Our new Bosch is a huge improvement over the Whirlpool it replaced. It runs quieter and the dishes are far cleaner. The one aspect the old Whirlpool did bette

Our new Bosch is a huge improvement over the Whirlpool it replaced. It runs quieter and the dishes are far cleaner. The one aspect the old Whirlpool did better in was speed, running in about half the time as the new one. But considering that the Bosch is silent and the dishes that come out of it are spotless, it's worth the wait. But this article isn't really about dishwashers. This is a rant about government regulation(aka "laws"). Laws are hard to get right. Often, lawmakers regulate the symptoms of a problem rather than regulating the core issue. The issue here is water and energy efficiency. The article is right to point out that laws governing the design of appliances is a terrible way to address the issue. But to pretend that water and energy efficiency don't matter is to blind oneself to the major challenge that humanity will face in the 21st century. In a lot of places, water is carelessly pumped from aquifers faster than it's being replaced. This is a localized problem. The world over, carbon is cheaply converted from fossil remains into the atmosphere and changing the climate. This is a global problem. Let's see the American Institute for Economic Research endorse some real solutions for real problems. Maybe sensibly taxing aquifer water or carbon emission.