Climate Warehouse Executive Editor Mark Morano reacts to comments from a Senate hearing on climate concerns and talks about the Biden administration's latest climate push on the “bottom line.”
this Biden administration As part of its climate change agenda, it would ban some natural gas water heaters from the market, a move critics say would raise energy costs for low-income households and seniors.
The move, in the final days of the administration, will take non-condensing water heaters and natural gas off the shelves by 2029 to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. Climate change Advocates and President Biden say it causes global warming.
The new rules require new tankless gas water heaters to use about 13 percent less energy than today's tankless models.
The Biden administration is banning some natural gas water heaters from the market as part of its climate change plan, a move critics say will raise energy costs for low-income households and seniors. (Ting Shen/Bloomberg via Getty Images, left, Hearst Newspapers via Getty Images, right. / Getty Images)
According to The Washington Free Beacon, the rules apply to both non-condensing and condensing gas water heaters, but the rules raise efficiency requirements to a threshold that only condensing models can meet. And according to The Washington Free Beacon, it effectively bans cheaper but more efficient non-condensing models. Dense technology wastes less heat.
Consumers will be forced to buy more expensive models or cheaper instantaneous storage tank water heaters that are less efficient than the DOE-banned models.
Diana Furchtgott-Ruth, director of the Center for Energy, Climate and Environment, wrote in the Daily Signal that tankless technology is often used when space is at a premium, such as apartment buildings and smaller homes.
For example, Rinnai America is the only company that manufactures tankless water heaters in the United States. A natural gas water heater without a tank and without condensation is sold for about 1000 dollars warehousecompared to $1,800 for a 75-gallon compact 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 photo)
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Matthew Ajen, the American Gas Association's senior energy advisor, condemned the move, calling it “deeply troubling and irresponsible.”
“The final rule violates the Energy Policy and Conservation Act (EPCA), which prohibits DOE from promulgating a standard that excludes a product with a distinctive performance characteristic,” Agen said in a statement before the rules were officially released.
To make matters worse, the DOE's own analysis claims average life-cycle cost savings of barely $112 over an average product's 20-year lifespan, according to Agen. He said: This law is legally and practically unjustifiable.
“Forcing low-income and senior customers to pay up front is far more troubling. DOE's decision to proceed with the flawed final rule is deeply disappointing.”
Rina Recently built A $70 million, 360,000-square-foot plant in Georgia to produce non-condensing gas water heaters for the U.S. market, the Washington Free Beacon reported.
Frank Windsor, president of RENA America, told the outlet that the move was a “bad deal.”
He said the company began construction in 2020 following President Trump's efforts to boost American manufacturing, hiring hundreds of people.
“When this law goes into effect, all that production will be basically irrelevant,” Windsor told the publication. A lot of the major equipment that we've invested in will basically have to go away.
People with placards and posters in global strike for climate change. (iStock)
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However, the non-profit Appliance Standards Awareness Project (ASAP) welcomed the move, saying it would remove 32 million tons of carbon dioxide from water heaters sold over 30 years.
A group that supports Energy reduction and water use in appliances, says it supports DOE efficiency standards.
“This is a common sense step that will reduce total household costs while reducing greenhouse gas emissions,” said ASAP Executive Director Andrew Delasky.
“These long-awaited standards will ensure more families use the energy-efficient technology previously used in most tankless units.”