It’s going to save you money, you guys!
US plans water heater standards, says they will save consumers $11 billion
The U.S. Department of Energy on Friday proposed energy efficiency standards on water heaters it said would save consumers $11.4 billion on energy and water bills annually.
The standards on residential water heater efficiency, which are required by Congress, have not been updated in 13 years. Water heating is responsible for roughly 13% of both annual residential energy use and consumer utility costs, the DOE said.
The proposal would require the most common-sized electric water heaters to achieve efficiency gains with heat pump technology and gas-fired water heaters to achieve efficiency gains through condensing technology.
The standards, to take effect in 2029 if finalized, are expected to save nearly $200 billion and reduce more than 500 million metric tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions over 30 years, about equal to the combined annual emissions of 63 million homes, or approximately 50% of homes in the United States, the DOE said.
You just had to know they were going to involve climate doom, right? Anyhow, to help perpetuate the scam, they will skyrocket the cost of water heaters, so, you might save some money with the newer one monthly, but, you will spend way more on the cost of purchasing and installing a new one. Much like with the new standards for air conditioning systems, the prices went way up near the end of last year.
Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said the proposal “builds on the unprecedented actions already taken by this administration to lower energy costs for working families.”
How does she say this with a straight face? Electricity and gas are way up.
A group including water heater maker Rheem, environmental group Natural Resources Defense Council and efficiency and consumer advocacy organizations issued a joint statement welcoming the new standards.
More money for Rheem, and the others won’t be contributing to your higher purchase costs
Tankless water heater maker Rinnai, however, said the proposed standards for its products were “technologically impossible” and would reduce consumer choice.
Technologically impossible. Sounds about right.
The jackasses strike again! I’m sure that no one did an engineering economic analysis to add the purchase cost to the lifetime operating costs (including maintenance costs) for each type of unit reflected to the present through the expected interest rates, so as to minimize the costs for each unit.
When I converted to gas about 35 years ago, I personally valued reliability over energy efficiency. I therefore bought a cast iron gas boiler instead of an expensive condensing gas boiler that touted over 90% efficiency. My neighbor, on the other hand, with a similar sized house, bought a condensing boiler. For about 8 years, both he (and I to a lesser extent) had to put up with the sound of the pulsating exhaust of his condensing boiler. jeh jeh jeh jeh jeh …. Luckily after 8 years, the heat transfer surfaces of his boiler corroded through and he had a mini flood. He ended up switching to the same cast iron boiler that I purchased. My boiler is still going strong and trouble free after 36 years, and it looks like I may even have another 14 years of trouble free service when it will be time for a new one. And, if none are available then, I can always switch to a wood fired boiler. Let’s go Brandon!
Of course not. Brandon cancelled Trump’s executive order mandating cost-benefit analysis for regulations, because they have Top. Men. working on these things.
WOW. If I saved 11 Billion on my hot water bill, I would be rich.
They just can’t leave us alone. Every single appointed official want to implement some new idea they thin would be swell. It is as if they think they have the authority to do those things. If such wonderful devices were made available in the marketplace, then consumers could decide for themselves if they wanted them. But with communists, every idea is so good you have to be forced to do it.
government in action. moving from crisis to crisis in order to save you from yourselves. you should know by now that government does not solve things. it invents things to keep the cash flowing to them and justify their highly paid jobs
Hey now. Let’s not make this personal. Most of us government employees are paid just the right amount.
What is “heat pump technology?”
…and China is building (reliable) coal power plants as quickly as they can.
Look up the term “schmuck”. That’s us under the Brandon administration.
When the government tells you that the next law or regulation is going to “save consumers” money, you know that they are lying.
Here’s part of the lie:
The activists have been pushing all along to eliminate natural gas appliances; who would be naïve enough to believe that the new ‘standards’ would allow the manufacture of new gas water heaters?
What does our propane — no natural gas lines out here in the countryside — water heater do for us? Well, it means that, if the sparktricity fails, which it can do for days at a time, we still have hot water! Yes, I could easily install an electric water heater, because I left the wiring in place when we pulled the old, failing water heater out — though I disconnected it in the breaker panel — but why would I?
But the Affordable Health Care Act decreased health care expense. No, it eliminated the availability of health care and increased the overall cost.
I seem to remember some change to domestic water heater standards under the earlier Obozo administration. It increased the insulation or something similar making some replacements difficult and, of course, increasing expense. This latest ‘directive’ from the clown show will have similar effects. Of course, the ultimate goal is to eliminate gas appliances and put everyone on expensive, unreliable sparktricity with second rate appliances. I haven’t replaced a water heater in some time, but all the ones I’ve done in the past have been with gas appliances after a quick cost/benefit ratio analysis with estimated operating costs and efficiency levels. I don’t use sparktricity for any heating other than an oven and won’t even consider a house without natural gas.
This is a perfect example of the stupidity of the wackos we have in government. To install an electric water heater with “heat pump technology;”
“Heat pump water heaters require installation in locations that remain in the 40º–90ºF (4.4º–32.2ºC) range year-round and provide at least 1,000 cubic feet (28.3 cubic meters) of air space around the water heater. Air passing over the evaporator can be exhausted to the room or outdoors.
Heat pump water heaters will not operate efficiently in a cold space since they tend to cool the space they are in. Installing them in a space with excess heat, such as a furnace room, will increase their efficiency.”
Leaving the temperature requirement aside, the space requirement demands a room of about 11’6″ x 11’6″ x (8′ std and usual height).
Very few homes in the south or western US have basements. Most existing electric water heaters are tucked away in closets, under stairs or perhaps in the attic.
So to install a new one will be very expensive with a major loss of living space.
For new homes, at least in TN, the cost for the additional floor space at $150/sq ft, is around $20,000.
Natural gas units have a similar problem.
It will be interesting to watch and see if our Republican officials attempt to do anything about this.
https://www.energy.gov/energysaver/heat-pump-water-heaters
Interesting comment on the “heat pump water heater”. We ended our renovating of old homes around 10 years ago, and while I was familiar with heat pumps I had never heard of the technology being used for domestic hot water. While I haven’t researched the subject much, taking James’ description of space requirements and the typical code restrictions on water heater location, these things could eat up a lot of expensive space. Not mentioning that heat pumps only work well under a relatively narrow set of conditions, particularly air to air units.
Looking at our bill, AuntieM and I have a gas bill of barely the minimum billing cooking and heating water with gas when it isn’t heat season, just how would we save money? Also, what kind of life cycle maintenance costs do these things have?
Typical for government, someone pitches a crackpot idea that will save the planet, moron pols get behind it and we get another expensive regulation.