The scoop on energy efficiency standards Federal attempts to regulate consumer appliance efficiency started with the Energy Policy and Conservation Act of 1975, which established
appliance efficiency targets, but did not set efficiency standards.
The good news is that policies put into place over the last three decades — including
appliance efficiency standards, voluntary labeling programs like ENERGY STAR, and state energy - savings
targets — have already helped offset rising demand for electricity and saved consumers billions of dollars.