Obama’s New Appliance Efficiency Mandates—Consumers Better Run For Cover

President Obama today announced that he is pressuring the Department of Energy (DoE) to speed up some long-delayed efficiency standards for appliances. His move is being applauded by environmentalists—no surprise there. And DoE itself will almost certainly proclaim that the new standards will give us better appliances in the future; they might cost more, but they’ll supposedly save us money in the long run.
Don’t believe it. Here are some examples of how DoE efficiency mandates have produced, or will produce, fiascoes rather than progress: