Cold Showers? Now Biden Admin Is Coming For Your Home Water Heater

 Democrats bent on saving the world have taken steps to restrict gas stoves, light bulbs, and even gas stations (some liberal cities have declared a moratorium on new construction).

And now, get ready to take cold showers — Democrats are coming after water heaters.

A new Department of Energy proposal would enact more stringent efficiency requirements, compelling manufacturers to make electric water heaters use heat pump technology and gas-fired ones to use condensing technology.

“Today’s actions — together with our industry partners and stakeholders — improve outdated efficiency standards for common household appliances, which is essential to slashing utility bills for American families and cutting harmful carbon emissions,” Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm said in a statement.

Granholm said the new guidelines would save Americans money. “Replacing common-sized traditional electric resistance storage water heaters with electric heat pump water heaters meeting the proposed levels would save consumers $1,868 on average over the life of the appliance, with savings even higher for renters and low-income households who spend a higher percentage of their income on utility bill,” she said.

The proposal did not go over well with Republicans.

“First they came for your gas stoves. Then they came for your dishwashers. Next they came for your water heaters and air conditioners. Now the Biden apparatchiks are coming for your portable gas generators,” Forbes contributor David Blackmon wrote on Twitter.

“From the people who want showers and faucets without enough water pressure, dishwashers that don’t fully clean, washers and dryers that fully wash or dry, etc. they now want water heaters that don’t fully and quickly heat. All in the name of ‘environmentalism’ or ‘climate change,’” Ken Gardner tweeted.

“Leave us alone. These products already exist in the free market. Consumers should decide whether the upfront cost of a heat-pump water heater is worth the possible long term savings. In many cases, the monthly savings never make up for the upfront cost of the equipment,” Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) tweeted.

President Joe Biden couches the takeaways as part of an Orwellian program dubbed “Cost-Saving Energy Efficiency Standards.”

The U.S. Energy Department confirmed in April that it will move forward with an August 1 ban on the manufacture and retail sale of most incandescent light bulbs. The move reverses a 2019 decision by then-President Donald Trump.

As everyone knows, LED light bulbs are expensive, so forget those promised cost savings. A four-pack of EcoSmart LED bulbs costs $11.48 on Amazon, while a four-pack of GE incandescent bulbs costs $8.99.

“The lighting industry is already embracing more energy efficient products, and this measure will accelerate progress to deliver the best products to American consumers and build a better and brighter future,” Granholm said last year.

But a coalition of free market and consumer groups opposed to incandescent bulb bans took issue with that stance.

“We believe that further regulatory interference in the marketplace is unwarranted given that more energy efficient lighting choices, namely light-emitting diode (LED) bulbs, are already available for those consumers who prefer them over incandescent bulbs,” the coalition wrote in a letter to the Energy Department last year, Fox News reported.

“While LEDs are more efficient and generally longer-lasting than incandescent bulbs, they currently cost more than incandescent bulbs and are inferior for certain functions such as dimming,” the coalition added.

Meanwhile, Granholm bristled when asked about the Biden administration’s efforts to restrict or ban the use of gas stoves in the home. “That is so ridiculous, that story. Because, it sounds like government’s coming in to take your stuff. That is so not true. That is just not true,” she said, according to Forbes.

But days later, Granholm’s Department of Energy proposed a new regulation governing home energy consumption, “which seeks to diminish the use of, you guessed it, gas stoves in the home,” Forbes wrote.

One Democratic lawmaker pushed back. “The federal government has no business telling me – or any American family – how to cook dinner,” Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) wrote in a Twitter post. “That’s why I’m proud to lead a bipartisan bill with @SenTedCruz to ensure Americans decide how to cook in their own homes.”

And in March, Democrats in a Colorado city put the kibosh on gas stations. Boulder announced it would set a limit of six gas stations in the area for its 21,000 residents in an effort to tackle climate change. There are currently five gas stations in the area and a sixth gas station that is in the approval process for construction.

Council member Maxine Most said it’s a “good idea to decarbonize because it sends a signal and send a message,” the Daily Mail reported.

“Gasoline station bans may also be seen as promoting the use of Electric Vehicles (EVs), thus, reducing vehicle emissions and encouraging low-carbon and cleaner energy options for transportation,” the approved proposal states.