{"id":5009,"date":"2017-07-20T09:39:35","date_gmt":"2017-07-20T14:39:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.law.columbia.edu\/climatechange\/?p=5009"},"modified":"2017-07-20T12:04:24","modified_gmt":"2017-07-20T17:04:24","slug":"new-working-paper-appliance-equipment-efficiency-standards-a-roadmap-for-state-local-action","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.law.columbia.edu\/climatechange\/2017\/07\/20\/new-working-paper-appliance-equipment-efficiency-standards-a-roadmap-for-state-local-action\/","title":{"rendered":"Appliance &amp; Equipment Efficiency Standards: A Roadmap for State &amp; Local Action&#8211;a new Sabin Center working paper"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;\" class=\"sharethis-inline-share-buttons\" ><\/div><p><em>By Peter Ross<\/em><\/p>\n<p>For decades, federal energy and water efficiency standards have demonstrably saved consumers money, reduced pollution, and increased grid reliability.\u00a0 The U.S. Department of Energy (\u201cDOE\u201d) periodically reviews standards and test procedures for more than 60 products, representing about 90% of home energy use, 60% of commercial building energy use, and 30% of industrial energy use.\u00a0 Due in part to their incremental nature, these standards have been relatively uncontroversial and often result from \u00a0lengthy stakeholder negotiations between manufacturers seeking regulatory certainty and environmental advocates seeking greater efficiency.<\/p>\n<p>In recent months, however, these standards have become the subject of increased litigation.\u00a0 In June, advocacy groups and a coalition of State Attorneys General sued the DOE for refusing to publish several all-but-finished efficiency standards in the Federal Register.\u00a0 When DOE delayed the effective date of an energy standard for ceiling fans, a similar group of state actors petitioned the Second Circuit Court of Appeals to review the agency&#8217;s action.\u00a0 To protect their states&#8217; interests in energy efficiency, yet another coalition of State Attorneys General intervened in an industry group lawsuit against the DOE challenging certain federal lightbulb efficiency standards.<\/p>\n<p>While DOE has acceded to some of the states&#8217; demands, allowing the ceiling fan rule to go through with the original compliance date along with a standard for walk-in coolers, Washington&#8217;s commitment to increased energy efficiency remains shaky.\u00a0 In addition to dragging its feet in implementing certain standards, the Trump Administration has proposed budget cuts to the parts of DOE responsible for administering the appliance and equipment standards program.\u00a0 States thus should prepare to utilize all policy tools at their disposal to promote energy efficiency during the next four years.<\/p>\n<p>To that end, a new working paper,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/columbiaclimatelaw.com\/files\/2017\/07\/Ross_2017-07_Appliance-Equipment-Efficiency-Standards-Working-Paper-RFS.pdf\">Appliance and Equipment Efficiency Standards: A Roadmap for State and Local Action<\/a>, examines how the Energy Policy and Conversation Act (\u201cEPCA\u201d), and the DOE regulations promulgated thereunder, place limits on the ability of states and cities to outlaw the use of inefficient appliances and equipment.\u00a0 It surveys existing state efficiency laws that cover products beyond federal jurisdiction, and discusses several steps states can take to advance appliance and equipment efficiency including: (i) seeking EPCA waivers from DOE to create and enforce statewide standards for federally covered products (and, if necessary, litigating the rejection of any such waiver petition); (ii) regulating non-federally covered products such as computers; (iii) encouraging the use of more efficient appliances and equipment through local building codes for new construction; and (iv) revising procurement laws to require the use of products that exceed federal efficiency standards.<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>About the Author<\/p>\n<p><u><\/u><em>Peter S. Ross is an attorney who focuses on issues in the environmental and energy area.\u00a0 In August, he will begin a fellowship at the Frank J. Guarini Center on Environmental, Energy, and Land Use Law at the NYU School of Law.\u00a0 Prior to the fellowship, he worked as a litigation associate at Debevoise &amp; Plimpton and clerked for the Honorable John Gleeson in the Eastern District of New York.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Peter Ross For decades, federal energy and water efficiency standards have demonstrably saved consumers money, reduced pollution, and increased grid reliability.\u00a0 The U.S. Department of Energy (\u201cDOE\u201d) periodically reviews standards and test procedures for more than 60 products, representing about 90% of home energy use, 60% of commercial building energy use, and 30% of [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1666,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5680,5673,5705,9418,5679,584],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-5009","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-clean-energy","7":"category-litigation","8":"category-energy-efficiency","9":"category-local-law","10":"category-municipal-activity","11":"category-publications","12":"czr-hentry"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Appliance &amp; Equipment Efficiency Standards: A Roadmap for State &amp; Local Action-a new Sabin Center working paper - Climate Law Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.law.columbia.edu\/climatechange\/2017\/07\/20\/new-working-paper-appliance-equipment-efficiency-standards-a-roadmap-for-state-local-action\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Appliance &amp; Equipment Efficiency Standards: A Roadmap for State &amp; Local Action-a new Sabin Center working paper - Climate Law Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Peter Ross For decades, federal energy and water efficiency standards have demonstrably saved consumers money, reduced pollution, and increased grid reliability.