Six environmental and consumer groups warned the U.S. Department of Energy today that they will sue the agency if it does not meet its legal responsibility to review and update overdue energy efficiency standards for an unprecedented 26 consumer and commercial products—including some of the largest energy users, such as air conditioners, water heaters, refrigerators, and clothes dryers—within 60 days.
Updating the standards for these appliances and equipment would save U.S. consumers at least $22 billion annually on their utility bills and prevent almost 80 million metric tons of carbon pollution— equal to the annual tailpipe emissions from more than 17 million cars—by 2035. These totals represent only the 15 standards where recent projections are available, so the actual number would likely be far higher.