Donald Trump has long expressed his disdain for regulations that restrict water and energy use in home appliances. At his campaign rallies, he frequently shares exaggerated tales about these regulations’ impacts. Despite global stock market volatility on the day he issued an executive order titled ‘Maintaining Acceptable Water Pressure in Showerheads,’ the president took time to address this issue directly.
Contemporary shower fixtures are just one of the many items that frustrate Trump. He has publicly complained that ‘there’s no water coming,’ which leads to excessive time spent in the shower trying to style his ‘perfect’ hair. Trump has also often criticized dishwashers, stating that they operate so slowly and inefficiently that ‘the electric bill is ten times more than the water.’ Additionally, he has expressed dissatisfaction with toilets, claiming they require ‘ten or 15 times’ to flush, and has even suggested that LED lightbulbs are responsible for making him appear orange.
During his first term, Trump sought various methods to undermine efficiency regulations, facing opposition from both industry players and environmental organizations. Indeed, if regulations could be deemed popular, these ones surely qualify. They have been effective in decreasing water and energy consumption in America, lowering global warming emissions, and saving consumers money in the process. Most of Trump’s attempts to roll back these regulations were stalled by legal prohibitions, with the Biden administration quickly reversing any measures he managed to implement.
The executive order concerning showerheads generated media buzz but is likely to have minimal impact in the long run. However, more consequential actions may be occurring outside the Oval Office. With the support of Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) team, Trump seems to be attempting to circumvent established processes by terminating the consulting contract upon which the Department of Energy relies to formulate and enforce appliance efficiency regulations.
In late March, DOGE’s ‘wall of receipts’ indicated that it had ‘deleted’ a contract the Department of Energy held with Guidehouse LLP for ‘Appliance Standards Analysis and Regulatory Support Service,’ ostensibly saving $247,603,000. As of now, the status of this contract remains unclear, especially since it has vanished from the DOGE website.
This creates confusion among appliance manufacturers, government officials, and the contractors responsible for enforcing the rules. Experts have warned that if this contract is indeed terminated, it could cripple the government’s efficiency standards program, which relies heavily on Guidehouse’s technical expertise and testing labs to amend standards, ensure compliance, and penalize violators.
George Washington University law professor Emily Hammond, a former deputy general counsel at the Department of Energy, remarked, ‘It would have a huge impact. DOE does not have the internal capacity to do that work. Taking that away pulls the rug out from under the agency’s ability to run that regulatory program.’
Manufacturers also expressed concern. Josh Greene, vice president for government affairs at A.O. Smith, the largest manufacturer of water heaters in the U.S., noted, ‘This is not a positive development.’ He warned that the termination of the Guidehouse contract could create conditions resembling a ‘wild Wild West’ scenario where ‘upstart manufacturers’ may freely import subpar products without the fear of enforcement.
The Department of Energy has not issued any public clarifications regarding the situation. A spokesperson for the agency did not respond to requests for comment from ProPublica. Emails sent to DOGE and the White House also went unanswered. Meanwhile, officials from Guidehouse, who appear keen to avoid publicity, similarly declined to comment on multiple inquiries.
The efficiency requirements are rooted in the Energy Policy and Conservation Act, enacted in 1975 amid a growing concern over energy shortages rather than climate change. Today, the Department of Energy is mandated to set regulations for energy and water usage across over 70 appliances and commercial products sold in the U.S. The agency must reevaluate imposing stricter standards every eight years based on what is ‘technologically feasible and economically justified.’ Manufacturers are then provided a time frame of three to five years to ensure their products comply.
Typically, the Energy Department adjusts requirements only after years of research, public commentary, negotiation, and occasionally litigation involving industry participants, consumer advocates, and environmental groups. Furthermore, the law incorporates an ‘anti-backsliding’ provision that prohibits loosening finalized standards. For years, Guidehouse and its subcontractors have conducted nearly all necessary technical work, maintaining a certification database to prevent illegal products from entering the U.S. market.
Republican lawmakers, anti-regulation proponents, and conservative media have criticized these efficiency standards as infringements on personal freedom and choices over products. The initial implementation of water-throttling products led to several of the issues Trump often criticizes, including scenes reminiscent of a 1996 episode of ‘Seinfeld.’