\u00a0 The U.S. Department of Energy (\u201cDOE\u201d) periodically reviews standards and test procedures for more than 60 products, representing about 90% of home energy use, 60% of commercial building energy use, and 30% of [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/blogs.law.columbia.edu\/climatechange\/2017\/07\/20\/new-working-paper-appliance-equipment-efficiency-standards-a-roadmap-for-state-local-action\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Climate Law Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-07-20T14:39:35+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2017-07-20T17:04:24+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Justin Gundlach\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@sabincenter\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@sabincenter\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Justin Gundlach\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.law.columbia.edu\\\/climatechange\\\/2017\\\/07\\\/20\\\/new-working-paper-appliance-equipment-efficiency-standards-a-roadmap-for-state-local-action\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.law.columbia.edu\\\/climatechange\\\/2017\\\/07\\\/20\\\/new-working-paper-appliance-equipment-efficiency-standards-a-roadmap-for-state-local-action\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Justin Gundlach\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.law.columbia.edu\\\/climatechange\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/a2729abace4a0b425f476cedba917b55\"},\"headline\":\"Appliance &amp; Equipment Efficiency Standards: A Roadmap for State &amp; Local Action&#8211;a new Sabin Center working paper\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-07-20T14:39:35+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-07-20T17:04:24+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.law.columbia.edu\\\/climatechange\\\/2017\\\/07\\\/20\\\/new-working-paper-appliance-equipment-efficiency-standards-a-roadmap-for-state-local-action\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":512,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.law.columbia.edu\\\/climatechange\\\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"Clean Energy\",\"Climate Litigation\",\"Energy Efficiency\",\"Local Law\",\"Municipal Activity\",\"Publications\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.law.columbia.edu\\\/climatechange\\\/2017\\\/07\\\/20\\\/new-working-paper-appliance-equipment-efficiency-standards-a-roadmap-for-state-local-action\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.law.columbia.edu\\\/climatechange\\\/2017\\\/07\\\/20\\\/new-working-paper-appliance-equipment-efficiency-standards-a-roadmap-for-state-local-action\\\/\",\"name\":\"Appliance &amp; Equipment Efficiency Standards: A Roadmap for State &amp; Local Action-a new Sabin Center working paper - Climate Law Blog\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.law.columbia.edu\\\/climatechange\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2017-07-20T14:39:35+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-07-20T17:04:24+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.law.columbia.edu\\\/climatechange\\\/2017\\\/07\\\/20\\\/new-working-paper-appliance-equipment-efficiency-standards-a-roadmap-for-state-local-action\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.law.columbia.edu\\\/climatechange\\\/2017\\\/07\\\/20\\\/new-working-paper-appliance-equipment-efficiency-standards-a-roadmap-for-state-local-action\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.law.columbia.edu\\\/climatechange\\\/2017\\\/07\\\/20\\\/new-working-paper-appliance-equipment-efficiency-standards-a-roadmap-for-state-local-action\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.law.columbia.edu\\\/climatechange\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Appliance &amp; Equipment Efficiency Standards: A Roadmap for State &amp; Local Action&#8211;a new Sabin Center working paper\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.law.columbia.edu\\\/climatechange\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.law.columbia.edu\\\/climatechange\\\/\",\"name\":\"Climate Law Blog\",\"description\":\"\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.law.columbia.edu\\\/climatechange\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.law.columbia.edu\\\/climatechange\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.law.columbia.edu\\\/climatechange\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Sabin Center for Climate Change Law\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.law.columbia.edu\\\/climatechange\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.law.columbia.edu\\\/climatechange\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.law.columbia.edu\\\/climatechange\\\/files\\\/2023\\\/02\\\/21-SabinBlog_Banner-1.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.law.columbia.edu\\\/climatechange\\\/files\\\/2023\\\/02\\\/21-SabinBlog_Banner-1.png\",\"width\":2752,\"height\":260,\"caption\":\"Sabin Center for Climate Change Law\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.law.columbia.edu\\\/climatechange\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/sabincenter\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.law.columbia.edu\\\/climatechange\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/a2729abace4a0b425f476cedba917b55\",\"name\":\"Justin Gundlach\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.law.columbia.edu\\\/climatechange\\\/author\\\/jgundlach\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Appliance &amp; Equipment Efficiency Standards: A Roadmap for State &amp; Local Action-a new Sabin Center working paper - Climate Law Blog","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/blogs.law.columbia.edu\/climatechange\/2017\/07\/20\/new-working-paper-appliance-equipment-efficiency-standards-a-roadmap-for-state-local-action\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Appliance &amp; Equipment Efficiency Standards: A Roadmap for State &amp; Local Action-a new Sabin Center working paper - Climate Law Blog","og_description":"By Peter Ross For decades, federal energy and water efficiency standards have demonstrably saved consumers money, reduced pollution, and increased grid reliability.