LETTER: Appliances and water use

Your Saturday editorial argues that “the federal government has no business telling Americans what kind of showerheads they may use.” Do water authorities have any business telling me when I can water my grass? Is the difference that shower water can be re-used? But your editorial a few weeks ago said that other states are far behind Nevada in water re-use. If they won’t re-use, they have to use less.

Regarding modern dishwashers being more energy efficient but taking longer to run, you write “most people wouldn’t define longer cycles as efficient.” That’s a generalization going from a specific form of efficiency to the general. The energy-efficient appliance costs less to operate over its lifetime. I run my dishwasher at night in energy efficient mode. I don’t care how long it takes as long as it’s finished by the morning. I enjoy energy and fiscal efficiency.

You also link energy efficiency with shorter product lifespans without providing any evidence of how one causes the other. Average automobile fuel economy has doubled over the past 50 years. The average age of a car in operation has also doubled. One doesn’t necessarily lead to the other.