On January 16, 2020, the Department of Energy (DOE) finalized amendments to its "process rule" governing the process of developing energy conservation standards for appliances such as dishwashers and refrigerators. The new rule establishes a threshold for the amount of energy conservation required to trigger the process of updating standards that is likely to result in fewer updates in the future. The revisions also require DOE to codify private sector consensus standards for test procedures.
DOE is taking comment through May 15, 2020 on how to prioritize its review of appliance standards under the new process rule procedures.