AWHI 5-Year Report, 2019-2024
This report reviews AWHI’s progress towards helping to advance market transformation. Founded in 2019, AWHI was created to accelerate market transformation for HPWHs and decarbonize water heating. As water heating is the second largest use of energy in residential homes and the largest in multi-family buildings over five units, it presents a significant opportunity to decrease greenhouse gas emissions along with other potential benefits. Since AWHI’s inception, annual sales of residential HPWHs have more than doubled from 65,000 to 141,000. However, much work remains as advocates and industry stakeholders look to accelerate HPWH adoption past the early stage of the technology adoption curve.

Increasing Equitable Access to Heat Pump Water Heaters
This paper aims to share data about current methods and programs to overcome barriers to the adoption of heat pump water heaters in low-to-moderate income households and disadvantaged communities. These barriers include high initial costs, the split incentive between landlords and tenants, technical constraints, workforce challenges, and local policy barriers. The paper outlines opportunities and considerations to help ensure that those who cannot afford HPWHs or have other barriers preventing their installation are not left with the negative impacts of gas-fueled and electric resistance water heaters. The ultimate goal of these programs is to realize long-term energy savings, emissions reductions, and financial benefits for LMI people and across disadvantaged communities.

The Why, What, and How of Successful Heat Pump Water Heater Programs
Heat Pump Water Heaters (HPWHs) can deliver significant energy savings, substantial cost savings, and dramatic reductions in air pollution. However, Low- to Moderate-Income (LMI) households and members of disadvantaged communities often lack access to the benefits that HPWHs can deliver. Fortunately, some current and emerging programs have found ways to improve the equitable distribution of HPWHs. This guide discusses the need for and the benefits of HPWHs in LMI households and across disadvantaged communities. It also provides a summary of current successful and emerging federal, state, and regional HPWH programs. This guide was released in parallel with the paper “Increasing Equitable Access to Heat Pump Water Heaters” . Contact us to learn how you can get started in your community.

Learn more with this printer-friendly summary about AWHI efforts, goals, approaches, and history. This national initiative builds on experiences with a West Coast collaborative that’s been working to grow HPWH market share since 2019 and prior to that in Northwest programs. AWHI aims to scale heat pump water heater (HPWH) installations by shaping policies, building demand, bringing products to market, and educating the supply chain. It is a member-funded collaborative of building owners, utilities, federal agencies, state and local governments, manufacturers, engineers, installers, advocates, researchers, and building industry professionals from across the U.S.

Development and Validation of Price and Load-Responsive Controls for 120-volt Heat Pump Water Heaters

Heat pump water heaters (HPWHs) aren't just great for saving energy—they're also an excellent tool for demand response. As electrification gains momentum, the timing of energy use will become increasingly important to avoid grid strain. Luckily, HPWHs are an excellent behind-the-meter resource for mitigating demand spikes. HPWHs can act as thermal batteries, storing energy when it's the cheapest and cleanest, then turning off during peak demand periods. New Buildings Institute partnered with Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory to develop and test innovative load shifting strategies on twelve 120-volt HPWHs scattered throughout California. This report explores the results of five months of load shift testing using CTA-2045 signals sent via the SkyCentrics platform.—

Heat Pump Water Heater Market Progress Evaluation Report #7

NEEA contracted with NMR Group in early 2023 to conduct its seventh Market Progress Evaluation Report (MPER) for the alliance’s HPWH program. The findings of this MPER will help inform and refine program interventions in the market. Study objectives included estimating the 2022 penetration of HPWHs in the region with sales broken out by key attributes and evaluating the program’s performance over 2022 by measuring against a subset of market progress indicators.  The report concludes that the program has developed a strong foundation for HPWH adoption while also identifying areas for continued attention. In addition, the report suggests that installer awareness across the four states plays a critical role in increasing consumer adoption of the product.

Mitsubishi Heat20 Hot Water Load Shift Demonstration and Simulation Analysis at Bayview Towers Read this report that culminates several years of collaborative work between BPA, Ecotope, Mitsubishi, SkyCentrics, and Steffes to introduce the first load shift capable commercial HPWH system to the United States, featuring the HEAT2O. The Bayview Tower project retrofitted an aging electric resistance water heating system in an occupied, 100-unit, affordable housing high-rise. The new commercial heat pump water heating system at Bayview Towers marked the first U.S. installation of Mitsubishi's HEAT2O (QAHV) system – the country's first large-capacity CO2 refrigerant-based domestic water heating system.

How heat pump water heaters work: They use a self-contained heat pump to extract heat and moisture from room air. They release the heat into the water and send the condensate water down the drain. Hybrid water heaters have both traditional electric elements and a heat pump. Courtesy of Efficiency Maine. (March 2024)

Factsheet: The Best Solutions Come in Easy-to-Use Packages
Central heat pump water heater (CHPWH) systems can serve the domestic hot water needs of a building in one central plant.

