Political Vampires

In late June, the products of the consumer electronics and major appliance industries were described by President George W. Bush as "energy vampires." In effect, he said that many of the two industries' products draw "excessive energy even when not in use," or 4 to 7 watts per hour. The administration claimed in talking points issued with the President's speech that "approximately 26 power plants are needed just to power these energy vampires."

Last Tuesday, President Bush issued an Executive Order on Energy Efficient Standby Power Devices, in which he seems to turn around on the subject. In it he directs all parts of the federal government to use off-the-shelf products that use external or internal standby power devices. If those types of products are not available, federal agencies are directed to buy products with "the lowest standby power wattage while in their standby power consuming mode," according to the order.

The Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) and the Electronics Industries Alliance applauded the order.

So, another crisis inflicted by overzealous Washington regulators has been averted, right? Well, not really.

Two weeks ago Congressman Ed Markey (D-MA) slipped an amendment into the Energy and Conservation Act of 2001, which was approved by the House Energy and Commerce committee and has the potential to create havoc in the CE and major appliance businesses.

According to a statement by CEA president Gary Shapiro, Markey's amendment "requires that all home electronics products (with a handful of exceptions) operate on one watt of power when in 'standby' mode." As it stands proposed legislation will dramatically affect the usability, cost and features of a wide range of household and business electronics and appliances, and will limit consumers' freedom of choice.

In Shapiro's statement, he said the Markey amendment makes no provision for the impact the one-watt standard would have on the cost, usability and features, and ignores market forces that give manufacturers incentives to develop products that last longer and are more energy efficient.

If you really think electronics and appliances are "energy vampires," take a look at these numbers compiled by CEA and mentioned in Shapiro's statement:

• Home energy usage represents only 34 percent of overall energy use in the United States.
• About 90 percent of home usage comes from equipment that is not affected by this amendment.

Shapiro noted, "The Markey amendment would impose severe limitations on products that use only three percent of all energy" in the U.S.

Even if Shapiro's numbers are slightly off, this amendment looks like classic Washington double-speak: give the impression you are solving a problem, while passing legislation that does little to alleviate it.

Both CEA and the Electronics Industries Alliance hope the pending legislation will be amended to reflect the spirit and tone of Bush's order.

The thing that gets me is that if the administration and Congress were serious about capping prices of oil, natural gas and electricity, why go after products that CEA says only use 3 percent of all energy in the U.S.?

Why doesn't the administration ask its friends in the oil and gas industry for help, possibly putting price controls on their products and price controls on the electric power industry? Why not force the car industry to adhere to better gas mileage on SUVs and other large vehicles? (If, after a period of time, they don't meet federal standards, how about a surcharge on those vehicles?) Why not a 10-year, federally funded program the size of the '60s space program to finally come up with battery operated cars, trucks and buses that have the same performance as today's fossil fuel-fed vehicles?

If this were as serious a crisis as is being portrayed, these and many other suggestions would be debated now. Instead, we get half-baked suggestions about building nuclear power plants, when we don't have any place to store the used radioactive fuel safely for 10,000 years, suggestions to use more "clean" coal (talk about an oxymoron!) to generate electricity, and other nonsense.

CEA is hoping the pending legislation will be modified by the Congress' Rules Committee, or when it goes to the House-Senate conference, or on the floor. If you are concerned about this important legislation, contact your representatives in the House and Senate to remind them how the legislation will affect consumers and the industry's bottom line, while doing little to solve our supposed energy woes.