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As it became clear that ENERGY STAR® would align their water heater level with the product specifications in the CEE High Efficiency Residential Gas Water Heating Initiative last year, members formed a supplemental project to promote ENERGY STAR water heaters up and down the supply chain. Since named the Coalition for ENERGY STAR Water Heaters, CEE kicked off their public efforts at the 2009 International Builders' Show® (IBS) and NEXTBUILD, held January 20–23 at the Las Vegas Convention Center in Las Vegas, Nevada.
The press conference was held Wednesday, January 21, to announce the special project of CEE comprised of industry associations, utility providers, and leading water heater manufacturers. Representatives from the Department of Energy, ENERGY STAR, CEE, and the Coalition For ENERGY STAR Water Heaters discussed the importance of this initiative and were available prior to the announcement for a networking opportunity with attendees. Special thanks to BASF, an ENERGY STAR partner, that hosted CEE at IBS. Spokespersons from manufacturers A. O. Smith, Bradford White, Rheem, and Rinnai were also in attendance.
Through consistent messaging by industry stakeholders—including energy efficiency programs, manufacturers, retailers, environmental groups, and government agencies—CEE and the Coalition For ENERGY STAR Water Heaters aim to encourage the support of increased production and purchase of ENERGY STAR residential water heaters. On January 1, 2009, water heaters that qualify for the ENERGY STAR label were introduced to the market.
"At CEE, we are striving to inspire significant changes in markets through the promotion of energy efficient technologies," said Kara Rodgers, CEE senior program manager. "With more than 90,000 industry professionals attending IBS, there is no better forum to unveil this new coalition in hopes of increasing awareness of the benefits of ENERGY STAR water heaters and encouraging retailers and distributors to stock the units."
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At the upcoming ACEEE MT Symposium, March 30–31, 2009, a special session moderated by Rodgers and Harvey Sachs of ACEEE is planned to delve into the following questions.
- How do we estimate unit energy savings for the ENERGY STAR Water Heater program, given uncertainties about hot water use in general, and with different technologies in particular?
- The efficiency doubling with heat pump water heaters is much larger than the potential for improvements of gas water heaters, probably around 30 percent. Will this lead to fuel switching, even though the source energy requirements of condensing water heaters and heat pump water heaters are comparable?
- On the gas side, what are expectations for storage vs. tankless water heaters?
- How will new construction programs differ from retrofit water heater programs, given that solar and tankless have different installation requirements from storage?
- Will there be regional issues, both for tankless, for example, hard water, and heat pump water heaters, for example, nonbasement installations?
- Is ENERGY STAR really the best vehicle for an emerging technology commercialization program? What about alternatives such as market aggregation?
If you are considering adding efficient water heating to your portfolio of efficiency efforts, this is an important session to attend. For more information, contact Kara Rodgers at krodgers at cee1.org. |
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