Back to the Future: Power Dishwashers!

By Alex Tabarrok.

"Why do today’s dishwashers typically take more than 2 hours to run through a normal cycle when less than a hour was common in the past? The reason is absurd energy and water “conservation” rules. These rules, imposed on dish and clothes washers, have made these products perform worse than in the past, cleaning less well or much more slowly. One of the best things that the Trump administration did (other than Operation Warp Speed, of course) was creating a product class–superwashers!–that cleaned in under an hour and were not subject to energy and water conservation standards. The Biden administration reversed these rules but the 5th circuit just ruled that the reversal was “arbitrary and capricious.”

The ruling notes

…the record contains historical evidence that dishwasher cycle time has increased from around one hour at the advent of DOE’s conservation program to around two and a half hours in 2020. See CEI Petition, 83 Fed. Reg. at 17773–74. DOE does not appear to contest this data; in fact, DOE in 2020 appeared to agree that the frustratingly slow pace of modern dishwashers caused consumer substitution away from dishwashers and toward handwashing. See 2020 Dishwasher Rule, 85 Fed. Reg. at 68729; see also Record App’x 3 (noting consumers supported efficacious dishwashers by a margin of 2,200 to 16). And nothing wastes water and energy like handwashing: DOE itself estimated in 2011 that handwashing consumes 350% more water and 140% more energy than machine washing. See Record App’x 5 (citing U.S. Dep’t of Energy, Technical Support Document Docket EE-2006-STD-0127: National Impact Analysis 16 (2011), https://perma.cc/849K-NCX8).

…What did DOE say in response? Basically nothing: It acknowledged the concern and moved on. But bare acknowledgment is no substitute for reasoned consideration.

…the Repeal Rule is arbitrary and capricious for two principal reasons. (1) It failed to adequately consider appliance performance, substitution effects, and the ample record evidence that DOE’s conservation standards are causing Americans to use more energy and water rather than less. (2) It rested instead on DOE’s view that the 2020 Rules were legally “invalid”—but even if true, that does not excuse DOE from considering other remedies short of repealing the 2020 Rules in toto.

More generally AnechoicMedia on twitter wrote:

Water usage restrictions on home dishwashers are a complete non-issue from an environmental standpoint and our inability to overthrow this petty regime is why this country sucks. You cannot provide abundance and prosperity while retaining this wartime rationing mindset.

A position with which I wholeheartedly agree."