The Biden administration is cracking down on water heaters by imposing greater efficiency standards.
Consumers will have to shovel out thousands of dollars more to install a heat pump water heater rather than a conventional storage water heater in order to fall in line with new standards released on Friday by the Department of Energy.
If the proposal is adopted, by 2029, all new electric water heaters must deploy heat pump technology and all gas-fired ones will use condensing technology.
The Department of Energy estimates that if finalized, the measure will “save Americans approximately $198 billion and reduce 501 million metric tons of harmful carbon dioxide emissions over 30 years.”
Residential water efficiency standards were last updated in 2010, and it is essential these new standards be approved in order to “slash” utility bills, according to U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer M. Granholm.