The rule, as it was originally proposed in 2023 and published April 30, 2024, would have limited consumer access to certain tankless water heater products, disproportionately impacting middle-income households and small businesses.

You may be interested to know that 2023 is noteworthy for more than hot weather. This year is an exceptionally active year for regulations in the United States.

The efficiency standards being adopted for commercial water heaters, which have not been revised since 2003, will result in significant gains in energy efficiency and savings for American businesses. 

The proposal would require the most common-sized electric water heaters to achieve efficiency gains with heat pump technology and gas-fired instantaneous water heaters to achieve efficiency gains through condensing technology.

If implemented within DOE’s proposed timeframe, the new standards would come into effect in 2026.

AHRI and fellow litigants, the American Public Gas Association (APGA) and Spire, filed a Motion to Vacate the Commercial Packaged Boiler Final Rule to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit in response to the Department of Energy’s (DOE) submission of the supplemental response to comments to the final rule.  

The design guide was developed in partnership by the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Building Technologies Office, ASHRAE, the American Institute of Architects (AIA), the Illuminating Engineering Society (IES) and the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC). 

In a previous column last year, I identified a change in definition, by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), regarding showerheads, body sprays and safety shower showerheads. In December 2020, during the Trump administration, DOE basically redefined “showerhead” as a single device that discharges water. Hence, if you installed two showerheads installed on a single shower valve, DOE would consider them two showerheads.

Most plumbing manufacturers thought when DOE proposed the rule, it was nice but had very little chance of being finalized. That is why it was so shocking when on Dec. 8, 2020, the final rule was signed into law.