Last month, President Donald Trump signed an executive order that promises, as the headline suggests, to "Make Showers Great Again." The order rolls back a federal rule that defines the word showerhead and aims to allow for higher water pressure in American showers.
Showerheads seem to be just the latest aspect of our homes that’ve become political flashpoints. Think LED light bulbs and gas stoves. This year, congressional Republicans have worked to undo some of the efficiency rules approved at the end of the Biden administration, including on items like gas-powered water heaters and commercial refrigeration equipment.
And, some advocates of rules requiring more energy-efficient appliances worry the Trump administration is looking for a way around a law that stops the government from weakening efficiency standards.
Kate Yoder, a senior staff Writer at Grist, has been reporting on this and joined The Show to discuss.
Full conversation
MARK BRODIE: Kate, how did it come to be that we as a nation are talking about showerheads?
KATE YODER: Well, showerheads are an interesting one. I guess most recently, the Biden administration had revived this rule that tried to save water by restricting flow from showerheads, and, you know, Trump had repealed this rule in his last term, and he repealed it again, just recently, like he did last time, and the White House released a fact sheet that said that the order would “make America's showers great again” and painted this as sort of a response to what they called the left's war on water pressure.
And it's interesting because shower heads have actually been a point of contention since the 1990s, when these, you know, energy efficiency standards were and water efficiency standards were being introduced.
And there's actually a Seinfeld episode, there's a great clip to watch where like Jerry, Kramer and Newman are all complaining about the new low flow showerheads in their building ruining their showers, and they end up buying like higher flow showerheads on the black market from the back of a guy's truck.
[“SEINFELD” CLIP]
And, you know, I think it indicates that, you know, that maybe there were, were some real issues when efficient appliances were first introduced that people noticed. But actually, since then, manufacturers have made a lot of improvements to make sure that these products work well, you know, and often better than these older inefficient models.
BRODIE: Yeah, I mean, it seems like at least over the past couple of years, at least in in sort of popular conversation, it's been more about, you know, the government take your hands off my gas stoves than, you know, keep your hands out of my shower.
YODER: Yeah, I look a lot at climate and culture and polarization, and one of the interesting things is it's not just about gas stoves, you know, last year I came across these bills that Republicans in the House had passed, and they were called things like the Refrigerator Freedom Act and Liberty and Laundry Act.
So, I really started wondering, like, what's going on here? Like, why are we talking about freedom when it comes to refrigerators? And like, what's so political about dishwashers and laundry machines and other things that are being targeted in this legislation.
So, that was definitely in the back of my head when, you know, Trump passed this order about showerheads, And then also, of course, the gas stove drama that started flaring up in, I think that was around 2019.
BRODIE: Do we typically find some kind of backlash to efforts to change or restrict the kinds of appliances or the things we put in our homes? Like, I remember there's a lot of uproar about light bulbs, and we talked about gas stoves and now shower heads and maybe refrigerators. Like, is it just sort of an accepted thing in the policy world that when changes like these are either requested or mandated, there's some number of people who are gonna say no thanks?
YODER: It's definitely been there since the beginning, like, even though there's been a lot of bipartisan support for these things, they've always sort of been a political football in the way that like, certain appliances or rules will sort of flare up and become controversial.
And one of the really big talking points has been around consumer choice, or like the freedom of choice for consumers who like wanted to purchase low cost appliances, because even though, you know, energy efficient appliances tend to be a little bit higher cost up front, even if, you know, over the long term. They're saving people hundreds of dollars on bills.
BRODIE: So does this then indicate maybe to climate activists or just people who are generally in favor of the, the newer, more efficient appliances and technology that they need to figure out a different way to approach it or at least to talk about it?
YODER: It's a great question because, you know, even though these certain items have been swept up in the culture wars. Like people don't want products that needlessly waste energy and money. So, if you look at recent polling, for example, like 87% of Americans think there should be at least a minimum efficiency level for different home appliances, and that even included 82% of Republicans.
So I'm not sure it's like, if we need to message these differently or if there's just a question of like, how do you approach energy efficiency in such a polarized environment.
BRODIE: What do we see people actually buying when they are able to choose, for example, what kind of shower head they want or what kind of refrigerator they want, or what kind of stove they want? Like, do people tend to make the choice to be more efficient on their own?
YODER: It's interesting because there's not really an easy way for people to compare the efficiency of a product, like, say you're gonna go buy a fridge, you might look online or at a store and be like, oh, this option is slightly cheaper. And then you wouldn't realize like, oh this one is actually more inefficient and it's gonna cost me $100 more a year indefinitely. And so because those costs can add up to thousands of dollars, like that's a really big deal.
So essentially if you have these standards in place, you're guaranteeing a better long term deal with people, so they aren't getting stuck with these unnecessarily unnecessary bills, but there is like a trade-off in terms of them being a little more expensive upfront.
BRODIE: So what do folks who are in this world think is the future of these kinds of technologies in terms of energy efficient, water efficient, you know, low flow shower heads, things like that, like, is this gonna continue to be a political and maybe a social and cultural fight into the future?
YODER: I mean, I think it's likely to stay polarizing, just because we haven't seen a lot of, you know, tempering of those trends generally. I think, you know, where the culture wars can actually flare up about this, not just in legislation, but, you know, into like a broader sort of controversy is when people notice changes affecting their lives.
And, you know, often, I think that as the country has gotten more polarized, people's perceptions of, like, what's good and bad are often kind of based around group identity, and in a way, that's sort of what has happened with these standards. So, I think that's my interpretation of why these objects, even though they seem innocuous, like are becoming kind of more political. Like how could a showerhead ever be controversial, you know.
BRODIE: Yeah, well, I, I kind of wonder, you know, based on what you just said, like, is it really about the shower head or the stove or the light bulb, or is that just sort of a symbol of a bigger issue, maybe a bigger complaint that that people have?
YODER: Yeah, I think so. I mean, there's sort of this issue about consumer choice, which obviously goes back several decades, and Another piece of it is that companies that have sort of a stake in promoting these products, like, you know, gas stoves and gas water heaters and that sort of thing, they actually have, you know, a coordinated campaign to like, kind of promote this freedom to choose, you know, what energy type you prefer kind of messaging.
And it's interesting because that message has even made it, you know, to the Trump administration, like Chris Wright is the Energy secretary, and one of his top priorities is to promote affordability and consumer choice and home appliances. So that's, I think really the central argument that we've seen here.
