A. O. Smith Corporation, Milwaukee, WI, announced it has acquired Applied Energy Recovery Systems Inc. (AERS), Norcross, GA, a leading manufacturer of commercial and residential heat pump water heaters.
The AERS product line includes the E-Tech line of commercial and industrial water heaters, commercial outdoor and indoor pool heating systems, and residential water heating and swimming pool products.
Ajita G. Rajendra, president of A. O. Smith Water Products Company, says the acquisition will help A.O. Smith provide energy-efficient water heating solutions and compete in the renewable energy market.
“We plan to leverage the technology, engineering expertise and know-how from AERS to expand our capabilities and product lines across the globe,” Rajendra says.
Heat pump water heaters capture heat from the surrounding air (air-source) or from water sources (water-source) such as waste water generated by a building’s chiller or cooling system and use it to heat water for hot water uses. The energy savings generated from the captured heat significantly exceeds the energy cost of running the heat pump, making this technology a highly efficient means for water heating with savings of up to 80%, according to A.O. Smith sources.

The Eternal hybrid water system proves to be the best choice for a historical dormitory at Oberlin College in Oberlin, Ohio. Built in 1885, The Johnson House is home to 30 students and has five showers, 11 wash basins and a large laundry facility. Looking for an environmentally friendly water system replacement, the university chose to adapt the Eternal hybrid water system.

“Energy efficiency and reliability are my principal concerns when deciding on utility installation here at Oberlin College,” states Rick Gerena, trades manager for Oberlin College. “Our plumbing contractor suggested that a single Eternal GU32 could replace our existing storage tank system and be more environmentally friendly to boot.”

Combining the best of tank and tankless systems, Eternal hybrid was the perfect fit for The Johnson House. With the new Eternal water system, the gas usage for the dormitory has significantly dropped – using 75 percent less in the month of August 08 than in the previous year (Aug. 07), saving the college not only energy but dollars.

“This is a fantastic savings,” states Gerena. “We have a number of other buildings on campus that we are in the process of retrofitting, and for water heaters, I will definitely be using an Eternal hybrid.”

Eternal GU32 is suitable for residential or commercial use. It is one of the cleanest gas burning appliances on the market and its patented counter-flow technology maintains 86 percent efficiency. It is equipped with advanced multi-pass heat exchanger that delivers endless hot water faster than tankless units for multiple
applications at once.

THe installation at Oberlin College was completed by MyPointNow member Gross Plumbing Inc. of Elyria, OH.

For all the talk of a new “Apollo Program” or “Manhattan Project” to meet America’s energy needs, is the answer to think small?

Plenty of big-name energy investors think so, pouring fresh funds into a company that makes tiny wind turbines for residential use. The idea is to bypass the traditional model of big, centralized power generation stations—whose need for equally large power transmission systems are creating such an expensive headache–to provide electricity on a home-by-home basis.

Investors including GE Energy Financial Services, Altira, Rockport Capital Partners, NGP Energy Technology Partners, and Chevron’s CTTV Investments participated in a new $10 million funding round for Southwest Windpower, based in Flagstaff, Ariz.

In the context of hundreds of billions of dollars of federal stimulus spending, the amount is miniscule. But the idea is big. Southwest Windpower’s Skystream residential turbine can meet more than half a typical home’s energy needs, the company says—and more cheaply than by buying power from the grid. On windy days, residential systems can sell power back to the electric grid, helping shave power bills further and giving power companies access to clean energy.

Government policy is certainly lining up behind more small-scale power. The stimulus package tweaked federal tax credits for small-scale renewables, so that homeowners can now get 30% tax credit for projects like residential wind and solar installations without a dollar limit on the project cost.

The draft Waxman-Markey energy and climate bill also would give so-called distributed power a boost. It would give utilities that tap into clean-electricity generated by residential systems three times as many credits towards meeting renewable-energy targets as they would by building a sprawling wind farm.

