CONTRIBUTOR
The Biden administration introduced a new proposal for water heater efficiency standards Friday, becoming the latest widely-used household appliance to be singled out by the Energy Department.
The Department of Energy (DOE) claims the new water heater standards will curb carbon dioxide emissions and save Americans billions in the long-term, according to a Friday press release. The proposed rules are the latest advancement in the Biden administration’s wider push to regulate household appliances in pursuit of its climate agenda.
The regulation would mandate higher efficiency standards for new water heaters that use heat pumps, and would require new gas heat pumps to gain efficiency by using condensing technology, according to the DOE press release. Gas water heaters are smaller and less expensive, and thus carry cheaper installation costs than alternatives, according to FOX News.
“It’s just spreading to more and more appliances. It seems that almost everything that plugs in or fires up around the house is either subject to a pending regulation or soon will be,” Ben Lieberman, senior fellow at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, said of the administration’s efficiency regulations push, according to FOX News. (RELATED: Biden Admin Proposes Nearly $15 Billion In New Regulations Over Just One Week)
“Consumers aren’t going to like any of it,” Lieberman continued, according to FOX News. “These rules are almost always bad for consumers for the simple reason that they restrict consumer choice.”
The efficiency regulations would take effect in 2029 if they are finalized, according to the press release. Other appliances that the Biden administration is planning to issue updated energy standards for include dishwashers, residential laundry machines, refrigerators and boilers, according to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs.
The Biden administration has also attempted to regulate gas stoves, which led the Republican-controlled House to pass a bill in June that would bar any prospective federal ban on new gas stoves if it became law.
The DOE estimates that the new rule will save American consumers $198 billion in energy costs and reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 501 million metric tons over 30 years, according to the press release. The projected emissions reduction is equivalent to the combined annual amount of emissions generated by more than 60 million homes, or about half of the homes in the U.S., according to the press release.
“This proposal reinforces the trajectory of consumer savings that forms the key pillar of Bidenomics and builds on the unprecedented actions already taken by this Administration to lower energy costs for working families across the nation,” Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said Friday, according to the press release. The rule would “improve outdated efficiency standards for common household appliances, which is essential to slashing utility bills for American families and cutting harmful carbon emissions,” she added.
The DOE did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
The “savings” are numbers pulled from Jennifer Granholm’s butt. This is global warming, all the way down.
Eliminating the Department of Energy, and all regulations imposed during Jimmy Carter and later, would be a good start.
The whole federal government bureaucracy is way too bloated, and needs serious reform.
About 95 to 99 percent of political donations coming out of federal agencies go to the Democrats.
We definitely need reforms.
Why don’t they require private jets to have at least the efficiency of the Boeing 787?
I replaced my Water Heater when I bought my house 22 years ago. It still works well though I may consider replacing it in 2028 prior to the advent of new regulations. If I get another 22 Years from that new one, it’ll probably be the last water heater I’ll ever buy (in 2050 I’ll be 88)
They don’t make them like they used to. You must have good, noncorrosive water.
A huge problem came along when the fed decided to require home water feeds to have a one-way check valve at the water main. As the home warms up during the day, if everyone is off to school and work there can be a pressure rise and just by coincidence water heaters began to rust and fail with increased frequency as the porcelain linings failed prematurely. One thing leads to another.
Now the Fed would like you to eliminate natural gas appliances and heat in your home, get an electric car, throw away your emergency generator, and prepare for more power outages. What could possibly go wrong?
A small expansion tank is required to offset the rise in pressure.
Provided it is installed right and does not fail. Just another item to fail.
If they were serious about that, it would be Drill, Baby, Drill. Bringing back King Coal, and getting serious about nuclear power. Rationing is NEVER the way to “saving” energy costs.
And the mRNA will end Covid, and save grandma. I like the oddly specific 501 million metric tons. Its like they have this chart that stretches on for thirty years that perfectly models population growth, adoption rates, economic development, monthly utility bills, any organic efficiencies in appliance design absent mandates and social norms.
