Ceiling fan efficiency rule draws ire of House Republicans
Ceiling fan efficiency rule draws ire of House Republicans
Republicans on the House Small Business Committee pressed Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm on Thursday for answers on proposed energy-efficiency standards for ceiling fans. The proposed standards…
Republicans on the House Small Business Committee pressed Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm on Thursday for answers on proposed energy-efficiency standards for ceiling fans.
The proposed standards were first published in the Federal Register in June, and the comment period closed earlier this week. According to the Energy Department, the rule as applied to standard residential ceiling fans would cut fan-related electricity costs by about 40 percent relative to the least efficient fans currently available.
The House panel presented the rules as burdensome to ceiling fan manufacturers, particularly smaller ones.
“This proposed rule would decrease the maximum estimated energy consumption permissible for large diameter and belt driven ceiling fans,” committee Republicans wrote. “This rule would require numerous small business fan manufacturers to redesign their products and may put between 10 and 30 percent of small business ceiling fan manufacturers out of business. It appears that the Department of Energy may not have properly considered small entities during this rulemaking process.”
An Energy Department spokesperson told The Hill this aspect has been mischaracterized, saying in an email that the one-time total conversion cost would be about $107 million for all manufacturers.
“The incremental cost to consumers is $86.6 million annually, while the operating cost savings are $281 million annually — both at a 7 percent discount rate,” the spokesperson said. “The savings are more than triple the incremental costs.”
The spokesperson noted the standards, “which are required by Congress,” would not be in effect for five years and would save Americans “up to $369 million per year, while substantially reducing harmful air pollution — a crucial fact that some have conveniently failed to mention.”
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Efficiency standards for home appliances have become culture war flashpoints under the Biden administration. The administration has restored a number of efficiency rules rolled back under the Trump administration, including for shower heads, water heaters and gas furnaces.
The most umbrage, however, has been reserved for efficiency regulations over gas stoves, beginning last year when Consumer Product Safety Commissioner Richard Trumka Jr. approved a request for information on hazards associated with the devices, which the CPSC formalized in March. Although Trumka has said there are no plans to ban gas stoves, House Republicans have introduced formal legislation this year to legally prevent such a ban.
Now they’re triggered by ceiling fans. You can’t make this shit up
Republicans have absolutely destroyed the satire industry.
"hahaha, fan beats man!"
In Korea, fans are no laughing matter.
Did you read the article? They're not triggered by ceiling fans, they're triggered by more regulations, which is pretty on brand for the conservative platform. Not saying I agree with them but your comment is a complete misrepresentation of the argument.
They sure like to regulate pussy though.
Also bathrooms. Also library books. Also teaching science, philosophy, psychology. Also “nicknames.” Also men’s hair length. Also prayer (only Christian) in school. Also funding nonprofit schools with public money. Also more taxes for the poor.
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The new standard is based on cubic feet of air moved per minute per watt. It's honestly pretty thoughtful in its implementation. I was expecting to see it was just some watt cap on products, but that's not what it is at all; you can still make very powerful fans, they just need to actually be moving meaningful amounts of air.
The main people hurt by a rule change like this will be import brand piece of shit fans that don't blow air and prey on vulnerable consumers. I doubt there is even one single US firm that will be negatively affected by this rule change because the cost of US manufacturing is WAY too high to be selling these dollar store fan products.
https://www.energy.gov/sites/default/files/2023-06/ceiling-fans-ecs-nopr.pdf
I would like them to be required to prominently display their power consumption. I feel like every other household appliance I own makes their energy consumption fairly clear, but I have no idea what kind of energy my fans use. Like it's probably more efficient to turn on every fan in my house all day rather than turn on my AC, but I have no idea if that's true.
Sounds like a good way to make sure fan manufacturers aren't putting misleading labels on their fans. Like "Powerful 800W FAN" on the front in big letters but a low CFM rating on a label on the back, if at all.
Not the only ones hurt. Ceiling fans are largely decorative items in many cases and not meant to be aerodynamically efficient as their primary goal. I honestly don't believe this is a useful rule, because we want people to use fans to efficiently heat and cool their homes over just more heat or just more AC. Some folks might just decide to go with recessed lighting over a fan.
Crocodile tears. Republicans don’t care about small businesses. This is just a “Democrats want this? Gotta fight it!” moment, because they have no actual platform.