Not that Southwest’s system is a silver bullet, or even applicable in many parts of the country. Home turbines need plenty of space—at least an acre—and plenty of wind. Finding the right site, the company says, makes “the difference between a machine that give you lots of energy and a garden sculpture.”

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Our nation is in the midst of some serious energy and water problems, but what many may not realize is that these two issues are very closely linked (see the recent Wall Street Journal article on this topic). The truth is that energy and water are related in just about every way you can imagine and in ways that affect our lives everyday—down to the lights and water in our homes that we too often take for granted. The water supply sector utilizes large amounts of energy to transport, treat, and deliver water. On the flip side, vast quantities of water are required to generate power.

First let’s start with how much water is used for energy. The United States thermoelectric industry uses 3.3 billion gallons of water every year. That is 20 percent of all the water consumed in the country for non-agricultural uses. This number is currently predicted to grow to 7.3 billion gallons by the year 2030. Water is used in all stages in the creation of energy—to extract, process, refine, and transport the fuels to power-generation sources. The power plant itself also uses vast amounts of water, particularly for the towers that cool the water heated in the generators.

Next, consider the energy used to produce and deliver water. California was among the first states to take a close look at this. They discovered that almost 20 percent of all the electricity used in the state was used to supply and treat water. On average, 75 percent of the costs of producing municipal water are electricity costs related to capturing, treating, distributing, and using water. After the water is used, more energy is required to treat the wastewater.

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Electric heat pump water heaters are one of the most promising energy-saving technologies in the residential water heating market because their primary fuel source is the heat that is stored in ambient air: the ultimate renewable, sustainable, in-exhaustible source of energy available day or night, and not dependent on sunshine – ever. EHP’s draw in warm ambient air and “squeeze” heat out of the air, producing two valuable outputs: heat value that can be transferred to a tank of water, and cool, fresh air, which can be utiltized in the summer months to reduce the need for space cooling. The improvements in energy efficiency improvement are dramatic, offering scale factor gains over traditional tank water heaters, substantial gains over gas tankless water heaters, and almost DOUBLE the EF of solar at nearly HALF the cost. Furthermore, according to the ACEE(http://www.aceee.org/consumerguide/WH_LCC_1107.pdf), electric heat pump water heaters are the MOST energy efficient water heaters on the market today and offer the lowest total cost over a 13 year period.

While this is an impressive claim of EHP water heating technology, until recently no company had been able to develop any meaningful production volume at an affordable cost. Enter AirGenerate, a Houston, TX based company who has successfully developed an EHP for water heaters at a retail price of only $699, and has already more than 2,000 installations nationwide. According to a February 2009 Duke University study, AirGenerate is the largest heat pump water heater company in the US today. The AirTap, as the product is appropriately named, operates off a simple 110V power or can be tied to a solar panel for complete fossil-fuel free operation. The AirTap can be integrated into a new electric or gas tank water heater, of which there are approximately 4.5 million of each type sold each year. But much more important than focus on the relatively small, cyclical new home construction market, AirGenerate’s product was developed with the goal of helping reduce the home energy operating costs of the millions of Americans with EXISTING tank water heaters in service, of which there are approximately 50 million electric tank water heaters, and 60 million natural gas water heaters. Savings are greatest on electric tank water heaters as their annual operating cost is the most expensive. For the residential customer with a family of four who already has an operational electric tank, a very modest initial investment of $699 MSRP product cost and a typical two hour installation cost of $200, will offer immediate operating cost savings of $325 – $475 or more, every year. Couple this with the fact that the AirTap is the ONLY heat pump water heater that is approved by GAMA to qualify for the 30% energy efficient tax credit, means that the initial investment out of pocket for the existing customer is approximately $600. The net result is that the AirTap reduces the cost of heating water for a family of four to approximately $100 annually for a net investment of approximately $600 (considering the tax credit), with a payback of approximately eighteen months! This is indeed a breakthrough in reducing home energy costs on a broad basis, freeing electric power for more meaningful use, and preventing the release of millions of tons of harmful greenhouse gases.

Click here to visit AirGenerate.com