My Gas Water Heater Died: Why I Switched to Heat Pump
By Margo Meiman
Gas stoves have recently garnered lots of attention due to their negative impacts on indoor air quality and on global warming. Even world-renowned chef Alice Waters says she’s ready to go electric! (1)
Most of us have almost daily interactions with our stoves, so people naturally have strong opinions about how they like to cook. But what about some of the other gas appliances in our homes? Do you have a strong opinion about how you heat your water, for example?
If you really want to make a dent in your home’s climate footprint, the place to start is with your water heater. We don’t often think about our water heater until it fails, yet it’s the climate villain lurking in your house. In a typical San Mateo County household, a gas water heater emits the equivalent of almost 3 tonnes of CO2 in a single year, the equivalent of driving 7,500 miles (in a gasoline-based car at 22 MPG). (2,3)
Fortunately, there is a new generation of electric water heaters, called heat pump water heaters (HPWH), that are at least three times more efficient than your old gas heater and almost emissions-free. They are somewhat more expensive than gas heaters, but local agencies BayREN and Peninsula Clean Energy (PCE) offer generous incentives that can make them cheaper than a gas model. In fact, if you’re able to install a HPWH before March 31st, you’re looking at combined rebates of up to $6000. (4,5)
Homeowners can also take advantage of tax credits from the Inflation Reduction Act. With the combination of local rebates and federal tax credits, almost everyone here in the Bay Area can replace their water heater with a heat pump model for less than the price of a gas one. In fact, a recent study by the San Mateo County Office of Sustainability showed that a low-income homeowner in SM County can essentially replace their gas water heater with a HPWH for free! (6)
Some people are skeptical about the push to electrify. They worry, for example, about the capacity of the electrical grid to handle increased demand, and they also worry about power outages. One of the great features of a HPWH is that you can heat water during the afternoon, when there is excess solar energy, and keep hot water through the next day. In this way, HPWHs actually help the grid by matching supply and demand. According to PCE, “The transition to full electrification will take place over time, allowing for the necessary grid adaptation. Modern electric technology such as electric vehicles and heat pumps are extremely efficient and use less total energy than fossil fuel systems.” (7)
My husband and I replaced our gas water heater with a heat pump model in April 2022. We took full advantage of all of the available rebates ($3350 for us), and we saw a whopping 81% decrease in our home’s GHG emissions for summer months compared to 2021. Overall, our energy usage since installing the new system has decreased by 16%.
Pacifica resident Nancy Tierney also made the switch in June 2022, and she was very pleased with the process. “We used the BayREN site as a guide. They schedule a phone call with interested customers, walk you through the process, and refer you to their list of qualified contractors. We received rebate checks totalling $2150 within weeks after the installation.”
If the news about the dangers of your beloved gas stove make you grow protective of your kitchen, then ignore the hype (for now) and turn your attention to a key piece of equipment that you probably don’t think much about: your humble gas water heater, which very likely needs to be replaced within the next few years. To get started, go to bayren.org and click on “water heaters.”
Margo Meiman is Co-Chair of Policy Action for Climate Reality Bay Area and a member of the Pacifica Climate Committee. She can be reached at ocm.crba@gmail.com.
—-------------------------------------------
Many thanks to Gerard Manning for his contributions to this article. Gerard has compiled a wealth of information about HPWHs at https://sanmateo.climate-fixes.org/HotWater/
2 https://sanmateo.climate-fixes.org/HotWater/Emissions.html
3 https://climate.mit.edu/ask-mit/how-much-ton-carbon-dioxide
4 https://www.bayren.org/hp-water-heaters
5 https://www.peninsulacleanenergy.com/water-heating/
6 https://www.smcsustainability.org/energy/decarbonizing-homes/