However, over the decades, efficiency standards have garnered widespread acceptance, substantially diminishing energy and water consumption while significantly reducing emissions. According to a 2023 report from Consumer Reports, even basic and inexpensive showerheads deliver satisfactory showers. Modern dishwashers and clothes washers function effectively while utilizing less than half the water and energy compared to their older counterparts. The shift toward LED light bulbs, nearly complete, is estimated to have saved consumers $3 billion annually on energy bills and negated the need for about 30 large power plants.
In January, shortly before Trump was set to resume office, the Department of Energy reported that these efficiency standards save the average American household approximately $576 per year on utility bills while decreasing national energy consumption by 6.5% and water usage by 12%. A 2022 survey conducted by the Consumer Federation of America indicated that 76% of Americans advocate for the government implementing efficiency standards for appliances.
Yet, Trump’s fervent opposition to these standards remains unabated. During his first term, the Department of Energy overlooked legal deadlines for revising efficiency updates on 28 products and hindered the planned implementation of new light bulb regulations. His administration also sought to sidestep finalized appliance standards through convoluted legal tactics. Among those tactics were special new ‘product classes’ for dishwashers, washing machines, and dryers that finished their ‘normal’ cycles in an hour or less. This would have exempted any ‘short-cycle’ devices introduced from the existing limits on water and energy utilization.
Manufacturers ultimately did not introduce those models, as most existing appliances already offered a ‘short cycle’ option that efficiently accomplished their tasks. By mid-2022, Biden’s Department of Energy reverted Trump’s regulatory changes, issuing a plethora of tightened home appliance regulations that had been jointly advocated by industry and consumer groups. Most of those regulations were finalized promptly enough to be shielded from congressional reversal.
Regardless, Trump continues to claim on the 2024 campaign trail that he transformed the regulatory landscape during his first term. He has pledged to undo these changes upon reclaiming the White House. ‘Eliminate energy efficiency standards for appliances’ was included on Project 2025’s list of ‘needed reforms.’
On his first day back in the Oval Office, Trump initiated two executive orders targeting these efficiency regulations. On February 11, he took to Truth Social to declare, ‘I am hereby instructing Secretary Lee Zeldin to immediately go back to my Environmental Orders, which were terminated by Crooked Joe Biden, on Water Standard and Flow pertaining to SINKS, SHOWERS, TOILETS, WASHING MACHINES, DISHWASHERS, etc., and to likewise go back to the common-sense standards on LIGHTBULBS that were put in place by the Trump Administration, but terminated by Crooked Joe. I look forward to signing these orders.’
In truth, none of the regulations Trump mentioned were subject to an executive order or any rapid rollback process. Essentially, Trump lacks the legal authority to alter these established rules.
Nevertheless, Energy Secretary Chris Wright, who listed ‘affordability and consumer choice in home appliances’ as one of his top priorities, has taken up the cause. Just three days after Trump’s post on Truth Social, Wright announced that the Department of Energy would be deferring ‘seven of the Biden-Harris administration’s restrictive mandates on home appliances,’ arguing that these had ‘driven up costs, reduced choice, and diminished the quality of Americans’ home appliances.’
However, Wright’s list included three types of commercial equipment and three other regulations that were already beyond the point of undoing. That left only one regulatory challenge in the domestic product sector, focused on a product that ascribed an improbable symbol of ‘freedom’ and ‘consumer choice’: the tankless, gas-fueled hot water heater.
The majority of U.S. homes utilize conventional water heaters with from 40- to 50-gallon tanks. In contrast, tankless gas models account for just 10% of sales. These units are about the size of a suitcase and heat water on demand, proving their energy efficiency but typically costing about twice as much as standard heaters.
The rules governing tankless gas water heaters are particularly vulnerable because they were enacted in the waning days of Biden’s term in office. This means lawmakers may potentially reverse them under the Congressional Review Act, which permits Congress to block a newly implemented agency rule, provided that a resolution passes both houses and is signed by the president.
