Overview

Appliance and equipment efficiency 

standards have served as one of 

the nation’s most effective policies 

for improving energy efficiency 

and saving consumers energy and 

money. Today, the U.S. Department 

of Energy’s (DOE’s) Appliance and 

Equipment Standards Program 

(Standards Program) covers more 

than 60 products, representing 

about 90% of home energy use, 

60% of commercial building energy 

use, and approximately 30% of 

industrial energy use. 

Standards implemented since 1987 

saved American consumers $60 

billion on their utility bills in 2014 

alone, and have helped the United 

States avoid emissions of 2.3 billion 

tons of carbon dioxide (CO2), which 

is equivalent to the annual CO2

emissions from nearly 500 million 

automobiles. 

Since 2009, the Obama 

Administration has issued 31 new or 

updated appliance standards across 

more than 40 products, which will 

increase annual savings by more 

than 75% over the next decade, and 

is projected to save consumers a 

total of nearly $522 billion dollars 

off their utility bills between 2009 

and 2030.1 The energy savings from 

these standards—39.3 quads by 

2030—is roughly equivalent to the 

energy used by all U.S. buildings 

over one year.

Photo credit iStock/4855212.

Climate Action Plan

To build upon the energy and 

environmental savings delivered 

to American consumers, the 

Administration set a goal in the 

President’s Climate Action Plan 

announced in June 2013. Efficiency 

standards for appliances, commercial 

equipment, and federal buildings 

set in the first and second terms 

combined will reduce carbon 

pollution by at least 3 billion metric 

tons cumulatively by 2030—

equivalent to nearly one-half of the 

carbon pollution from the entire U.S. 

energy sector for one year—while 

continuing to cut families’ energy 

bills. 

In 2014, DOE finalized efficiency 

standards for 10 products, including 

commercial clothes washers, 

commercial refrigeration equipment, 

walk-in coolers and freezers, electric 

motors, general service fluorescent 

lamps (GSFLs), metal halide lamp 

fixtures, furnace fans, and automatic 

commercial ice makers. With 

these standards, DOE is more than 

two-thirds of the way to achieving 

the Climate Action Plan’s carbon 

reduction goal of 3 billion metric 

tons.

Consumer Benefits

The Standards Program has driven 

remarkable gains in the energy 

efficiency of household appliances 

and equipment, resulting in large 

energy bill savings.2 For example, 

today, the typical new refrigerator 

uses one-third the energy than in 

1973—despite offering 20% more 

storage capacity and being available 

at half the retail cost. Since 1990, 

additional efficiency gains in 

household appliances include the 

following:

• New clothes washers use 70% less 

energy 

• New dishwashers use more than 

40% less energy 

• New air conditioners use about 

50% less energy 

• New furnaces use about 10% less 

energy

All told, these efficiency gains 

translate into large dollar savings. 

While the more efficient products 

may cost more at the time of sale, 

consumers save through lower energy 

bills year after year, and are more 

than compensated for any higher 

initial product costs. Today, a typical 

household saves about $247 per year 

off their energy bills as a result of 

standards, and as people replace their 

Saving Energy and Money with Appliance and 

Equipment Standards in the United States

BUILDING TECHNOLOGIES OFFICE
Photo credit iStock/2578170.

appliances with newer models, they 

can expect to save more than $360 

annually by 2030.

National Benefits 

The Program is highly effective — 

achieving high bang-for-the-buck 

energy savings. The national energy 

efficiency standards completed 

through 2014 are expected to save 

70 quadrillion British thermal units 

(quads) of energy by 2020 and will 

amount to 128 quads through 2030. 

The cumulative utility bill savings 

to consumers of these standards 

are estimated to be more than $960 

billion by 2020 and grow to $1.8 

trillion through 2030.3

The environmental benefits are 

substantial, as well. Annual carbon 

dioxide savings will reach 283 

million tons by 2020, and the 

cumulative savings by 2030 is 

estimated to be about 7 billion tons. 

Manufacturer Benefits 

Federal energy efficiency standards 

benefit manufacturers as well. 

They reduce the regulatory burden 

on appliance and equipment 

manufacturers by pre-empting 

a potential patchwork of state 

standards with a single federal 

standard. This regulatory streamlining 

enhances industry competitiveness, 

profitability, and helps to protect and 

create jobs. 

Further, efficiency standards can 

help lower the costs of innovative 

energy efficient technologies by 

facilitating their entry into the market 

and providing economies of scale. 

Plus, the test procedures that underlay 

standards enhance the ability to 

test the performance of newer 

technologies. The result is higher 

efficiency products that are more 

widely available and more affordable 

to own.

The Appliance and 

Equipment Standards 

Program 

The Appliance and Equipment 

Standards Program is authorized 

by Congress through several statutes—with the earliest in 1975— in 

part due to manufacturer interest in 

national solutions to a patchwork 

of state-by-state standards, which 

increase manufacturer costs and 

1 Represents undiscounted utility bill savings in $2013. The value accumulates all savings through 2030.

2 Data in this section are based on shipment-weighted efficiency data from the Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers for home appliances 

and the Air-Conditioning, Heating, and Refrigeration Institute.

3 Represents undiscounted utility bill savings in $2013. The values accumulate all savings through 2020 and 2030, respectively.

therefore costs to consumers. These 

solutions result in energy bill savings 

for consumers as the least-efficient 

product models become ineligible for 

sale in the United States. Consumers 

can spend these savings on goods 

and services other than utility bills, 

spurring the economy and creating 

jobs. The Standards Program includes 

a number of interrelated efforts:

• Development of test procedures

• Development of standards

• Enforcement of the standards 

• Partner with Federal Trade Commission 

on the well-known Energy Guide labels 

on appliances

• Technical support for the ENERGY 

STAR® program.

DOE works in an open, transparent 

manner with stakeholders on these 

efforts.

DOE/EE-1086 • July 2015

For more information, visit: appliancestandards.energy.gov

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