Climate Repository Executive Editor Marc Morano reacts to comments from a Senate hearing on climate concerns and sounds off on the latest Biden administration climate push in ‘The Bottom Line.’
The Biden administration is banning some natural gas water heaters from the market as part of its climate change agenda, a move critics say will raise energy costs for low-income and elderly households.
The move in the administration’s final days would phase out non-condensing, natural gas water heaters by 2029 in an effort to reduce carbon dioxide emissions that climate change advocates and President Biden say cause global warming.
The new rules will require new tankless gas water heaters to use about 13% less energy than today’s less efficient tankless models.
The Biden administration is banning some natural gas water heaters from the market as part of its climate change agenda, a move critics say will raise energy costs for low-income and elderly households. (Ting Shen/Bloomberg via Getty Images, left, Hearst Newspapers via Getty Images, right. / Getty Images)
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The rules apply to both non-condensing and gas-fired water heaters, but the rules raise efficiency requirements to a threshold that only condensing models can meet, effectively banning cheaper but less expensive models efficient without condensation, according to The Washington Free Beacon. Condensation technology uses less heat.
Consumers will be forced to buy more expensive models or cheaper non-instantaneous water heaters that are less efficient than the models that are banned by the DOE.
Tankless technology is often used when space is at a premium, such as in apartment buildings and smaller homes, Diana Furchtgott-Ruth, director of the Center for Energy, Climate and Environment, wrote in The Daily Signal.
For example, Rinnai America is the only company that manufactures tankless water heaters in the United States. Its tankless, non-condensing natural gas water heater sells for about $1,000 at Home Depot, compared to $1,800 for a 75-gallon condensing tank.
The new rules were released by the Department of Energy (DOE) the day after Christmas, although the agency did not make a public announcement. Fox Business has reached out to the DOE for comment.
President Biden delivers remarks on extreme heat conditions on July 27, 2023. (Reuters/Jonathan Ernst/File Photo/Reuters Photos)
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Matthew Agen, the American Gas Association’s chief energy adviser, criticized the move, labeling it “deeply troubling and irresponsible.”
“The final rule is a violation of the Energy Conservation and Policy Act (EPCA), which prohibits DOE from promulgating a standard that makes a product with a particular performance characteristic unavailable,” Agen said in a statement before the rules to be officially published.
To make matters worse, Agen said, the DOE’s own analysis claims that the average life-cycle cost savings would barely amount to $112 over the product’s entire average 20-year life. He said the rule is unjustifiable on legal and practical grounds.
“Forcing low-income and senior customers to pay much earlier is particularly troubling. DOE’s decision to proceed with a flawed final rule is deeply disappointing.”
Rinnai recently built a $70 million, 360,000-square-foot plant in Georgia to produce non-condensing gas water heaters for the U.S. market, according to The Washington Free Beacon.
Frank Windsor, president of Rinnai America, told the media that the move is a “bad deal.”
He said the company began construction in 2020 following President Trump’s efforts to boost American manufacturing, and it employs hundreds.
“When the rule goes into effect, all production will essentially be irrelevant,” Windsor told the media. “A lot of the major equipment that we’ve invested in will basically have to be written off.”
People with placards and posters during a global climate change strike. (iStock / iStock)
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However, the move was welcomed by the non-profit Standards Awareness Project (ASAP), saying it will eliminate 32 million metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions from water heaters sold over 30 years.
The group, which supports reducing energy and water use in appliances, says it defended the DOE’s efficiency standards.
“This is a common sense step that will lower total household costs while reducing global warming emissions,” said Andrew deLaski, executive director of ASAP.
“These long-awaited standards will ensure more households save with the proven energy-efficient technology already used in most tankless units.”
