itstargetnews
Climate Depot Executive Editor Marc Morano reacts to comments from a Senate hearing on climate concerns and sounds off on the Biden administration’s latest climate push on “The Bottom Line.”
The Biden administration is banning certain 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 households and seniors.
The move in the administration’s final days will take non-condensing natural gas water heaters off the shelves by 2029 in an attempt to reduce carbon dioxide emissions, which climate change proponents and President Biden say they cause global warming.
The new rules will require new tankless gas water heaters to use about 13% less energy than current less efficient tankless models.
The Biden administration is banning certain 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 households and people great (Ting Shen/Bloomberg via Getty Images, left, Hearst Newspapers via Getty Images, right. / Getty Images)
The rules apply to both non-condensing and condensing gas water heaters, but the rules increase the efficiency requirements to a threshold that only condensing models can meet, effectively banning cheaper non-condensing models but less efficient, according to The Washington Free Beacon. Condensation technology wastes less heat.
Consumers will be forced to buy more expensive models or cheaper non-instantaneous storage tank water heaters, which are less efficient than the DOE-banned models.
Tankless technology is often used when space is limited, 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 produces tankless water heaters in the United States. Their tankless, non-condensing natural gas water heater sells for about $1,000 at Home Depotcompared 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 made no 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)
OIL GIANT SHELL WINS CLAIM AGAINST CLIMATE ACTIVISTS IN LIMIT CASE OF CARBON EMISSIONS
Matthew Agen, the American Gas Association’s chief energy adviser, criticized the move, calling 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 rule that would make a product with a different performance characteristic unavailable,” Agen said in a statement before the official publication of the rules.
To make matters worse, Agen said, the DOE’s own analysis states that the average life-cycle cost savings would amount to just $112 over the product’s entire 20-year average life. He said the rule is unjustifiable for legal and practical reasons.
“Forcing low-income and senior customers to pay significantly more upfront is particularly troubling. DOE’s decision to move forward with a flawed final rule is deeply disappointing.”
rinnai of recent construction a $70 million, 360,000-square-foot factory in Georgia to manufacture non-condensing gas water heaters for the American market, according to The Washington Free Beacon.
Frank Windsor, president of Rinnai America, told the outlet 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 employs hundreds.
“When the rule goes into effect, all of that manufacturing will basically be irrelevant,” Windsor told the network. “A lot of the important equipment that we’ve invested in will have to basically be scrapped.”
People with banners and placards during a global strike for climate change. (iStock/iStock)
GET THE FOX BUSINESS ANYWHERE CLICK HERE
However, the non-profit Appliance Standards Awareness Project (ASAP) welcomed the move, which it said will eliminate 32 million metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions from water heaters sold over 30 years
The group, which gives support reducing energy and water use in appliances, he says he was advocating for 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, ASAP’s executive director.
“These long-awaited standards will ensure more families save with proven energy-efficient technology already used in most tankless units.”
