Energy Savings and Breakeven Cost for Residential Heat Pump Water Heaters in the United States
Abstract
Heat pump water heaters (HPWHs) have recently reemerged in the U.S. residential water heating market and have the potential to provide homeowners with significant energy savings. However, there are questions as to the actual performance and energy savings potential of these units, in particular in regards to the heat pump's performance in unconditioned space and the impact of the heat pump on space heating and cooling loads when it is located in conditioned space. To help answer these questions, simulations were performed of a HPWH in both conditioned and unconditioned space at over 900 locations across the continental United States and Hawaii. Simulations included a Building America benchmark home so that any interaction between the HPWH and the home's HVAC equipment could be captured. Comparisons were performed to typical gas and electric water heaters to determine the energy savings potential and cost effectiveness of a HPWH relative to these technologies. HPWHs were found to have a significant source energy savings potential when replacing typical electric water heaters, but only saved source energy relative to gas water heater in the most favorable installation locations in the southern US. When replacing an electric water heater, the HPWH is likely to break evenmore »
- Authors:
- Publication Date:
- Research Org.:
- National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
- Sponsoring Org.:
- USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Building Technologies Program
- OSTI Identifier:
- 1088592
- Report Number(s):
- NREL/TP-5500-58594
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC36-08GO28308
- Resource Type:
- Technical Report
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
- Subject:
- 32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATION; WATER HEATING; HEAT PUMP WATER HEATER; BREAKEVEN COST; ELECTRIC WATER HEATER; GAS WATER HEATER; HPWH; Buildings; Electricity, Resources, and Buildings Systems; Energy Analysis
Citation Formats
Maguire, J., Burch, J., Merrigan, T., and Ong, S. Energy Savings and Breakeven Cost for Residential Heat Pump Water Heaters in the United States. United States: N. p., 2013.
Web. doi:10.2172/1088592.
Maguire, J., Burch, J., Merrigan, T., & Ong, S. Energy Savings and Breakeven Cost for Residential Heat Pump Water Heaters in the United States. United States. https://doi.org/10.2172/1088592
Maguire, J., Burch, J., Merrigan, T., and Ong, S. Mon .
"Energy Savings and Breakeven Cost for Residential Heat Pump Water Heaters in the United States". United States. https://doi.org/10.2172/1088592. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1088592.
@article{osti_1088592,
title = {Energy Savings and Breakeven Cost for Residential Heat Pump Water Heaters in the United States},
author = {Maguire, J. and Burch, J. and Merrigan, T. and Ong, S.},
abstractNote = {Heat pump water heaters (HPWHs) have recently reemerged in the U.S. residential water heating market and have the potential to provide homeowners with significant energy savings. However, there are questions as to the actual performance and energy savings potential of these units, in particular in regards to the heat pump's performance in unconditioned space and the impact of the heat pump on space heating and cooling loads when it is located in conditioned space. To help answer these questions, simulations were performed of a HPWH in both conditioned and unconditioned space at over 900 locations across the continental United States and Hawaii. Simulations included a Building America benchmark home so that any interaction between the HPWH and the home's HVAC equipment could be captured. Comparisons were performed to typical gas and electric water heaters to determine the energy savings potential and cost effectiveness of a HPWH relative to these technologies. HPWHs were found to have a significant source energy savings potential when replacing typical electric water heaters, but only saved source energy relative to gas water heater in the most favorable installation locations in the southern US. When replacing an electric water heater, the HPWH is likely to break even in California, the southern US, and parts of the northeast in most situations. However, the HPWH will only break even when replacing a gas water heater in a few southern states.},
doi = {10.2172/1088592},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1088592},
journal = {},
number = ,
volume = ,
place = {United States},
year = {2013},
month = {7}
}