EU Bans Powerful Vacuums – Could America Be Next?

People living in EU countries only have a few days left in which they can buy a vacuum cleaner with more than 1600 watts. On September 1st, a ban will go into place, preventing countries from manufacturing or importing any new vacuums that require more electricity than that to pick dirt out of the carpet. The ban has inspired strong backlash from both consumers and stores in the EU, with many of them claiming that their top sellers fall into that category.

Soon, the 2100w Hoover Spirit TSP2101, the 2100w Samsung CycloneForce Sensor, and many other popular vacuum models will no longer be sold in EU countries. The regulations regarding vacuum wattage come as a result of the energy efficiency directive, a mission concerned with saving the world from climate change. Who knew that it was the sucking force of our vacuum cleaners that was causing that century-long warming trend scientists have been talking about? Al Gore should have spent a little more time on the destructive force of the vacuum in his documentary.

What’s even scarier about the EU’s directive is that this is only the beginning. Starting in 2017, all vacuums sold or manufactured will have to use less than 900 watts of electricity. The EU doesn’t have any rule changes dated past that, but we can assume that the number will keep going down until owning a carpet in Europe is simply impractical.

The question is – could these types of restrictions be coming to the United States?

Americans are more fiercely protective of the status quo than Europeans, a fact that will make it hard for politicians to push energy limitations into law. Obama has focused most of his “global warming” efforts against the coal industry, causing outrage in places like West Virginia by demanding a 30% carbon emissions cut at any power plants burning fossil fuels. These plants have until 2030 to come into compliance, but experts already fear that these regulations could cost hundreds of thousands of jobs and force the closure of plants nationwide.

The closest Americans have gotten to the vacuum cleaner ban is the phase-out of incandescent lightbulbs, and, to be fair, that’s pretty damn close. We don’t even get the satisfaction of hating Obama for this ban as it was signed gleefully into law by President Bush. Now households across the country have to pay for these ugly, expensive CFLs, a prospect that might not be so bad were we not forced into it by the nanny state.

Will we see vacuum cleaner bans in the future? Plastic bag bans? Hot water restrictions? As long as we keep feeding into the myth of manmade global warming and giving in to the misunderstanding of long-term climate change, the prospect of these regulations in America become more likely by the day.