U.S. Department of Energy deleted 1,600+ energy-saving webpages amid summer heat wave

At least 1,662 U.S. Department of Energy webpages providing guidance on lowering energy costs and protecting the electrical grid during heat waves had gone dark as of July 3, 2026, according to a Guardian analysis of deleted-URL data supplied by the Internet Archive and published July 15. The pages, part of the department's "Energy Saver" section, included tips on summer cooling and home weatherization; more than 300 had drawn over 160,000 views in the preceding 30 days, per General Services Administration web-traffic data reviewed by the Guardian. At least 18 of the removed pages were taken down within days of a proposed DOE rollback of home-appliance energy-efficiency standards. The department did not respond to the Guardian's questions about when, why, or whether the deletions were related to the rollback.

The removals fit a broader pattern of federal agencies taking down public information that conflicts with the administration's priorities, including prior removals of data on LGBTQ youth and Consumer Financial Protection Bureau consumer resources. Advocates including the Appliance Standards Awareness Project and the Energy and Policy Institute said the deletions coincided with, and appeared to support, the administration's push to roll back appliance efficiency standards that an industry-coalition analysis estimated save households an average of $160 a year on utility bills.