Sustainable Energy in America: 2018 Factbook
New gas end-use products, such as residential space conditioning and water heating, commercial foodservice appliances, and industrial equipment are bringing enormous benefits of cost-effective, high-efficiency equipment directly to gas consumers. Using natural gas directly to reduce carbon emissions, these new innovations will help to meet future energy needs efficiently and responsibly.
One key example is a high-efficiency gas-fired heat pump water heater (GHPWH). This novel technology meets NOx requirements and has an Energy Factor (EF) that is more than twice that of standard gas water heaters. It offers the lowest operating cost and cost of ownership, with 50% energy savings.
With funding from Utilization Technology Development (UTD), the water heater was designed and tested by Gas Technology Institute (GTI) and Stone Mountain Technologies, along with major water heater manufacturers.
Several field trials of pre-commercial GHPWHs in the Pacific Northwest and Tennessee have been completed, demonstrating greater than 50% reductions in gas consumption. Currently, demonstration of fourth-generation units at homes in Southern California is advancing the technology toward commercialization. Market assessment and stakeholder outreach activities are taking place in parallel to support a successful market introduction in the next year.
As performance standards for residential water heaters increase in the future, natural-gas water-heating products need to be able to meet or exceed energy-efficiency targets. The performance targets met by the GHPWH product development program provides technology that can fulfill these requirements along with cost-savings for homeowners.
Find out more about GTI at www.gastechnology.org
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