the DCNF. While home prices did fall for the first time in over a decade in March, prices are still much higher than historical averages and, combined with elevated mortgage rates, are a major factor in declining home sales, according to the National Association of Realtors.

“Not only does [the DOE rule] increase the upfront cost of buying a home for lower-income families, but by the time these additional costs pay themselves off, a new generation of heating and cooling equipment will likely be available, which will use less energy,” Antoni told the DCNF. “That means the energy savings over the life of the home will not be as high as projected.”

Lesser characterized the rule as seemingly having been “designed to force more low-income consumers into rentals, rather than being able to own their own homes.”

Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm argued in the agency’s press release finalizing the rule that it would help homeowners save money on utilities while benefiting the environment.

“The rules will hold manufacturers of these U.S. homes to cost-saving efficiency standards, giving residents more comfortable living environments and a much-needed break on their annual utility costs, while delivering cleaner air for their communities,” said Granholm.

The Manufactured Housing Institute (MHI) and Texas Manufactured Housing Association (THMA) filed a lawsuit in February, alleging that the one-year compliance date was “arbitrary, capricious, and impracticable.” The organizations also alleged that the the agency failed to consult with the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), and failed to balance the affordability of manufactured homes and energy efficiency.

The MHI directed the DCNF to its press release announcing the lawsuit, while the THMA did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

“As we have consistently demonstrated, the industry very much wants to work with DOE and HUD to find a workable and affordable solution but under the current status, we are being forced to possibly halt construction of homes in many regions or manufacture homes that cannot comply with the new DOE standards,” MHI CEO Lesli Gooch said in the statement. “With the deadline approximately 100 days away, and continued lack of clarity from DOE, legal action was the only option available.”

The rule could also have the side effect of encouraging people to stay in older, cheaper homes that are lacking in other modern safety and efficiency features, Jason Sorens, an economist who studies housing at the American Institute for Economic Research, told the DCNF. Housing has increased in quality “significantly” in recent decades and the government “shouldn’t be discouraging that transition,” Sorens said.

“Moderate-income households who would otherwise buy new manufactured homes will be pushed into buying used homes, renting, or tightening their belts to afford a new home that meets the rule,” Sorens told the DCNF. “In general, command-and-control environmental rules like this one that mandate a specific technology are out of favor with economists. It’s far better to price energy appropriately and let consumers make up their own minds how they want to be more efficient.”

The DOE did not immediately respond to a Daily Caller News Foundation request for comment.

AUTHOR

JOHN HUGH DEMASTRI

Contributor.

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EDITORS NOTE: This Daily Caller column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.


All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.

Yes, Biden And The Left Are Coming For Your Gas Stove One Way Or Another

Remember when worries about the government coming for your gas stove were dismissed as just another conservative fever dream? At least that was the canned response from everyone from the Biden White House to the party loyalists in the corporate media.

Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm even chimed in, saying: “That is so ridiculous, that story. Because, it sounds like the government’s coming in to take your stuff. That is so not true. That is just not true.”

That’s a relief! Well, not really.

Less than two weeks after dismissing the gas stove furor as little more than tinfoil hat conspiracies, Granholm’s own agency proposed energy efficiency standards that ignited opposition from the gas appliance industry.

“We are concerned that this is another attempt by the federal government to use regulations to remove viable and efficient natural gas products from the market,” American Gas Association President Karen Harbert told Bloomberg.

“This approach by DOE could effectively ban gas appliances,” echoed Jill Notini with the Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers. “We are concerned this approach could eliminate fully featured gas products.”

National Propane Gas Association President and CEO Steve Kaminski indicated that “[o]ne area clearly in [the Energy Department’s] crosshairs is pilot light usage.” Indeed, in its current form, the Energy Department admits its proposal would effectively take half of gas stove models off the market.

The reality may be worse, according to Notini, who told Bloomberg “‘it appears’ that 95% of the market would not meet the proposed levels.”

“This is what I would consider a more serious threat because the Department of Energy has greater authority than the [Consumer Product Safety Commission],” Kaminski went on to tell another outlet.

He’s right. The Energy Department has sweeping authority to squeeze your favorite household appliances out of existence should it so choose. In fact, the Biden Energy Department has issued over 100 energy efficiency rules on appliances and household equipment, which they claim will fight climate change and save you money.

