The Washington, D.C. City Council’s vote to impose the only energy efficiency standards on room air cleaners in the nation could not have come at a worse time for residents of DC. Millions of people, in Washington, D.C. and across the country, depend on room air cleaners to help manage symptoms associated with allergies and asthma. Air cleaners are proven to reduce levels of common indoor air pollutants like dust, pollen and smoke. The importance of clean indoor air during the COVID-19 pandemic cannot be overstated. In fact, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has said that air cleaners, when used with other practices recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, can be part of a plan to protect people and their family. 
AHAM, the North American Association of Home Aplliance Manufaturers, explains that: “the home appliance industry has a long and proud history of energy efficiency achievements. However, these standards, will effectively remove about 60% of air cleaners from the shelves and will leave District consumers with fewer air cleaner options at higher cost, at a time they are already hard to come by, and potentially putting them out of reach for lower-income District residents. Further, the bill will in all practicality set the ENERGY STAR levels as the minimum, which completely undercuts the very reason ENERGY STAR is successful. ENERGY STAR is meant to highlight and distinguish the more efficient products in the market as an incentive to innovate. It never was and never should be used as a mandatory minimum. AHAM urges the Council to take a stand for cleaner indoor air and reconsider this bill so that air cleaners, a critical tool in fighting COVID-19 and other health risks, remain accessible to the city’s residents.”
