In his recent speech about the economy, President Obama noted that “there are still some kind of dopey regulations on the books.” He didn’t note that his Administration has been adding to them at a dizzying rate. For example, one of the dopiest, in concept and execution, was last year’s rule to regulate the energy use of microwave ovens when they aren’t being used. It went by this catchy title: Energy Conservation Program: Energy Conservation Standards for Standby Mode and Off Mode for Microwave Ovens.

It’s so dopey that it’s worth repeating what’s being regulated: the energy use of microwave ovens when they are off. Its intent is to reduce the energy use of the digital clocks on microwave ovens. The rule aims to cut average energy use from 4.5 watts to 2.2 watts, which the math wizards at the Department of Energy (DOE) estimate will save the average oven owner about $1.50 per year. Except not really.

The DOE rule, in essence, bans the cheap and durable VFD technology used in many microwave oven displays and suggests backlit LCD as a more efficient substitute. Buried deep in the 50-page rule is this brief admission: “DOE notes that the test units for one of the models with a backlit LCD failed after 20 hours at 82.5°C and after 60 hours at 67.5°C.” Since they only tested two backlit LCD models (2 units of each model), this technology had a 50 percent failure rate in their own tests.

A microwave oven is worthless without a functioning display. So how did DOE factor the 50 percent chance that your new microwave oven will tank after 20–60 hours of use into their cost-benefit calculations? They simply noted that the other two units seemed to still be working. That is, they simply ignored this embarrassingly large problem.

The dopiness of this rule would drive Dopey verbal. Who knows where the DOE does its shopping, but they estimate the average installed cost of built-in and over-the-range microwave ovens to be over $500. So they want to save consumers $1.50 per year on their energy bill at the cost of a 50 percent chance of trashing the appliance before 60 hours of cooking takes place on the stove below. You can imagine the hard-nosed thinking of the green eyeshades at DOE. “Let’s see, a 50–50 shot of losing $500 is $250. Compare that to $1.50 in energy savings and we get a net savings of, um… Why don’t we just say the glass is half full and ignore the failure rate? Consumers will save a $1.50 per year!”

It’s far from clear that the Obama Administration is actually doing much to get rid of “kind of dopey” regulations. It would be great if it could simply stop creating them.