Heat Pump Water Heaters (HPWH) pay back big in the long run.
Your water heater lives an inconspicuous life. It is often over looked, hidden away in some far recess of your basement, collecting a thin film of dust. If you’re like most folks, only when it ceases to function properly (or at all) do you become aware of it. When it needs to be replaced you don’t know what’s worse, the cost of new equipment or another arctic rinse. But let’s face it; your tolerance of cold showers quickly erodes after the first plunge.
After your core body temperature returns to normal you have to call a plumber. Unless your house is in constant disarray, your plumber isn’t on speed dial. While online to find a decent plumber in your area, do some background research to get a sense of what you need and how much it will cost. You quickly conclude that the average installed cost for a standard electric resistance water heater is roughly $600. Unfortunately, despite your internet prowess and proficiency in cyberspace you may have over-looked the sparse information about heat pump water heaters (HPWH). Rather than an electric resistance water heater, HPWHs function much like a refrigerator in reverse. HPWHs pull heat from the surrounding air and force it, at a higher temperature, into a tank to heat water. Continue reading
A pat on the back for the ENERGY STAR brand was well deserved at this year’s Partners Meeting where attendees celebrated 20 years of the brand’s achievements in the market adoption of high efficiency products and billions of dollars and millions of metric tons of GHG emissions saved each year from ENERGY STAR products ($20 billion on utility bills and 195 million metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions in 2010 alone!). Whether it was looking back at ENERGY STAR’s humble beginnings in 1992, or looking forward to the opportunities and challenges in deeper energy savings, the important role of energy efficiency for the environment and the economy was a key message. 
