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.
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?
If your startup is relying on being less efficient than the competition, you’re already failing
Then don’t complain when large corporations have near exclusive market share. Or are you fine with that?
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.
I think I can argue that smaller businesses would be able to iterate and make these changes quicker…
What fan manufacturers are small businesses anyway?
The cost to navigate and get approvals is very hard. And none of that time and money is covered by the government. From a guy that has to deal with government regulatory issues often, it is very difficult for a small business to navigate it. For a start up, often these guys are typically working just to break even. To hire someone to tackle the government regulatory process makes it impossible.
There is a reason establish companies are often the companies that are encouraging these regulations. They love it. Is very financially beneficial their industry is highly regulated.
Except it just makes it even harder to navigate when you make the regulation even more complicated with special cases. People are wondering why costs are so high and why large corporations have so much control and market share. It is these corporations that encourage regulations like this.
Exactly, like this. As I said, you can write regulations so that small business aren’t affected by these problems, have it so that if you operate under a certain threshold it doesn’t apply to your company, and when the company does give them ample time and warning of the changes that they need to make.
You seem to have this notion that laws can only be written in over-complicated lawyer speak, and to a certain extent in places like the US and EU it’s true, but it doesn’t have to. Let’s also reiterate that I’d rather a small business go bust, than continue to produce environmentally unfriendly products in the name of “competition”, due to the whole tens to hundreds of millions of people dying due to the effects of climate change.
Startups might have it easier since they won’t have existing stock and can design everything to code from the start.
Completely wrong. You have no idea how difficult it is to get something like this approved. A start-up can’t hire someone to navigate this framework and simply won’t even try. They have typically very little money to begin and less time to spend months having their product tested or approved.
We’re talking about “ceiling fans” right?
Yes. What do you think it takes to treat and verify something like this? Typically it needs to be submitted to a standard institution that will do the testing and verify it meets code. That alone is quite expensive and time consuming. This before you submit any regulatory documents.
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.
How??
You have any idea what it costs to get an approval and navigate this? You think a start-up can afford to hire very high priced people or services to do this? You think they have the time for small owners to focus on this when typically they are near break even to begin?
I really hope, if its a company designing and manufacturing their own fans, that they have an engineer already. Theres already electrical codes they have to meet. So i dont see any additional cost to a startup.
There may be some code but much of it is in the motor of which will already be approved. The mechanics is where much of this arises and you don’t need engineers to design this is you have any talent. Also an engineer might be done in the design and that is the easiest part. But they don’t engage into the regulatory part to get something approved. I have hoped engineers and that it typically bit what they do. If it is a firm, they may have people that can do this for you.
For example, I took a electronic device and made it intrinsically safe without engineers. It took about a year and 100,000 to get a double simple CSA sticker on it. In that year, that was a great deal of my own time to do this. Time less doesn’t t trying to build up a business. Money spent that could better go to employees.
All of it is in the motor! This is a regulation about power draw
Oh I wish. Motors alone are super efficient. I wouldn’t be certain how they would calculate fan efficiency exactly but I suspect it will be based on some heat to CFM ratio. A standard cocoanut like CSA will likely have to be engaged to do the testing. Is very expensive. I done stuff like this before.
Brainwashed.
You guys are the ones that think it is good but wondering why costs are so high now that we are now regulated than at any time in the past. Funny how that is working out.
Costs being high is due to corporate greed. Companies are making record profits in the billions. They COULD bring prices down, and still make tons of profit, but they don’t.
Regulations provide a way to safeguard the consumer from irresponsible corporations. I know climate change is not something conservatives are concerned with, but maybe food, drugs, cars, airplanes, public transportation, etc might convince you.
If there were no regulations, no cars would have airbags or seatbelts. Food would be handled however the company thinks is right, leading to an explosion of food borne illness. Airplanes would have no maintenance standards and fall out of the sky LIKE THEY DO in countries without regulations.
I could go on, but if you aren’t convinced that “anti-regulation” is solely a corporate brainwashing tactic by now, you’ll never understand.
if republicans are doing this to fight big business, how about they actually fight big business? then they can have an actual platform that might attract a voter base, rather than just bigotry and opposition.
No Republican in history has ever fought big business or done anything to increase product safety if it meant less profit.