Article Title: Energy Department agrees to set new appliance efficiency standards - USATODAY.com

Excerpt: The Energy Department has agreed to boost energy efficiency requirements for nearly two dozen household appliances and equipment from dishwashers to fluorescent lamps as part of a court settlement after years of inaction.

Excerpt: "This commonsense standards will save consumers money, lower our dependence on foreign oil and improve public health and our environment," New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer, the state's governor-elect, said in a statement in Albany.