Ed Mazria argues that the Trump administration’s attack on building energy codes and appliance efficiency standards relies on misleading comparisons and obsolete building codes. He contends that modern energy codes, appliance and equipment standards, and smarter planning and building design, have saved Americans $3.48 trillion, reduced energy demand despite massive building growth, lowered utility bills, and enabled renewable energy to replace fossil fuels. Rather than protecting consumers, he argues, eliminating or rolling back these standards would increase energy costs, sacrifice public health, weaken the electric grid, and slow the clean energy transition.
The Trump Administration has been loudly warning the American public about a so-called “Green New Scam”—a narrative it is using as cover to “permanently end” energy-efficient appliance and HVAC standards and roll back the 2024 International Energy Conservation Code (IECC).
Their message: Energy-efficient appliance and HVAC equipment standards “raise costs and disrupt consumer choice,” while updating to the 2024 IECC “would increase residential construction costs by more than $9.2 billion annually compared to the 2006 code levels.” This, they say, would saddle homebuyers with as much as $14,000 in extra construction costs with a 10- to 20-year payback period.
Simultaneously, they point to the energy demands of AI and hyperscale data centers to justify keeping aging coal plants open and incentivizing new fossil-fuel power plants, all while actively stifling clean energy development.
This administration’s narrative is the real scam. By relying on outdated and cherry-picked numbers, the administration is attempting to strip away policies that have in fact saved consumers trillions of dollars, all to prop up the flailing fossil fuel industry.
Here are the facts:
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