The Clinton administration, in its final weeks, required that most new air conditioners and heat pumps be made 30 percent more energy efficient by 2006. But the Bush administration immediately lowered this requirement to 20 percent, which would have created substantially more demand for power.
“Under the Bush rollback, from 2006 -- the year the standard should go into effect -- through 2030, U.S. households would have used an additional 253 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity, equivalent to the amount of power used by about 25 million households in one year,” according to the Natural Resources Defense Council, which was part of the lawsuit to reinstate the Clinton standards. This would have meant an additional 51 million metric tons of carbon emissions (equivalent to that of 34 million cars), $21 billion extra spent by consumers on utility bills, and an increased risk of summer blackouts.
“In rejecting the Bush administration’s attempt to turn back the clock on energy efficiency, the court has boosted efforts to reduce consumers’ energy bills and protect California from future power shortages,” California Attorney General Bill Lockyer said in a statement.