Category Archives: Water

Barack Obama, Consumer Products & Services, Consumers, DEA - Department of Energy, Energy, Water

Dishwashers ruined by energy regulations: Prices up $143 but dishes don’t get clean

Dishwashers used to workWho wants a dishwasher that doesn’t work but costs more than ever?

The Department of Energy is completing a second round of regulations dictating the machines must use less water and less energy.

Prices already rose by $44 a unit with their first round in 2012. But add another $99 to the price from the 2015 regulations, spurred by President Obama’s call to “save the planet” by restricting use of energy. These are the government’s official cost projections; industry says the costs are even higher.

No, you won’t get the money back from lower electric bills. Manufacturers say that would take 20 years–twice as long as most dishwashers last.

The kicker: The new units don’t get things clean because water use is restricted and the energy limits prevent use of high-velocity sprayers.

Dishwashers could use 6.5 gallons per cycle until 2012, when that limit was lowered to 5 gallons. The 2015 Department of Energy (DOE) rules will drop that to 3.1 gallons per cycle.

The 2012 regulation restricted energy usage to 307 kWh (kiloWatthour) per year for a standard washer. The 2015 proposal lowers that to 234 kWh/year.

Manufacturers expect to lay off workers, because who wants to pay more and get less. Similar energy restrictions are in the works for other appliances.

cat licks plate

Get ready to work harder as you wash dishes by hand. Unless you have a willing pet to lick your plates clean.

Read more: Plan to wash dishes by hand; red tape makes dishwashers work worse but cost more – Washington Times

EPA - Environmental Protection Agency, Water

Watch where you spit! EPA may label it a ‘wetland’

spitting 3

Be careful where you spit. You might create a wetland, as defined by the Environmental Protection Agency. By adopting new loosey-goosey definitions, EPA aims to expand their control over people’s lives.

Claiming it’s merely to “clarify” their jurisdiction under the 1972 Clean Water Act, the EPA and the Army Corps of Engineers propose to expand their power with new regulations giving them authority over small, temporary and seasonal flows of water. Like where people spit. And of course mud puddles. Might kids splashing in a puddle become a federal offense?

Read more: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/may/14/istook-watch-where-you-spit-epa-may-declare-it-a-w/#ixzz3cVsnebjr