My Heat Pump Water Heater Tour Across America - CleanTechnica

Oct 17, 2024

This summer I embarked on a cross country tour of America to see the quiet revolution taking place in decarbonized water heating. I had the opportunity to visit factories that produce heat pump water heaters, installers that are training their staff to capture the oncoming tidal wave of installations, National Labs that are researching the latest innovation in decarbonized water heating, affordable housing locations that are working to provide low cost and clean water heating, and home builders who are installing heat pump water heaters in new abodes.

It was an awesome, amazing, incredible, insert-your-superlative-of-choice trip here. I of course brought my heat pump water heater costume as I interviewed lots of folks working on the cutting edge of saving the planet and helping people take better, cleaner, lower cost showers. And I did this trip as a lead-up of sorts to the big celebration of decarbonized water heating — Heat Pump Water Heater Day, October 23.

Now, you may not get excited as I do about water heaters. But maybe we all should get a little more jazzed about this technology. Maybe solar panels and EVs shouldn’t be the only exciting icons of the green energy movement. Maybe it’s time that our long forgotten water heaters get the recognition they deserve — as one of the primary tools to decarbonize our homes and one of the easiest ways to save money on our utility bills. Water heating accounts for almost 20% of most homes’ energy use, and heat pump water heaters are the silver bullet, just-in-time, critical solution to reducing that energy use and eliminating any pollution that comes from showering or running your dishwasher. They heat thousands and thousands of gallons of water using little energy and save most households hundreds of dollars annually on their utility bills. What’s not to get excited about!

So, I hope you’ll join me on a Heat Pump Water Heater Tour Across America — a weekly series through October 23rd, where I’ll traipse across the country in my ridiculous costume talking to some of the leading voices helping to make hot water clean.

Check out the first video from my tour here.

First stop: the Bradford White heat pump water heater factory in Middleville, Michigan. I’ll cover that awesome visit in my next post.

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