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WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump once expressed concern with how low showerhead flow affected his “perfect” hair. Now back in the White House, he's again taking aim at some high-efficiency household items — and that may mean higher water and electric bills in your home.
One of Trump’s several dozen first-day executive orders promises to “unleash American energy,” including a pledge to ease efficiency standards for household appliances and fixtures.
The standards are intended to make dishwashers, showerheads, refrigerators, laundry machines, toilets and the like use less energy and water. The higher-efficiency appliances can have higher upfront costs, but they save water and electricity.
Here's what Trump said and what it means.
What did Trump's executive order say?
Trump vowed that consumers won’t be forced to buy or use such items — mirroring action he took during his first time in office.
His order would “safeguard the American people’s freedom to choose from a variety of goods and appliances, including but not limited to lightbulbs, dishwashers, washing machines, gas stoves, water heaters, toilets, and shower heads.”
For the president, it’s personal. Trump has long been distressed by the water flow — or apparent lack thereof — from showerheads, saying during his first stint in the White House that he wasn’t getting wet enough in the shower and that his hair needed to be “perfect.” Trump has also incorrectly claimed before that people weren’t getting any water out of their fixtures and had to flush their toilets 10 or 15 times.
Trump is following the lead of humorist Dave Barry who complained in 1997 about having “to lurk in the bathroom for what seems like several presidential administrations flushing, checking, waiting, flushing, checking.”
What standards already exist?
For over three decades, federal energy law has outlined appliance standards that determine new showerheads shouldn’t pour out more than 2.5 gallons of water per minute (9.5 liters). The Obama administration refined the restrictions and applied those limits to the water that comes out of the entire showerhead, even ones with several nozzles.
During the first Trump administration, the president relaxed that to allow each nozzle of a showerhead spray as much as 2.5 gallons.
The Biden administration reversed Trump’s action in 2021.
Other appliances and devices at risk under Trump are dishwashers, washing machines and more, the efficiency of which was boosted through rules under the previous administration and others.
These standards are meant to reduce water consumption and save Americans money through lower energy bills, experts say.
What can President Trump feasibly change?
The president's complaints are meant to justify pulling back long-held appliance conservation standards and boost water flow.
Climate Analytics policy analyst Thomas Houlie said “industries and private sectors see it (energy efficiency) as adding more constraints on them. They tend to overlook the benefits that will be gained from the measures.”
But law specific to the appliance standards law includes a no-rollback clause, experts say, which states no new standard can be weaker than the existing standard. That means any changes have to skirt existing stipulations.
“What President Trump tried in the first administration was to find ways to create loopholes that would enable energy- or water-wasting products to flood to market,” said Andrew deLaski, executive director of the Appliance Standards Awareness Project.
He noted that “No manufacturers, to our knowledge, took advantage of those loopholes," and added “to see toilets and shower heads on the list of presidential priorities is striking.”
Why does it matter and what are the consequences of changing policies?
These standards don't just matter for consumers' power bills or their ability to enjoy a good shower.
“The megawatt we don't use is the cheapest megawatt and cleanest megawatt,” Margie Alt, director of the Climate Action Campaign, said Tuesday.
That means these are conservation measures that climate experts say is a low-hanging fruit and way for the United States to meet goals for reducing emissions to stave off climate change — and keep costs in check.
Natural Resources Defense Council President Manish Bapna called energy efficiency "the most effective antidote to energy price inflation.”
What's being done internationally?
While renewable energy and solutions are often the center of climate action attention, efficiency efforts are a low-cost way to curb planet-heating gases.
The trouble is they are easy to talk about and then forget to do, even on an international scale. In 2023, the world adopted the Dubai climate accord that pledged to double energy efficiency improvements by 2030.
A year later at international climate negotiations, Rocky Mountain Institute CEO Jon Creyts bemoaned how the issue was forgotten.
Climate Action's Alt vowed not let it go: “Perhaps it's not the sexiest fight that's ever been fought, but sometimes we win those the best, so we will be there.”
What does this mean for consumers?
There are no requirements telling consumers exactly what appliances or fixtures to purchase. But studies say consumers are generally happy with how energy-efficient and water-conserving appliances perform.
A 2022 AP-NORC poll found that about three-quarters of U.S. adults had used energy-efficient appliances in the prior year, with the majority of those saying their main reason for doing so was to save money.
Rating sites including Consumer Reports and Wirecutter show “We don’t need to use unlimited energy and water to do a good job of cleaning clothes, washing dishes, or providing a great shower,” deLaski said.
“Let’s face it, consumers have a vast array of choices when it comes to efficient, modern appliances. Often, the appliances that work best are also the most energy-efficient ones,” he added. “So we don’t want to go backwards, back to the energy hogs of the old days. It’s just not necessary and it would drive up people’s energy bills.”
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St. John reported from Detroit.
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Read more of AP’s climate coverage at http://www.apnews.com/climate-and-environment
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