Trump admin reverses Biden's gas stove ban, take aim at climate-inspired start-stop car tech

The Trump administration has slashed regulations concerning standards over the width of shower heads, bans on a swath of gas stoves, as well as other regulations for standards ruling over other household appliances that were imposed by the Department of Energy. This also comes as EPA head Lee Zeldin is taking aim at start-stop technology in cars, or the system that automatically turns off a car when it is stopped at a light to save gas.

According to the Washington Free Beacon, the Energy Department took sweeping actions on Monday to slash dozens of regulations for household appliances from dishwashers to dryers that were issued under former President Joe Biden. The regulations included restricted sales on certain types of gas stoves, faucets, shower heads, and microwaves.

"It should not be the government's place to decide what kind of appliances you or your restaurants or your businesses can buy," Energy Secretary Chris Wright commented about the regulations. "Everybody wants clean air and wants to lower their energy costs and run their factories good as they can. The big hand of government doesn't actually help that process at all."

"We will look for every way we can to protect freedom of the American worker and pursue President Trump's agenda, get rid of the nonsense, bring back common sense, make life more affordable, and opportunities greater," Wright added.

In a similar vein, Zeldin addressed the start-stop technology in cars, which climate activists say helps climate change, but some others find it to be annoying. "Start/stop technology: where your car dies at every red light so companies get a climate participation trophy," Zeldin said. "EPA approved it, and everyone hates it, so we're fixing it."

Although the EPA has not required that cars have stop-start technology, those companies that include it in their cars get extra fuel credits, Axios reported. The technology, as of 2023, was in 65 percent of vehicles as opposed to 9 percent of those manufactured in 2016.

During the Biden administration, the administration had focused on increasing regulations to fit a climate-aligned agenda. When rules concerning some of the appliances were crafted, it led to a strong backlash against the White House when Biden's Department of Energy moved to ban a number of gas stoves on the market.