Energy and economic effects of residential heat pump water heaters

Conference · Mon Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1979

OSTI ID:6168257

O'Neal, D. L.; Haynes, V. O.; Hirst, E.; Carney, J.

Consumers are currently offered two choices in the electric water heating market: conventional and solar systems. A third alternative that should enter the market within three to five years is the heat pump water heater. Two heat pump water heater systems are being developed with funding from the Department of Energy. One system operates on a standard Rakine cycle and the other on a Brayton cycle. The design of each system is described and their national and regional energy conservation and economic potential is evaluated. The two heat pump systems are compared to both conventional electric and solar water heating systems in the ten Federal regions using the ORNL engineering-economic model of residential energy use. Results indicate that heat pump water heaters are much more cost effective and energy conserving than either conventional or solar water heaters in each of the ten regions. Compared to a conventional electric water heater, the payback periods for Rankine and Brayton cycle heat pump water heaters are 2.1 and 2.7 years, respectively. For a solar system designed to provide 65% of the load, the payback period is 11.4 years. Assuming heat pumps are introduced in 1981, the projected cumulative energy saving to the year 2000 is 1.4 Quads. Even with Federal tax incentives to accelerate its use and assuming introduction of the systems in 1977, solar water heating offers less than two thirds the energy saving of heat pump water heaters.

• Research Organization: Oak Ridge National Lab., TN (USA)
• DOE Contract Number: W-7405-ENG-26
• OSTI ID: 6168257
• Report Number(s): CONF-790107-2
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

14 SOLAR ENERGY
140907 -- Solar Thermal Utilization-- Water Heating
32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATION
320101* -- Energy Conservation
Consumption
& Utilization-- Residential Buildings-- (-1987)
APPLIANCES
BUILDINGS
COMPARATIVE EVALUATIONS
COST
DATA
DATA FORMS
DESIGN
ECONOMICS
ELECTRIC APPLIANCES
ENERGY CONSERVATION
ENERGY CONSUMPTION
EXPERIMENTAL DATA
GAS APPLIANCES
GRAPHS
HEAT EXCHANGERS
HEAT PUMPS
HEATERS
HOT WATER
HYDROGEN COMPOUNDS
INFORMATION
NUMERICAL DATA
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
RESIDENTIAL BUILDINGS
SOLAR WATER HEATERS
TABLES
USES
WATER
WATER HEATERS