But ask yourself this question: if this is so great, why is the government forcing it on us?

If history is any guide, every appliance the Energy Department touches will end up performing worse and costing way more. That, combined with state and local efforts to ban natural gas hook-ups in new homes and buildings, is how the left can take your gas stove from you without ever having to set foot inside your home.

It was never very believable that the president who promised to “end fossil fuels” would simply leave your gas stoves alone. Sure, the White House says they don’t support a ban, but they sure as heck aren’t working to make gas stoves more affordable or widely available.

Except gas stoves to die by 1,000 regulatory cuts. The Energy Department’s proposal is only one slash of the knife. The aforementioned state and local attacks on gas appliances and infrastructure will also cause the gas stove industry to bleed out.

The Biden Interior Department’s restrictions on drilling will cause more pain, as will the Inflation Reduction Act’s tax on methane emissions from natural gas operations.

Likewise, the Consumer Product Safety Commission could still take a swipe at your stoves. Even as the commission walked back a commissioner’s initial claim that a gas stove ban was “on the table,” its chairman said the group was “researching gas emissions in stoves and exploring new ways to address health risks.”

In other words, keep an eye on them.

And don’t forget to keep an eye on the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which was petitioned by a coalition of environmental groups in August to crack down on gas stoves and other gas appliances.

The environmentalists’ petition even makes the ludicrous claim that gas appliances carry “significant health impacts, from increasing the rates of asthma to causing thousands of premature deaths each year.”

Junk science claims like that defy logic and commonsense. And as journalist and author Robert Bryce recently noted, this distinctly anti-working class campaign is being funded by billionaires who probably use gas stoves in at least one of their many mansions.

If gas stoves get more expensive, the Mike Bloombergs and Jeff Bezoses of the world wouldn’t blink. They can afford to buy a gas stove at any price. If electricity rates skyrocket because everyone is forced to “go electric,” you think they would even notice?

Probably not, but middle class Americans sure would.

AUTHOR

MICHAEL BASTASCH

DCNF Managing Editor. Follow Michael on Twitter

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EDITORS NOTE: This Daily Caller column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved. All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.

Biden Regime Unleashes ‘Total Transformation [Destruction] of the [Federal] Government’ With ‘Equity Action Plans’

This. Is. Happening. Our universities, colleges, public schools, intel agencies (all government agencies, for that matter) – every sphere is being subsumed by this 21st century quasi-Nazism.

Woke Pentagon rolls out ‘equity’ plan | Fox News

The Department of Defense issued an equity report, aiming to equalize outcomes of employees and partners across racial, sexual and gender lines.

Biden Admin Unleashes ‘Total Transformation Of Government’ With ‘Equity Action Plans’

By Tim Meads • Daily Wire • Apr 20, 2022 •

On April 14, the Biden administration unleashed a “total transformation of government” — as described by the Department of Energy — arguably based on principles of Critical Race Theory.

Toward that end, more than 90 federal agencies announced “equity action plans” to supposedly address inequality in American society — but critics say that the plans will create a coercive bureaucracy intent on punishing certain Americans based on racial marxism and other progressive ideas that champion victimhood.

The White House recently noted that on his first day in office, President Joe Biden “signed Executive Order 13985, Advancing Racial Equity and Support for Underserved Communities Through the Federal Government” which “directed the whole of the federal government to advance an ambitious equity and racial justice agenda” focused on creating “prosperity, dignity, and equality” for underserved communities.

Ryan Girdusky, founder of 1776 Project PAC, a non-profit focused on electing school board members opposed to Critical Race Theory-inspired curriculum, told The Daily Wire that Biden administration’s “plan towards equity is race-based Marxism with a different word.”

“The entire program is set to lower standards, dilute meritocracy, and have the first large-scale government-supported laws that discriminate against people based on their race since before Eisenhower was President,” Girdusky added.

Indeed, the Department of Energy explained in its equity action plan released last week that it has already started considering factors other than technical merit when doling out financial assistance via a pilot program through its Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) office.

Starting back in March 2021, applicants seeking research and development funding from EERE have had to issue diversity, equity, and inclusion statements for their projects on their applications.

The purpose of such statements are to explain how their project would help and include “underserved communities” — which is taken to mean minority, non-white, non-heterosexual, non-male groups — in order to be considered for the taxpayer-funded grants……

Keep reading.

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