At the Conservative Political Action Conference on February 20, Wright received cheers when he unleashed a Trump-like tirade — ‘My dishwasher has to run for two hours now, and at the end, I got to clean the dishes’ — before transitioning to the topic of hot water heaters. He recounted, ‘We have a factory in the southeastern part of the United States that employs hundreds of people to build a particularly popular product these days,’ alluding to a tankless water heater powered by natural gas, which he characterized as ‘selling like hotcakes.’ He then posed the question, ‘So, what did the Biden administration do?’ Wright asserted that ‘They passed a regulation that would make that product illegal, and that company would be dead.’ He declared that under Trump, ‘we are fixing that problem. That factory is staying open. … America is back, baby!’
Wright revisited the matter of ‘the hot-water thing’ in a subsequent interview with Fox Business. He chastised ‘nanny-state, crazy, top-down mandates that make it more expensive for American consumers and businesses to buy what they want,’ stating, ‘the new rule was going to shut down a factory just built in the southeast United States.’ Wright admitted that U.S. law prohibits the elimination of other efficiency updates that he and Trump have sought to target due to the fact that they have already been finalized. He noted, ‘We can’t officially get rid of them. So we just pushed back the enforcement date, hopefully, to never.’
Wright’s portrayal of the situation omitted critical details. The initiatives under consideration primarily benefit one entity: Rinnai, a Japanese appliance company with revenues topping $3.3 billion last year. In 2022, Rinnai inaugurated a $70 million factory south of Atlanta, employing approximately 250 Americans to build ‘non-condensing’ tankless gas water heaters, a key revenue driver for the company.
‘Non-condensing’ tankless models are less efficient and less expensive than their ‘condensing’ counterparts, which recycle heat from exhaust gases. Consequently, Rinnai would be unable to continue selling the non-condensing models once the new standards come into effect in December 2029. However, experts have suggested that this would not terminate the company’s operations; nor is it likely to lead to the closure of the Georgia plant, even though Rinnai had mentioned potential job losses in government documents stating that the new standards would render the plant ‘largely obsolete … eliminating’ many jobs.
Rinnai markets a diverse range of products worldwide. Additionally, the company already sold condensing tankless heaters that complied with the new standard and were imported from Japan. According to its latest annual report, Rinnai had plans to manufacture such models in Georgia. Initially, Rinnai agreed to grant an interview with ProPublica but subsequently canceled twice at the last minute. The company ultimately opted not to respond to inquiries about its public statements.
Despite this, Rinnai is now lobbying vigorously for the rollback of the new standards with state and federal officials, having spent $375,000 on Washington lobbyists in 2023 as per disclosure reports. Three prominent Rinnai competitors have voiced their support for the Biden administration’s regulations. A.O. Smith, based in Wisconsin, is actively opposing Rinnai’s efforts to undo these regulations through congressional action. Greene, an executive with A.O. Smith, warned that obstructing the standard would ‘disadvantage’ U.S. companies that have already invested in more efficient condensing technology while allowing Rinnai to continue selling less expensive competing products. He lamented, ‘In this time of ‘America First,’ it just seems to us a shame that where we’re heading is rewarding foreign manufacturers.’
The ongoing efforts of the administration have expanded to numerous fronts. On a recent Wednesday, the Department of Energy disclosed plans to review its procedures regarding energy standards, a move one expert interpreted as a revival of the initial Trump administration’s attempts to introduce procedural obstacles for updating efficiency standards.
That same day, Trump also issued the executive order on showerheads, seeking to reinstate a strategy from his first administration: redefining ‘showerheads’ to encompass multiple nozzles, each exempt from previous water flow limits. The Biden-era Energy Department had previously dismantled that regulation, and now Trump is attempting to reinstate it while claiming that ‘notice and comment is unnecessary because I am ordering the repeal.’
This executive order is expected to have virtually no real-world impact since manufacturers are largely uninterested in producing showerheads that exceed current limits. Andrew deLaski, executive director of the Appliance Standards Awareness Project, a nonprofit coalition supporting the efficiency rules, stated, ‘The president is asserting king-like authority.’
Ultimately, DOGE may wield more influence than a self-proclaimed monarch if it can succeed in terminating the Guidehouse contract. DeLaski warned that if the contract is dissolved, ‘it would be next to impossible for DOE to enforce its efficiency standards.’
image source from：https://www.propublica.org/article/trump-showerheads-appliances-led-lights-regulation-energy-department-chaos
