The process of setting appliance standards

The California Energy Commission was the first government agency in the United States to develop Appliance Efficiency Standards. This article describes the origin of that agency and gives details of the successes and shortcomings of its twenty-year history in this field. Many of the California Energy Commissionʹs standards have been copied in legislation and regulations of numerous other states, Canadian provinces, and the United States government. It is the authorʹs hope that by sharing details of some of the good things and some of the not-so-good things that have happened, those who follow may be more successful than the author. The article concludes with a ‘report card’ that identifies several successful programs that the author would like copied, and a few pitfalls that he hopes will be avoided.