\u00a0 The U.S. Department of Energy (\u201cDOE\u201d) periodically reviews standards and test procedures for more than 60 products, representing about 90% of home energy use, 60% of commercial building energy use, and 30% of [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/blogs.law.columbia.edu\/climatechange\/2017\/07\/20\/new-working-paper-appliance-equipment-efficiency-standards-a-roadmap-for-state-local-action\/","og_site_name":"Climate Law Blog","article_published_time":"2017-07-20T14:39:35+00:00","article_modified_time":"2017-07-20T17:04:24+00:00","author":"Justin Gundlach","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@sabincenter","twitter_site":"@sabincenter","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Justin Gundlach","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.law.columbia.edu\/climatechange\/2017\/07\/20\/new-working-paper-appliance-equipment-efficiency-standards-a-roadmap-for-state-local-action\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.law.columbia.edu\/climatechange\/2017\/07\/20\/new-working-paper-appliance-equipment-efficiency-standards-a-roadmap-for-state-local-action\/"},"author":{"name":"Justin Gundlach","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.law.columbia.edu\/climatechange\/#\/schema\/person\/a2729abace4a0b425f476cedba917b55"},"headline":"Appliance &amp; Equipment Efficiency Standards: A Roadmap for State &amp; Local Action&#8211;a new Sabin Center working paper","datePublished":"2017-07-20T14:39:35+00:00","dateModified":"2017-07-20T17:04:24+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.law.columbia.edu\/climatechange\/2017\/07\/20\/new-working-paper-appliance-equipment-efficiency-standards-a-roadmap-for-state-local-action\/"},"wordCount":512,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.law.columbia.edu\/climatechange\/#organization"},"articleSection":["Clean Energy","Climate Litigation","Energy Efficiency","Local Law","Municipal Activity","Publications"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.law.columbia.edu\/climatechange\/2017\/07\/20\/new-working-paper-appliance-equipment-efficiency-standards-a-roadmap-for-state-local-action\/","url":"https:\/\/blogs.law.columbia.edu\/climatechange\/2017\/07\/20\/new-working-paper-appliance-equipment-efficiency-standards-a-roadmap-for-state-local-action\/","name":"Appliance &amp; Equipment Efficiency Standards: A Roadmap for State &amp; Local Action-a new Sabin Center working paper - Climate Law Blog","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.law.columbia.edu\/climatechange\/#website"},"datePublished":"2017-07-20T14:39:35+00:00","dateModified":"2017-07-20T17:04:24+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.law.columbia.edu\/climatechange\/2017\/07\/20\/new-working-paper-appliance-equipment-efficiency-standards-a-roadmap-for-state-local-action\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/blogs.law.columbia.edu\/climatechange\/2017\/07\/20\/new-working-paper-appliance-equipment-efficiency-standards-a-roadmap-for-state-local-action\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.law.columbia.edu\/climatechange\/2017\/07\/20\/new-working-paper-appliance-equipment-efficiency-standards-a-roadmap-for-state-local-action\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/blogs.law.columbia.edu\/climatechange\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Appliance &amp; Equipment Efficiency Standards: A Roadmap for State &amp; Local Action&#8211;a new Sabin Center working paper"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.law.columbia.edu\/climatechange\/#website","url":"https:\/\/blogs.law.columbia.edu\/climatechange\/","name":"Climate Law Blog","description":"","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.law.columbia.edu\/climatechange\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/blogs.law.columbia.edu\/climatechange\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.law.columbia.edu\/climatechange\/#organization","name":"Sabin Center for Climate Change Law","url":"https:\/\/blogs.law.columbia.edu\/climatechange\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.law.columbia.edu\/climatechange\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/blogs.law.columbia.edu\/climatechange\/files\/2023\/02\/21-SabinBlog_Banner-1.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/blogs.law.columbia.edu\/climatechange\/files\/2023\/02\/21-SabinBlog_Banner-1.png","width":2752,"height":260,"caption":"Sabin Center for Climate Change Law"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.law.columbia.edu\/climatechange\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/x.com\/sabincenter"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.law.columbia.edu\/climatechange\/#\/schema\/person\/a2729abace4a0b425f476cedba917b55","name":"Justin Gundlach","url":"https:\/\/blogs.law.columbia.edu\/climatechange\/author\/jgundlach\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.law.columbia.edu\/climatechange\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5009","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.law.columbia.edu\/climatechange\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.law.columbia.edu\/climatechange\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.law.columbia.edu\/climatechange\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1666"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.law.columbia.edu\/climatechange\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5009"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.law.columbia.edu\/climatechange\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5009\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.law.columbia.edu\/climatechange\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5009"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.law.columbia.edu\/climatechange\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5009"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.law.columbia.edu\/climatechange\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5009"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}