Many of you know I was one of the founders of Earth Day in 1970. No, I did not create it, but by then I had gained note as an environmental activist. They wanted that first celebration to occur in an many cities as possible. They recruited me to have a celebration in Miami. We held it in the parking lot of St. Stephens Church in Coconut Grove next to Peacock Park.
I discovered something that amazed me. I want to share it. Five years ago, Martha and I realized we needed more interior living space. We converted the two-car garage into two rooms: a 15×20 foot studio/office for her, and a 5×20 foot utility area/mud room/entryway. Given the age of the water heater I decided it made sense to take advantage of having our plumber here to upgrade. A standard 50-gallon electric water heater will cost $1,000 plus your plumber. You can get an A O Smith hybrid for $1,800. Yes, I made the decision for environmental reasons: think globally; act locally. A Hybrid will:
- Absorb ambient heat from the surrounding air to heat water using a compressor and “Environmentally-Friendly” R134a refrigerant
- Self-contained heat pump unit is integrated into the top of the tank
A O Smith says the payback can be as little as 2-3 years, and Oh, Brother, they aren’t kidding. But realizing it led to a humorous situation. We had a small house. The electric bill generally ran about $100 monthly. Month after month I am increasingly frustrated as I did not see the electric bill go down.
Then I woke up.
We had increased the square feet under air by 50%. The electric bill did not go up $50! Doh! So it is paying for itself within the three years. But even MORE interesting is how it is doing it. I may have a slightly different situation than most. My water heater is in an interior space, not outside in a garage. When it is absorbing heat from the air in the house to heat the water, the heat pump at the top is blowing unbelievably cold air into the house! Less AC needed. I have experimented with using the efficiency/electric settings in the winter to tweak the taking pressure off the house heating. Haven’t figured it out yet, but there is no question in my mind traditional water heaters should be outlawed by the building codes. Adding $1,000 to the cost of a new house for the sake of the earth? Come on, people!
