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Trump is trying to undo 50 years of energy efficiency gains

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by Dan Reicher, opinion contributor - 04/16/26 8:30 AM ET

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by Dan Reicher, opinion contributor - 04/16/26 8:30 AM ET

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CARSON, CALIFORNIA – APRIL 02: Gas prices over $6.00 are displayed at a Shell station across from the Marathon Petroleum Corp’s Los Angeles Refinery on April 02, 2026 in Carson, California. Oil prices surged over 10 percent in volatile trading, with both Brent and U.S. crude jumping sharply after President Donald Trump warned of intensified military action against Iran and signaled the conflict could drag on, raising fears of prolonged supply disruptions. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

A half-century ago, in the wake of a Middle East oil crisis that sent energy prices soaring, Congress established the Department of Energy. Ever since, the department has taken some big hits, but never has it faced an assault like the one the Trump administration is currently waging against it.

Amid yet another Middle East energy crisis, with skyrocketing oil and gas prices, Trump is taking a wrecking ball to the technology and regulatory foundation the department has built over decades to dramatically improve the energy efficiency of our appliances, vehicles, buildings and industry.

I should know, having served as an assistant secretary in President Bill Clinton’s Energy Department and as an energy adviser under President Barack Obama.

Trump has focused much of his attack on the office that I led. The department’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy was created in 1981, after the second Middle East oil shock and during the Reagan administration, which was not exactly an example of left-wing radicalism. Under Clinton’s Energy secretary, Bill Richardson, we set aggressive efficiency standards for a variety of energy-intensive appliances and equipment, including air conditioners.

Although a seeming snooze, our 2001 standard improved air conditioner efficiency by 30 percent, avoiding the need to build a whopping 39 large new power plants. The Energy Department has since tightened air conditioner standards twice, showing how technological innovation and standard-setting reinforce each other. Low-hanging fruit does indeed grow back.

A January study concludes that over the last decade, without efficiency standards in place, a typical U.S. household would have paid about $6,000 more on utility bills. Businesses would have spent $330 billion extra, and U.S. electricity consumption would have been 14 percent higher, with summer peak demand increased by 115 gigawatts — roughly double the current power demand of all U.S. data centers. And a 2025 analysis shows that a new round of efficiency standards could cut total projected 2040 U.S. electricity consumption by another 5 percent, critical as AI-driven electricity demand surges.

Importantly, energy efficiency — using “nega-watts,” or less energy to do the same job — can typically meet energy demand more cheaply than any of the technologies that make electricity, even the lowest-cost generating sources of solar and wind. And energy efficiency complements them all, like the quiet-but-reliable stepchild who plays well with others.

Despite these virtues, the Trump administration continues to endorse energy waste, even as its Mideast war drives up oil and gas prices. Thus, Energy Secretary Chris Wright broke up my old office, cut billions in efficiency funding, and pushed hard to end the low-income Weatherization Assistance Program. He is now pressing to dump efficiency standards and procedures for a broad array of energy-gulping appliances and equipment like electric motors, refrigerators, washing machines and air conditioners.

Also, in February, just before bombs started falling on Tehran, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill that would make it almost impossible for a future efficiency-friendly Energy Department to set new standards. 

On another front, America’s roads, the efficiency breakdown is equally alarming.

Since 1975, when the U.S. adopted Corporate Average Fuel Economy standards, the required energy efficiency of U.S. passenger vehicles has nearly tripled, from 18 miles per gallon for 1978 model year cars to about 50 miles per gallon by 2031, with help from the Department of Energy’s efficiency office. President Trump, seemingly searching for more ways to waste energy, announced in December that his Department of Transportation is working to reduce that 50 mile per gallon standard to 34 miles per gallon by 2031, cut annual efficiency improvement by 75 percent, and set fuel economy penalties at zero.

Trump’s fuel efficiency standard rollback, in turn, allows carmakers to reduce electric-