Proposed Water Heater Standards Fall Short on Efficiency

New home water heater efficiency standards proposed last week by the Obama Administration will save energy and money for U.S. households and reduce global warming and other harmful emissions; but they fall short of their potential according to a broad coalition of energy-efficiency, consumer and environmental organizations.

The new standards will affect the nine million new residential water
heaters sold every year, which account for an estimated 20% of
the typical home’s energy use. DOE’s analysis shows that the proposed
new standards can be met with modest changes such as adding more
insulation to today’s conventional tank style water heaters. But by
failing to require even a partial transition to next-generation
technologies–condensing gas water heaters and electric heat pump
water heaters–the proposed standards leave huge potential energy
savings on the table.

"This proposal captures significant and cost-effective energy savings from conventional water heater technologies, but it does little to advance new technologies which can provide much larger energy and economic savings,” said Steven Nadel, Executive Director of the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE).

DOE estimates that the proposed standards would save 2.6 quads of
energy over 30 years (for comparison, a quad is enough energy to meet
the total needs of about 5 million typical U.S. households for one
year). Over the same period, consumers would save about $15.6 billion
and carbon dioxide emissions would be cut by 154 million metric tons. 

But a standard that required the more energy-efficient condensing gas
and electric heat pump water heaters would increase savings more than
six-fold, to nearly 17 quads, save consumers $48 billion and reduce carbon dioxide (CO2)
emissions by 965 million metric tons. But DOE concludes that such a
shift, which would require complete retooling by the water heater
industry and entail big increases in upfront costs for some consumers,
would be too disruptive.

A middle ground standard would require the
use of the newer, more efficient advanced technologies for only water
heaters larger than 55 gallons, which represent 4% and 11% of the gas and electric water heater markets, respectively.
That middle ground standard would save 3.7 quads, save consumers $22
billion and reduce CO2 emissions by 217 million metric tons.

“We agree that it’s too early to mandate next generation technologies for the entire water heater market,” said Nadel. “But if DOE required this shift for the very biggest water heaters, the energy, economic, and CO2 savings would increase by about 40 percent compared to the department’s proposal. That would also pave the way for a longer term transition to the best, advanced technologies, which is where the biggest savings can be found.”

“In their remarkable race to improve appliance efficiency standards, DOE has stumbled a bit, leaving large consumer savings behind and missing the chance to promote new technologies–two goals that the administration has rightly set forth as national imperatives,” said Alliance to Save Energy President Kateri Callahan. “We hope that DOE will pick up those savings in the final rule, or that manufacturers will join with us to ensure that, at least in new homes, only the best technologies are used.”

Condensing and heat pump technologies are common in space heating but have only a toehold so far in the water heater market. About one-third of U.S. furnace sales are of condensing products, and about 8% of U.S homes are warmed with heat pumps. Major water heater companies are working on bringing these technologies to the water heater market.

“The proposed water heater standards pass up the chance to move technology forward,” said Tim Ballo, attorney with Earthjustice. “Water heating is responsible for a fifth of all household energy use, and there are technologies available today that are vastly more efficient than the levels DOE proposed.”

“With President Obama about to go to Copenhagen, one of the best ways to show American leadership would be for his administration to embrace new, energy-saving technologies that will create jobs and reduce CO2 emissions,” said Callahan. “The United States could be the international leader in advanced water heater technology, and improved standards can help foster that transition.”