The Green Agenda
When Democrats lecture us about lower-cost clean energy and planet-friendly conservation, what are they actually talking about? Beware. Their proposals are not as virtuous as they sound.
IBD Editorials
EXCERPTS:
In keeping with President Obama’s promise to slow the rise of the oceans and heal the planet, the Energy Department has set new efficiency standards for 26 appliances and household products.
The department reportedly claims the new standards will save consumers from $250 billion to $300 billion on their energy costs through 2030. But that’s what Democrats always say about their green schemes: “We’re doing this to clean up the Earth, and we’re going to save you money while we do it.”
Don’t believe it.
“If past experience is any guide, these regulations will raise the purchase price of appliances — in some cases more than is ever likely to be earned back in the form of energy savings,” Ben Lieberman, an environmental policy analyst at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, wrote recently at openmarkets.org, a CEI blog.
The problems start in the basement, where price increases for water heaters that comply with federal rules range “from $67 to $974 depending on size and type.”
They’re also found in the laundry room, where the money-losing effects of the last round of washer-dryer regulations “managed to … raise the cost of many models by hundreds of dollars while compromising cleaning ability.” Another round, Lieberman writes, has the potential to “make things worse.”
Every room in between is also subject to the costs forced by the new standards and busybody bureaucrats still trying to limit the amount of water that paying customers use in their bathrooms.
Given all this, isn’t it clear what those on the left are up to? Platitudes about cleansing the environment and saving the planet may sound reasonable, even noble. But there’s a dark side with painful, unseen costs and fewer freedoms.
FULL STORY
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