{"id":547726,"date":"2026-07-18T14:21:27","date_gmt":"2026-07-18T14:21:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/547726\/"},"modified":"2026-07-18T14:21:27","modified_gmt":"2026-07-18T14:21:27","slug":"over-1600-energy-department-webpages-on-utility-bill-savings-removed-as-us-temperatures-soar-us-economy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/547726\/","title":{"rendered":"Over 1,600 energy department webpages on utility bill savings removed as US temperatures soar | US economy"},"content":{"rendered":"

As millions of Americans prepare for another brutal heatwave<\/a>, it\u2019s now harder to find information about ways to stay cool while saving energy and keeping utility costs down.<\/p>\n

At least 1,662 Department of Energy webpages offering guidance on protecting the electrical grid during heatwaves have gone dark as of 3 July, according to a Guardian analysis of a list of deleted URLs provided by researchers at the Internet Archive<\/a>, a non-profit that hosts a repository of more than a trillion archived webpages.<\/p>\n

These removals are just the latest example of a broader pattern: information that conflicts with the administration\u2019s priorities \u2013 from data on queer and trans youth to online resources from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau \u2013 is being removed from federal websites and surveys.<\/p>\n

The energy department deletions coincide with the Trump administration\u2019s latest push<\/a> to undermine federal climate regulations<\/a>. At least 18 webpages were removed within days of the proposed rollback to energy efficiency regulations for home appliances like air conditioners and heaters.<\/p>\n

If enacted, the proposed rollback would effectively undo decades of policies that have been proven to lower household utility bills<\/a> and make it much harder for the energy department to update efficiency standards for new appliances under future administrations, advocates say.<\/p>\n

\u201cHaving a functioning air conditioner is a health and safety issue for the elderly, for folks with health conditions, and for the very young,\u201d said Andrew deLaski, executive director at the Appliance Standards Awareness Project, a coalition of environmental, consumer and utility industry groups that advocate for cost-effective efficiency standards.<\/p>\n

\u201cEnsuring that the standards are up to date helps to keep their energy consumption under control so that people can afford to operate these products,\u201d deLaski said.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s unclear the exact day the webpages were deleted, but several<\/a> news<\/a> outlets<\/a> have noted that the deletions seemed to come shortly after New York City mayor, Zohran Mamdani<\/a>, suggested<\/a> New Yorkers set their air conditioners to 78 degrees to reduce strain on the city\u2019s electrical grid.<\/p>\n

Webpages deleted from the Department of Energy website <\/p>\n

1,662 total pages have gone dark as of July 3<\/p>\n

\"arrow\"\/ <\/p>\n

On July 1, Mamdani asked New Yorkers to set their thermostats to 78 degrees amid an historic heatwave. On July 2, the Trump administration announced a proposal to weaken energy efficiency standards for home appliances.<\/p>\n

18 deleted pages were last live on July 1 and 2 2026, meaning they were likely deleted sometime during those two days.<\/p>\n

73 deleted pages were last live in June, but we don’t know when exactly they were deleted.<\/p>\n

1,571 deleted pages were last live before May 2025.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s unclear exactly when these webpages were deleted. The Guardian was able to confirm timeframes of the deletions by comparing the dates of when the pages were last successfully saved on the Internet Archive.<\/p>\n

Guardian graphic. Source: Department of Energy; Internet Archive.<\/p>\n

Chart showing number of deleted sites under the energy saver section in the Department of Energy\u2019s website. Illustration: Guardian Design<\/p>\n

The Department of Energy did not respond to the Guardian\u2019s questions about when and why the webpages were deleted and if they were related to the proposed rule<\/a> to \u201cPermanently End Green New Scam Appliance Mandates\u201d.<\/p>\n

For Itai Vardi, research manager at the Energy<\/a> and Policy Institute, a non-profit fossil fuel and utility watchdog, the proposed rule and website deletions are \u201cjust absurd\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s ironic that the Trump administration and Republicans love to talk about consumer choice as a tenet of American freedom, but they\u2019re actually taking that away,\u201d Vardi said. \u201cWhat they\u2019re doing here is rolling back the rules on energy efficiency, but also trying to hide helpful tips and information for the public, and it\u2019s going to cost people more money.\u201d<\/p>\n

The deleted webpages were filed under the department\u2019s \u201cenergy saver\u201d section and included a wide range of advice for energy and cost-saving measures, from ways to keep your home cool<\/a> during the summer when energy bills and usage can spike to tips on how to \u201cweatherstrip<\/a>\u201d, or seal air leaks, around the home.<\/p>\n

More than 300 of the webpages had more than 160,000 page views in the last 30 days, according to a Guardian analysis of government web traffic data<\/a> from the US General Services Administration.<\/p>\n

Bar chart about what topics were found in the DOE deleted pages<\/a>A broader deregulatory campaign<\/p>\n

Since the 1970s, the Department of Energy\u2019s appliance and equipment standards program has required manufacturers to update appliances every few years to keep their products in line with the latest technological advances.<\/p>\n

The program has been \u201ca real success story\u201d, said deLaski from the Appliance Standards Awareness Project. \u201cThe strain on our [electrical] grid is a lot lower than it would be, and people\u2019s utility bills are a lot lower than they would be.\u201d<\/p>\n

An analysis<\/a> from deLaski\u2019s coalition found the next round of efficiency standard updates are estimated to save each household an average of $160 annually on utility bills and could significantly ease peak summer electricity demand, reducing pressure on an electrical grid already strained from AI datacenters and more frequent heatwaves.<\/p>\n

This is not the first time the Trump administration<\/a> has attempted to weaken energy efficiency standards. Last May, the energy department tried to repeal 47 regulations consisting mostly of energy efficiency standards for appliances<\/a>. The administration also tried to end the popular Energy Star program<\/a>, which certifies energy efficient appliances, but the effort was blocked by both congressional Democrats and Republicans earlier this year.<\/p>\n

Critics say the webpage removals are one way the Trump administration is making the case for a broader campaign, outlined in Project 2025, to push through a slew of measures deregulating the fossil fuel industry and gutting the federal bureaucracy.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a senseless dedication to an anti-regulatory agenda driven by what I would say are anti-regulatory zealots,\u201d deLaski said.<\/p>\n

The Guardian\u2019s Deleted data series explores how critical US government information is being deleted and what the consequences will be, and will preserve or recreate lost datasets. If you know about any datasets, webpages or government materials that have been deleted or altered in the past year, or are willing to share how those changes affect you, we\u2019d love to hear from you. Please reach out at deleted-data@theguardian.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As millions of Americans prepare for another brutal heatwave, it\u2019s now harder to find information about ways to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":547727,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[242,85,46,141],"class_list":["post-547726","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-environment","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/547726","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=547726"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/547726\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/547727"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=547726"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=547726"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=547726"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}