Because they can’t even tell me what the kW/hr costs will be six months from now, let along a generation from now.
Nice to see that their predictions require a span of time that exceeds the regulator’s career years before pension.
“slashing utility bills” Its entirely possible that people will have much lower utility bills because the power will only be available for a few hours each day. Their policies pretty much guarantee black-outs, shortages, profoundly high kW/hr costs. Maybe these “slashed utility bills” will only be available to those with very high social credit scores.
The only thing that will make Dishwashers, Air Conditioning, Cloths Washers and Dryers AND central heating more energy efficient is to make them less effective. Dishwashers will become dishwrincers (no drying cycles, no power washing cycles) Air Conditioners will become Fans (no effective coolant) Central heat will likely become radiative heating with city provided steam, cloths washers will become washboards and dryers will become hang lines that take all day and allow atmospheric allergens to settle on wet laundry. One load of laundry per day max with 8 hours of labor.
You are almost perfectly describing life in the Soviet Union.
If the Biden administration announces a massive loan scheme to build a new Trabant EV auto plant in the U.S., then I am moving to Costa Rica.
And only one small ice cube tray in your freezer…….ooops ice box
My clothes washer is rated to cost $13/year to operate if I heat water with gas. Twice that cost if I heat water with electricity.
So that is about $1.1/month. Oh, except one thing — I always wash in tap water. Estimates are that up to 90% of the cost of operating a clothes washer is due to water heating. If so, that would mean the washer is costing me 11 cents/mo!
If clothes washers have to be even more efficient, they will be practically paying me to wash my clothes. DOE is peopled with complete idiots.
No to DOE’s ridiculous assertion. It will vastly increase costs to consumers by pressuring them into buying electric water heaters, which in most places cost the consumer far more to operate.
Isn’t there something in the Constitution that states the Legislative body passes the laws and not some agency hidden in the swamp?
I think what happened was the legislative body shoved the onus on to the bureaucrats to avoid looking bad for doing their job
In that case they needed to change the Constitution to reflect that alteration of legislation provenance. When the lay person reads Article 1§1:
They see nothing about the Regulatory Branch, but naïvely assume that these things need to originate from Congress in the form outlined in the Constitution.
What Congress needs to do is read and follow the directions provided in Article 5 of the US Constitution and prepare an amendment that delegates legislative power to the Executive/Regulatory Branch and authorizes Congress to exist mainly for the grift and prestige of being a vestigial organ of Leviathan
That vestigal organ hanging between said Leviathan’s legs
Hasn’t there long been an administrative procedures act? Do it once and forget about it.
A hell, those legislative clowns can’t even put together a workable budget! But if I remember correctly they did find time to regulate lightbulbs to get rid of the cheap incandescent bulbs for most purposes.
Bingo! And they’re still doing it.
BTW, there’s an upcoming Supremes case regarding this topic – the “Chevron deference”. Let’s hope common sense prevails.
‘Let’s hope common sense prevails.’
One can hope. Of course, it would be far preferable if the ‘Supremes’ would just get serious about enforcing the 10th amendment, rather than their usual reliance upon hopelessly convoluted ‘case law’ precedents that continually favor the growth of the State.
Hasn’t he Biden administration been been especially faithful in following the suggestions of the Court?
If you could hack an article into the NYT that pleads for the Supreme Court to vote against “Chevron”, you could probably trick the dim bulbs Sotomayor and Jackson into voting the correct way!
Come now. You couldn’t expect the gentry to stoop to labor? That the servants’ job. You hire the servants and trust them to carry on faithfully while you do the important jobs of making social contacts and hawking campaign promises for contributions.
Congress threw away their control. They created the administrative state monster, and went partying with the lobbyists.
YOUR power points are OURS!!
Queensland risks hindering EV transition with proposed home charging rule changes, industry body says | Queensland | The Guardian
Has anyone priced one of these pre-regulation “higher efficiency… heat pumps”?
