400
Approximate number of jobs GE plans to fill to build hybrid water heaters. (The GE Hybrid Electric Water Heater is shown.)
In May 2008, we told you about a decision by General Electric to sell its GE Appliances division. Just over a year later, that GE division is adding employees, according to this story in The Wall Street Journal, which also noted that GE is unveiling LED products and is investing in research on organic LEDs, or OLEDs. (Read our "10 Questions for . . . " interview with Ed Hammer, who invented the compact fluorescent lightbulb in 1975 while working for GE Lighting.)
"We made the decision to build these products in Louisville because of the strong support from our state and local governments and the cooperative spirit of our Union leadership and our employees at Appliance Park," said James Campbell, president and CEO of GE Consumer & Industrial President. Read more on GE's Appliance Park in this item on the Appliance Talk blog. e-mail | Twitter | Forums | Facebook
Essential information: Find out whether a tankless water heater is a worthwhile investment. And look for our new report on CFLs and lighting in the October 2009 issue of Consumer Reports.
One always has to be careful with energy saving efforts that claim to be applicable across the many climate zones in the US.
This heat pump water heater from General Electric claims dramatic savings. It even qualifies for a an ENERGY SAVER rebate.
When I e-mailed ENERGY STAR about how efficient this type of technology would be in typical northern home with the water heater in the basement, I was assured that it would be effecient down to 45 degrees.
But when I tried to find a sudy to confirm this, I could only come up with the following Field Testing of Pre-Production Prototype Residential Heat Pump Water Heaters study by the Federal Energy Management Program: http://www1.eere.energy.gov/femp/pdfs/tir_heatpump.pdf
In this study, only 14 homes were evaluated. Only two of these were in cold northern climates, both in Connecticut. And one of these Connecticut basements was heated, and the other location of a hot water heater was in a workshop. Within the study was a graph showing how the efficiency of the heat pump system plummeted as air temperatures dropped into the 40's and 50's.
I pointd this out to an ENERGY STAR residual water heater representative, Dan Cronin, and he replied on 9/30/09:
"Unfortunately, I am not aware of any study with that level of detail just yet. I am always looking for in-depth water heating studies that shed light on an otherwise new frontier in energy savings. Should I come across one such study, I will keep you in mind and send it your way."
Thus ENERGY STAR admits it just doesn't have any data to say that these hybrid heat pump water heaters will provide any energy or cost savings in Northeast, Midwest, or Rocky mountain states. (OF course that doesn't prevent them from recommending the units, or giving the rebate.)
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