WASHINGTON, DC— Despite issuing revised data showing consumers would save even less money and energy under the U.S. Department of Energy’s proposed gas cooking appliance standard, the DOE has yet to make any changes to the standard level it previously proposed, the Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers is asserting.
According to the Washington DC–based AHAM, whose members include most of the nation’s leading appliance manufacturers, the DOE’s failure to revise its proposed new gas-cooking standard “means consumers could still lose access to features and many currently available gas-cooking appliance models – in exchange for saving only pennies each month – if the proposed standard takes effect.”
AHAM has pointed to several consumer features – such as such as high-input rate burners, simmer burners and continuous grates – that need to be protected in the event of gas-cooking standard revisions. The trade association has also proposed approaches and efficiency levels to support these features.
According to AHAM, DOE’s data revisions were “appropriately made in response to comments on its proposed standard for gas cooking appliances, and the department has made some progress towards improving its analysis,” although “it remains unclear how the DOE will use the revised data and analysis moving forward.”
The latest DOE analysis revises downward the potential energy savings from the agency’s original cooking product rulemaking proposal, showing that the savings are even less than DOE originally projected and are almost negligible, AHAM said, noting that DOE’s original proposal was to save consumers 13 cents per month in utility costs over the life of gas cooking products, while the revised data reduces consumer savings to just nine cents per month.
“The changes in energy savings projected by DOE primarily result from DOE recognizing that the currently available cooking products are more efficient than its earlier analysis assumed,” AHAM said.