The traditional electric water heater went bad and I was considering a heat pump model but calculated that I would never see the savings because of the very high initial costs. I was still willing to go with a heat pump only because I live in Texas where I can duct in hot attic air for most of the year and cool the garage with the exhaust. The problem is, these things are noisy for homes that don’t have a basement or dedicated space away from where people actually live and use hot water.
For most of North America, the heat pump will be using auxiliary heat most of the time or placing additional HVAC load on the main system since it is extracting heat from expensive conditioned air; which puts off the heat-pump payback years after the tank itself rusts away. As usual, Leviathan is lying. These Dark Tetrad types that infest Babylon DC truly hate We The People.
The big problem with heat pumps is the lower the temperature of the outside air, then the more work that the heat pump has to do in order to extract/provide heat to the domestic system, be that for warm air or hot water. And so the electricity demand/ consumption increases. The ‘old’ gas boilers are far superior and far cheaper to run. Such a shame . .
And which area is coolest in a home? Probably the basement, right where just about everyone would stick this monstrosity. Plus, you’d never get the temperatures you can achieve with a normal water heater.
I wonder how they will make the dunnies more efficient.
They already have in my neck of the woods and the toilet brush is now a push stick for the big logs. Sexist progress if you ask me but you’re not getting rid of dad’s old school deep throat while I’m alive. That’s the bottom line and women and girliemen to the progressive back add-on.
Burning gas at the water heater is the most efficient way to heat water. Electricity has a lot of loss in the lines and converting to heat. These people have 0 clue on life.
Replacing gas with electric or adding heat pump to gas requires power to be run to the water heater so opening walls and running lines… how’s that cost savings.
I have had heat pump water heaters they break and add at least $600 to the cost over standard. They also need more maintenance and you need a drip line so if in a basement, another pain. They save maybe $80 a year.
Best way to save money is a programmable temperature control. Turn the water heater down at night and up during the day. Of course you risk bacteria in the water.
Be grateful they didn’t mandate geothermal heating for the entire country.
What about tankless gas water heaters, hot water on demand?
We’re installing a propane generator and thinking about replacing the electric water heater, which is 40+ years old.
I’ve heard if you can do gas, they’re not too bad. The recommendation was to avoid the electric versions.
Exactly what I have found out in my own research on the subject.
My propane based tankless heater works pretty good, but be aware of pressure issues. Mine doesn’t like the back-pressure when hot and cold are opened together in a combined faucet. The cold water has slightly more pressure which stops the flow and the tankless stops heating.
Obviously I need to make adjustments to my DIY install – just be sure to get a plumber who knows how to install tankless.
We had one about 20 years ago. It was OK. They’re probably better now. They are expensive to install because they take a large gas supply line and a large vent. I liked that you never ran out of hot water. I don’t think it really saved any gas compared to the tank version (in part because you end up running more hot water when you’re doing chores to avoid the cold water that occurs whenever you turn off the hot).
Don’t do it would be my advice. My brother-in-law had one in a rental property and it was breaking down constantly. All matter of sensors that fail, are a pain to replace, etc.
If you have a boiler, stick with a zone feeding a hot water storage tank. If not, then go with a gas water heater run from your propane tank.
“Be grateful they didn’t mandate geothermal heating for the entire country.”
Yet. You forgot to add the “yet” to the end of your sentence.
The “savings” mumbo-jumbo is just that. These people are on a crusade. Facts don’t matter.
What logic: We cut your power. So you save money.
pillageidiot (July 24, 2023 9:38 pm) is right: This is life in the Soviet Union.
‘Of course you risk bacteria in the water.’
Even DoE admits that the cost of standby heat loss is only a few bucks a month for relatively new equipment. Much healthier, as you noted, to keep the water temperature above 120F, assuming the system is equipped with adequate anti-scald protection.
You need to set the temperature at 140F to prevent bacteria. Your anti-scald protection is using your brain.
DOE should be banning electric water heaters if they truly want to save people a lot of money.