Case Study: Project Spotlight, Low-Rise Multifamily
Two Small Planet Supply WaterDrop packaged skid systems now serve a disability and elder care facility, which was previously served by two separate gas water heating plants. To learn more about CHPWHs visit betterbricks.com/solutions/water-heating. (November 2023)

Discover the environmental and financial benefits of upgrading to a heat pump water heater with this online tool from Zwell. By answering a few simple questions, you will gain insights into both carbon emissions reductions and utility cost savings of making the switch. Tailored results are based on current water heater type and fuel source, an estimate of hot water consumption, and local electricity generation sources and rates. (October 2023)

Plug-In heat Pump Water Heater Field Study Findings & Market Commercialization Recommendations
Water heating and space heating together account for two thirds of residential energy usage in the U.S. and should be the cornerstones of any plan to decarbonize the built environment. Emerging, plug-in 120-volt heat pump water heaters (HPWHs) are entering the market and proving themselves to be important new offerings from manufacturers aiming to address some of the key barriers. This report provides an overview of lessons learned on the first ever third-party field validation effort on the 120-volt HPWH technology through California-wide installations and includes a market assessment and recommendations for commercialization. (July 2023)

Central Heat Pump Water Heaters for Multifamily Supply Side Assessment Study
NEEA contracted with NBI in January 2021 to conduct research and outreach to better understand the current landscape of central heat pump water heater (HPWH) adoption in multifamily buildings. Research objectives included 1) Identifying all primary barriers to central HPWH adoption, 2) Increasing understanding of the value propositions (i.e., drivers) for each market actor in the central HPWH supply chain, and 3) Gathering market actor feedback to understand the most effective pathways to increased market adoption of central HPWHs. Research activities included fielding an online survey targeting specifiers and installers and conducting a series of interviews across the supply chain. (January 9, 2023)

Creating a National Advanced Water Heater Movement
The latest AWHI progress report highlights the steps made in the past year to realize its goal of 100% Heat Pump Water Heater market adoption by 2030. This past year saw significant progress with AWHI emerging from its west coast roots to become a national initiative recognized and supported by the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection Agency. The growth was accompanied by programmatic expansion into the Midwest and Northeast regions. The 2021-2022 report also profiles AWHI’s commercial, residential, and connectivity working groups and their progress as they push forward significant water heating initiatives across the nation. (May 2022)

CO2 Heat Pump Water Heaters for Multifamily Buildings: A Quick Design Guide
As part of the Large Capacity CO2 Central Heat Pump Water Heating Technology Evaluation and Demonstration project, sponsored by the California Energy Commission’s Electric Program Investment Charge Program (EPIC), the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) has released “CO2 Heat Pump Water Heaters for Multifamily Buildings: A Quick Design Guide”. The guide helps developers, engineers, and architects to determine how centralized heat pump water heater systems can fit into a multifamily housing project, presents solutions to common barriers, and highlights energy saving opportunities. (November 2022)

Carrots and Sticks in Hot Water: Role of Codes and Policy in Market Transformation

This paper highlights the importance of how codes and policy along with incentive program levers can help with expediating market adoption of heat pump water heaters, a technology that is market ready and has been used for decades. (September 2022)

Game Changing Retrofit Ready Technology: 120-volt HPWHs
This ACEEE summer study white paper on retrofit ready 120-volt heat pump water heaters highlights the products that are coming to the market and their national market potential. It also introduces the field validation effort in California that can be leveraged by other parts of the country. (September 2022)

Increasing Sustainability of Multifamily Buildings with HPWHs
Utilities and policymakers are increasingly looking to technologies such as electric heat pump water heaters (HPWHs) to help cut carbon and other greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from buildings while providing other benefits such as grid flexibility. This new report, by NBI and ACEEE, includes a national assessment and analysis of the potential for HPWHs to improve the sustainability of existing multifamily buildings by reducing energy consumption and carbon emissions. (November 2021)

An Insider’s Guide to Talking about Carbon Neutral Buildings
This on-demand webinar will help align the market around what it means to design, construct, and operate carbon neutral buildings. Presenters will state the importance of reducing energy and carbon emissions. Heat pump water heaters are among the efficient electric-powered building technologies identified in the related guide. (September 2021)

Building Demand for Unitary Heat Pump Water Heaters
This report, developed by the AWHI Unitary Working Group, describes the steps necessary to transform the residential unitary water heater market toward heat pump water heaters. (May 2021)

Heat Pump Water Heater Technical Guide
Heat pump water heaters are a proven technology that can be used as a component of going electric in homes and business. By switching to HPWH technology, installers will be first to meet present and future growing consumer demand. Follow the strategies and tips here to utilize current space available with little-to-no redesign needed. This guide explains benefits of HPWHs and outlines important considerations for the installer. (June 2021)