They’re contrarians. They don’t stand for anything except the opposite of the Democrats.
They do care overall about over regulation. These kinds of regulations ensure startup are not able to enter those markets and take a few others out. Your large manufacturers will encourage these laws as it ensure less competition and they can easily navigate it. If your a small family operation and make a few hundred unique custom fans, there is no way you will afford the testing process to qualify. You think that is fine?
Ye, let's ignore climate change and kill millions of people so that small businesses can stay open.
Which is already not a definite fact, but even if it was the same regulations can be written in such a way that grants exceptions to small businesses and funding to alleviate retooling / development costs.
If your so worried about small businesses closing down because of regulations, a better way of dealing with it isn't to stop all regulation.
If your[sic] a small family operation and make a few hundred unique custom fans, there is no way you will afford the testing process to qualify
Also a less than zero chance the DOE is even going to notice, much less come after you.
Literally the only companies this reg would affect are import brands. The guy making custom unique fans out of junkyard parts probably doesn't even pay taxes.
They’ll clutch at anything they think they might be able to use to piss off their constituents, won’t they?
“They’re coming for you gas stoves, citizen! Where will it end? What will you cook food for your family on?! Pic up a ‘don’t step on the gas’ ballcap for only $49.99, and go get ‘em!”
Is this actually a concern? Having legislation rolled out to force new and better technology to reach the market, thus causing systemic savings of energy and money?
The way it's written it's as if the consumer is forced to go get a new ceiling fan or gas stove the moment the new ones land in the market.
And if some small manufacturers go bust, that means room for others to appear.
It’s either this or they actually work on actual policy
So yeah, this is a concern for those fascists
It's always supposedly about protecting the little guy, the small business person. While also, just coincidentally mind you, also protecting mega corporations that bankroll the GOP.
Funny how Conservatives get so upset about conserving resources.
small business fan manufacturers
Is this really a thing? Small businesses that manufacture fans?
With how the rule is written, I would be shocked if anything other than bargain basement import brands were affected.
There are niche manufacturers in many industries. I wouldn’t be surprised. Particularly for super high-end residential products.
You may right that there are exceptions. It is simple to craft legislation in such a way that it only applies to large companies. Or foreign companies. Or gives the niche guys 20 more years to comply. This isn’t moral philosophy where things need to be absolute. It’s trade regulation. It can be applied however it needs to be. But do we see Republicants introducing specific revisions like this? No.
No, it's just that republicans hate democrats.
That was my thought too, I don't have actual numbers to back it up, but my gut tells me that the vast majority of ceiling fans in the US are probably made by less than a dozen huge companies, and that's being pretty generous, I would not be at all surprised if the actual stats are something like 2 companies make 95% of them (and slap different labels, private brands, etc. on them for different retailers, distributors, etc.)
And most of the rest I'd imagine are shitty imported knock-off pieces of crap made by some fly-by-night companies sold on wish/AliExpress/temu/Amazon/ebay/etc. that have maybe a 50/50 shot of actually even being UL listed.
Let’s say we’re right about that but there are actually two smallish American companies that would be hurt by this. It’s easy to modify a law so that it applies only above a certain threshold. It’s also perfectly okay to favor domestic companies and fuck over foreign ones, if that’s the issue.
Republicants…
Exactly what I’m saying. I love buying from local/small businesses for most everything that I can, but freaking ceiling fans??? You can’t make this shit up.
Highly doubt it.
The roster of Republicans who signed the letter:
The House committee’s letter was signed by Chairman Rep. Roger Williams (R-Texas), as well as Reps. Beth Van Duyne (R-Texas), Maria Elvira Salazar (R-Fla.), Aaron Bean (R-Fla.) and Jake Ellzey (R-Texas).
FL & TX ffs.
Maria Elvira Salazar
Mfing Harry Potter villain name how could anyone expect any different?
Hmm. In terms of policy priorities, it probably makes more sense to push for more installation and usage of ceiling fans. Ceiling fan efficiency is a decidedly secondary issue; even the most inefficient ceiling fan uses a tiny fraction of the energy needed by air conditioning.
So I guess the shit has hit the fan?
Gods but I hate those stupid bastards.
More efficient appliances might just save consumers a little money down the road. Guess conservatives don't want consumers to save a little money down the road.