This nonsense is just going to get worse (if it can), until enough “sheeple” get signicantly annoyed, wake up and vote these dictator clowns out.
Even then, once the supply chains have shifted going back is challenging.
Yes, the dictator clowns need voted out, but the ever-present dark state that enacts the rules can never be fired.
Everyone needs to revisit the movie “Brazil” and Harry Tuttle.
You’d think they’d make their lies at least moderately believable. Then again, Jennifer Granholm is one of the most incompetent and malicious public figures in recent years.
Democrats badly want to destroy the middle class and push people to be dependent on government for handouts or on government to keep their wealth. If along the way they can enrich themselves and their friends, so much the better (for them, not the rest of us, obviously).
“ If along the way they can enrich themselves and their friends, so much the better”. No “if” about it. This has always been the plan that begets the regulation.
I have a gas fired water heater in CA.
Newsom plans to mandate electric water heaters in just a few years. I obtained some quotes:
* A new gas fired water heater installed: ~$2,000.
* A new heat pump water heater installed: ~$10,000
Of course, I assumed there would be massive savings in running costs so I checked my latest (summer) gas bill. The only gas appliances I use in summer are the water heater and a stovetop. The running cost for a month was $18.
So if a super efficient heat pump can reduce my energy bill by 80%, it will pay for itself in about 60 years. What a deal?
Where is Gruesome going to get the electricity for all those heaters?
When the workers get home after a long day of toil, the electricity for the hot water for their showers will be provided as soon as they plug their electric car back into their house!***
***See, solving the world’s problems is VERY easy if you just ignore physics!
Where to get the electricity is not her problem. The Department of Energy outsourced that problem to you and me.
From coal fired power in Nevada, most likely.
Ms. Granholm can try and pry my cold dead fingers from my gas hot water heater….
I am pretty sure that is exactly her plan.
Did you know that the number of armed federal agents in the U.S. government now exceeds the entire Marine Corps!
What part of the constitution authorizes the federal government to to do any of this? Unfortunately the government doesn’t give a rats rear end about the constitution they swore to uphold.
The Department of Energy needs to be dismantled, it has outlived it’s purpose and usefulness.
Remind me… what was its purpose and usefulness?
Idiots!
1) Most water heaters currently do not use heat pumps . . . they use direct electrical or gas-fired heating.
2) If the above article mis-stated the new requirements for improvements in household water heater efficiency such that there will be a mandate to switchover to using only gas-exchange heat pumps for water heaters, then the associated costs will go through the roof. Most household water heaters are located in garages or basements, some even in interior household rooms. For a gas-exchange heat pump to work for heating, it must have have a massive amount of pass-through air from which it extracts heat. Think about the extra ducting or plumbing needed for that, and trying to dampen out the roar from that air flow.
3) Heat pumps for heating work worst (least efficient) when the air supplying the heat energy is cold . . . as in winter times, just when hot water is most appreciated.
Here in the UK we have some of the oldest energy inefficient housing stock in the world. Installing a heat pump will require for many not only the heat pump itself but better insulation, double glazing, new larger radiators etc just to keep the house as warm as it already is with its current gas boiler system. Many properties are probably totally unsuitable for heat pumps.
There is a reason why 22m of the 28m homes in the UK are connected to the gas network.
How long before they come for my electric shaver?
Haven’t read the entire thread so maybe someone has already made this point.
But its simple arithmetic. The regulations are said to “reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 501 million metric tons over 30 years”. Which seems optimistic, but lets see how it figures.
Global emissions are running at 37 billion a year, and rising. Suppose 40 billion average (which is quite optimistic). That’s 1,200 billion tons.
0.501 / 1,200 x 100 = 0.04175%
They are tackling climate change with a measure which will cost a bomb and will reduce global emissions by 0.04%?
The UK did something similar with gas boilers some time back. They are now obliged to be condensing. Modern non-condensing boilers are about 85% efficient, condensing ones a bit over 90%. But, there is always a but, they are more complicated and have a shorter service life. So there will be neither financial nor emission savings, in fact they may both be worse.
