Water Heater Specification Version 1.0

The ENERGY STAR specification for Water Heaters Version 1.0 was finalized on April 1, 2008 and was effective January 1, 2009.

Final Criteria

• Final Criteria Announcement from Richard Karney, ENERGY STAR Program Manager (88KB)
• Final ENERGY STAR Criteria for Residential Water Heaters (83KB)
• ENERGY STAR Residential Water Heaters: Final Criteria Analysis (96KB)

Preliminary — October 26, 2007

• ENERGY STAR Residential Water Heaters: Second Draft Criteria Analysis and Proposal (307KB)

If you have questions or concerns, please direct them to Richard Karney at richard.karney@ee.doe.gov.

Preliminary — May 2, 2007

• Announcement Letter and Development Schedule from Richard Karney, ENERGY STAR Program Manager (77KB)
• ENERGY STAR Residential Water Heaters: Draft Criteria Analysis (125KB)

Third Round Comments

• American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy (100KB)
• American Gas Association (86KB)
• American Hometec, Inc. (365KB)
• A.O. Smith (139KB)
• Applied Energy Technology (99KB)
• Bock Water Heaters (54KB)
• Bosch (702KB)
• Bradford White (232KB)
• California Energy Commission (114KB)
  • Updated Presentation (167KB)
• Capital Sun Group (47KB)
• Consortium for Energy Efficiency (114KB)
• Edison Electric Institute (4.2MB)
• Eemax (70KB)
• Electric Power Research Institute (53KB)
• EnergyWise Technologies (51KB)
• Environmental Protection Agency (388KB)
• First Energy (279KB)
• Florida Power & Light Company (79KB)
• Florida Solar Energy Research and Education Foundation, and Florida Solar Energy Industries Association (163KB)
• Gas Appliance Manufacturers Association: Part 1 (22KB)
• Gas Appliance Manufacturers Association: Part 2 (46KB)
• GE Consumer & Industrial (60KB)
• Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (67KB)
• Microtherm (854KB)
• Natural Resources Canada (71KB)
• Nyle Corporation (46KB)
• Portland General Electric Company (110KB)
• Rheem Water Heating (212KB)
• Rinnai (48KB)
• San Antonio Water System (81KB)
• Solar Energy Industries Association, and Solar Rating & Certification Corporation (48KB)
• Southern Company Services (14KB)
• Takagi (50KB)
• Tennessee Valley Authority (91KB)

Second Round Comments

• Alliance to Save Energy (454KB)
• American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy (67KB)
• American Gas Association (208KB)
• A.O. Smith (34KB)
• Bradford White (136KB)
• Capital Sun Group (40KB)
• Consortium for Energy Efficiency (61KB)
• Davis Energy Group (51KB)
• Eemax (19KB)
• Effikal (61KB)
• Environmental Protection Agency (32KB)
• GE Consumer & Industrial (64KB)
• Natural Resources Canada (32KB)
• Natural Resources Defense Council (31KB)
• Northwest Energy Efficiency Alliance (14KB)
• Noritz America (14KB)
• Rheem Water Heating (66KB)
• Rinnai (12KB)
• Southern Company Services (13KB)

Stakeholder Meeting — June 5, 2007

• Meeting Notes (59KB)
• Agenda (12KB)
• Attendee List
• Presentation by Richard Karney, ENERGY STAR Products Manager, U.S. Department of Energy (283KB)
• Presentation by Phillip Wallace, Microtherm (228KB)
• Presentation by Aaron Siegel, Seisco (18KB)
• Presentation by Gary Klein, California Energy Commission (28KB)
• Presentation by Bill Hoover, A.O. Smith (453KB)
• Presentation by Les Nelson, Solar Rating and Certification Corporation (302KB)
• Summary of Verbal Comments by Ted Williams, American Gas Association (126KB)

First Round Comments

• Adjuvant Consulting (23KB)
• American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy (66KB)
• American Gas Association (98KB)
• A.O. Smith (44KB)
• Applied Energy Recovery Systems (17KB)
• Association of Energy Services Professionals — Water Heating Working Group (14KB)
• Bosch (133KB)
• California Solar Energy Industries Association (90KB)
• Capital Sun Group (14KB)
• Consortium for Energy Efficiency (191KB)
• Edison Electric Institute (112KB)
• Eemax (24KB)
  • Attachment: Savings Chart
• Environmental Protection Agency (49KB)
• Florida Solar Energy Center (11KB)
  • Attachment: Towards Development of An Algorithm for Mains Water Temperature (193KB)
  • Attachment: Electric Tankless Water Heating: Competitive Assessment (196KB)
• Florida Solar Energy Research and Education Foundation (47KB)
• Gas Appliance Manufacturers Association (92KB)
• GE Consumer & Industrial (319KB)
• Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (19KB)
• Lowe’s (11KB)
• Microtherm (122KB)
• National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (12KB)
• Natural Resources Canada (32KB)
• Noritz America (11KB)
• Northwest Energy Efficiency Alliance (41KB)
• Rheem Water Heating (146KB)
• Rinnai (12KB)
• Solar Energy Industries Association and Solar Rating & Certification Corporation (37KB)
• Solene (11KB)
• Southern California Gas Company and San Diego Gas & Electric (20KB)
• Southern Company Services (16KB)
  • Attachment: Georgia Power Company 2004 Residential Saturation Survey (42KB)
• Takagi (74KB)

Criteria Development History

DOE last reviewed water heaters in 2003. After analyzing the market, the potential energy savings and economics of the various technologies, and considering feedback from stakeholders, DOE decided not to establish an ENERGY STAR criteria for domestic water heaters at that time. A letter (143KB) from Richard Karney, the Department’s ENERGY STAR Program Manager explains the rationale for this decision.

For more information on buying an energy efficient water heater we recommend visiting DOE’s Water Heating .

Tax Credits on Water Heaters

Tax credits are available on new water heaters in 2006 and 2007 under the Energy Bill. For more information, see Federal Tax Credits for Residential Energy Efficiency.