Scotland (or rather the SNP) is now seriously proposing to make it unlawful to sell a house unless it has a heat pump installed for heating. Do they have installers? A grid that will carry the power? Enough installers? How much difference will that make to global emissions?
England is also proposing to ban the sale of oil fired boilers to replace existing ones that wear out, from 2025, That’s about 2 million off grid houses that will be affected. Again, how much difference? The grid? The installers?
Don’t bother me with these silly questions, I am saving the planet! And as for the SNP, if they do this the entire Cabinet could be arrested and no-one will notice in the paroxysm of rage caused by this measure.
The UK is however starting to waver on the ban of sales of ICE cars, now scheduled for 2030, as the reality of the life electric starts to dawn on the political class. And the electoral implications.
Nice phrase, Michel, “The life electric”. I like that!
I was once told by a gas installer that the max. eficiency of a non-condensing central-heating boiler (like mine) is 78% due to the laws of physics; condensing ones can get to the mid/high 80s in percentage terms.
I had mine installed just before they were outlawed because I didn’t want the complications of a condensing one – in my case, getting a water supply to it would be tricky without moving the boiler (and there really isn’t anywhere else to put it without re-plumbing the whole system). Now 19 years old it soldiers on and I’m waiting as long as I can before replacing it and keep a stock of essential spare parts.
How long it will last I don’t know but what is certain, though, is that it WON’T be replaced by a heat-pump!
The DEATH electric is probably closer to reality.
And here they are (professionally incompetent, greedy and bankrupt) going after wood-stoves in a story reminiscent of how diesel cars were going to Save the World but are now: Spawn of the Devil
Headline:”Sadiq Khan in U-turn on ‘eco’ wood-burners amid pollution fears
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/jul/22/sadiq-khan-mayor-u-turn-eco-wood-burners-pollution-fears
Well, that proves what a load of bolleaux “eco-certification” is…
What’s next? Limiting the amount of ice cubes I can freeze?
The future of the “life electric” will include “Bandit Boilermen” and “Furnace Felons” who replace parts in aged equipment and keep them operating outside the regulatory scope of big brother. Ordinary homeowners and plumbers will become criminals violating federal law until the gas distribution systems are abandoned. Indeed, it will be the movie “Brazil” brought to life. I play it for the family every Christmas since it is a Christmas movie.
Houses and boilers are immobile so government home inspectors will have an easy time finding violators and destroying their social credit standing.
Story Tip:
Feds say water heater rule will save consumers $11B
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 over 500 million metric tons 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.
The headline says that the water heater rule will save consumers $11 billion. Yet, in the body of the article, it says consumers will save $200 billion. Which number is correct? Let’s analyze the “savings” based on $200 billion. But how much will a typical homeowner save?
Consider a quick calculation that any well-educated eighth grader should be able to do. There are about 230,000,000 homes in the United States. The DOE states that with the new water heater standards, consumers will save $200,000,000,000 over 30 years. This works out to be $6,666,666,666 dollars per year. For the 230,000,000 homes in this country, the average homeowner’s annual savings would amount to $28.98 per year, or $2.42 per month. Hardly a significant savings for a homeowner.
A condensing type of water heater is alleged to save money over a conventional water heater, but the initial costs are higher. The maintenance costs are higher, too. Exact cost data is unreported. But will the savings be more than the $2.42 per month as noted above?
The DOE further claims that over the course of 30 years, this new water heater standard will have removed 500 million metric tonnes of CO2. Well, the atmosphere weighs 5.5 quadrillion metric tonnes. Written out this is 5,500,000,000,000,000 metric tonnes. The amount of CO2 removed works out to be only 0. 0000091% of the atmosphere.
Consider, too, that CO2 is only about 0.04% of the atmosphere now. In the pre-industrial era, CO2 constituted only 0.03 % of the atmosphere. So, the DOE is having us alter our chosen lifestyles, limit our consumer choices, and increase our overall cost of living because of only a 0.01% change in atmospheric CO2.
The DOE needs to quit claiming savings for the masses but look down to the individual level and see how individual households are affected, which in this case, is not much and not worth the effort.
one death is a tragedy, 1,000,000 deaths is a statistic.
would take effect in 2029
Convenient timing there
I can’t be the only one here old enough to remember when solar hot water heating
panels were springing up on rooftops like weeds in a garden. Kinda surprising that
Granholm and Co hasn’t taken us back down that path again. That was back when
natural gas got real expensive and the folks doing the solar were just trying to save
a buck not “saving the planet”. I went to a wood boiler heating system that is hooked
into a gas fired boiler that has a sidearm water heater for the domestic hot water.
It’s not the smoke dragon type but a wood gas down draft beast. Even has a EPA
“Gold Star” sticker on it. A good part of N Europe uses these things i’ve read. It’s a
older batch load style but I have been looking at upgrading to a newer pellet system..
Those are much nicer as they self feed. I suppose I need to get one before the enviro-nazis
want to kill those off.
It is not just efficiency at the point of delivery. One must also account for the cost of the energy source. Thus, in terms of actual annual operating cost in most places, gas-fired water heaters are far cheaper to operate then electric. Higher cost means higher greenhouse gas emissions when one takes a full-accounting.
Given the large cost (and implicit GHG emissions) discrepancy, the government should outright BAN costly electric water heaters “to save the planet.”
“The regulation would mandate higher efficiency standards for new water heaters that use heat pumps, and would require new gas heat pumps to gain efficiency by using condensing technology, according to the DOE press release.”
What is “condensing technology” for a gas heat pump? Condensing usually means turning a vapor to a liquid by removing heat. What does that have to do with heating water? Does Ms. Granholm even know what this means?
Isn’t knowing, or pretending to know, a job for staff?
Nope. A vivid illustration of why congress should not be ceding any authority to these pseudo “experts” about anything.
About 23 years ago I went to an auction where a local school system was getting rid of excess or unused equipment. I bid on a brand new 60 gallon Bradford White electric water heater and got it for $40.00 and stored it.
Oct, 2001 we moved into this house. The next month I installed that Bradford White water heater to replace the old 40 gallon one that came with the house.
Last Saturday while taking a shower I started running out of hot water. In the approximately 21 years since that water heater was installed we had no trouble with it of any kind.
I pulled off the panel and hit the reset button on the thing and it arced, and sputtered but no fire. The water heater started making hot water again. Soon the emergency pop off valve started spraying water everywhere. I flipped the breaker off and turned on the hot water in the kitchen sink to depressurize it.
We went without hot water Sunday and on Monday morning I was on the phone to the plumbing company we use. My days of fooling with that kind of stuff are over. I just told them what happened and how old the water heater was and told them I was going to need a new water heater.
They came out shortly after noon and by 15:30 I had a new Bradford White 60 Gallon electric water heater installed. Total cost $1,327.00.
They told me Bradford White water heaters were the only electric water heaters they stock and offer a warranty on. They also told me that the average electric water heater goes 8 years before a heating element will fail. But heating elements can be replaced and the water heater will still be good as long as too much lime has not built up in the tank or the tank hasn’t ruptured.
But as old as mine was it was time to replace it and not fool around with new heating elements and thermostat.
It was a bad week for anyone who thought China would cooperate on emissions reduction. President Xi Jinping reiterated that his country would set its own path on the issue and not be influenced by outside factors, according to the Washington Post and Bloomberg. This contradicts Xi’s 2015 Paris Agreement pledges to reduce its carbon emissions at the latest after 2030.
Xi’s remarks came while climate envoy and former secretary of state John Kerry was visiting Beijing to reopen a dialogue. This was shortly after Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived, and just before former secretary of state Henry Kissinger, the architect of opening China to the West 50 years ago, came for a visit.
Meanwhile, the biggest dam fool is plotting to “end hot water heaters”