A. O. Smith Corporation (NYSE:AOS) and Takagi Industrial Co. Ltd. of Fuji-city, Shizuoka, Japan, today announced that they are establishing a joint venture to market and manufacture tankless water heaters in North America. As part of the joint venture, A. O. Smith will take over the management of Takagi’s existing North American sales and distribution organization, maintaining Takagi’s North American headquarters in Irvine, Calif. The companies expect the transaction to close in the third quarter.

“This venture is an important investment by A. O. Smith that will further expand our offering of high-efficiency water heating products,” Ajita G. Rajendra, president of A. O. Smith Water Products Company, said. “It represents a rare opportunity to combine Takagi’s well-known brand and world class tankless technology with the strong brands, customer relationships, and extensive distribution of A. O. Smith.”

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By: David Roberts

Residents of Hammarby Sjöstad, a district on the south side of Stockholm, Sweden, don’t let their waste go to waste. Every building in the district boasts an array of pneumatic tubes, like larger versions of the ones that whooshed checks from cars to bank tellers back in the day. One tube carries combustible waste to a plant where it is burned to make heat and electricity. Another zips food waste and other biomatter away to be composted and made into fertilizer. Yet another takes recyclables to a sorting facility.

After they are done, district authorities hope Hammarby Sjöstad will produce about half its power independently, a task made easier by the fact that residents, thanks to a broad range of efficiency and conservation measures, will consume half the energy of the average Swede (who already consumes only about 75 percent as much as the average American). These intrepid Swedish urbanites are pushing the envelope on a phenomenon catching on in cities across the developed world: “distributed energy.”

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PEACHTREE CITY, GA. — Rinnai Corp. has extended the heat exchanger warranty on RC98HPe, RC98HPi, RC80HPe and RC80HPi condensing tankless water heaters used in recirculating applications from three years to 12 years. The new warranty pertains to recirculating systems that are controlled through an aquastat/thermostat, a timer or an on-demand system. The change means that Rinnai brand condensing tankless products used in qualified recirculating systems will now feature the same 12-year heat exchanger warranty as all residential installations.

“We originally implemented a reduced heat exchanger warranty on condensing units in recirculating systems due to the accelerated wear that results from use with a constantly running circulation loop,” said Joe Holliday, Rinnai’s director of product management. “However, we realize that advances in some recirculating systems have eliminated the need for constant recirculation. This, along with advances in the strength and durability of our heat exchanger design, allows us to offer the same warranty as traditional residential installations.”

The warranty change is effective immediately on all new Rinnai brand condensing tankless unit installations with qualified recirculation systems and is not retroactive.

by Laurie Johnson

A new analysis of the American Power Act (APA), comprehensive climate and energy legislation released mid-May by Sens. Kerry and Lieberman, points to an economy with healthy growth in GDP and jobs, and significant savings in household energy expenditures. The analysis uses a new and highly innovative tool developed by McKinsey & Company, a widely respected international consulting firm that advises many of the most influential businesses and institutions in the world. The tool is the first of its kind to combine several powerful macroeconomic models with McKinsey’s extensive modeling of individual markets in energy efficiency technologies and abatement options.

The study finds that under APA:

* There will be 440,000 more jobs on average between 2012 and 2020, and 540,000 more between 2012 and 2030. These gains will be in both strong and weak sectors of the economy, with industries experiencing growth under business-as-usual expanding further under APA, and industries in decline being strengthened. This is due to new investment in low-carbon technologies, such as efficient appliances, wind power, or carbon capture and storage.
* While energy prices increase, household utility bills decline due to gains in energy efficiency and allowance rebates to energy consumers. By 2020 households will save an estimated $69 per year, and by 2025 $71.
* Maintain an average annual GDP growth rate of 2.3 percent per year (GDP reflects the value of output, but says nothing about the labor or capital requirements needed to produce that output. Hence, it is possible to have employment gains despite no change in GDP growth).
* Greenhouse gas emissions will be 3.6 billion tons lower per year by 2030, a 45 percent reduction from business-as-usual.

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WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced that three manufacturers must stop distributing 61 heat pump models and one air conditioner model that DOE has determined do not comply with federal energy conservation standards. The manufacturers also must notify all of their customers that have been sold noncompliant units. DOE determined that these models were noncompliant based on certification information submitted to DOE for these manufacturers.

DOE found that Aspen Manufacturing had certified 58 heat pump models and one air conditioner model that fail to meet federal energy efficiency standards by up to 7 percent. DOE also found one heat pump model manufactured by Summit Manufacturing that failed the energy efficiency standards by about 16 percent, and it said two heat pump models manufactured by Advanced Distributor Products (ADP) missed the standard by 1-2 percent. DOE said that, if these companies fail to respond or to notify their customers, the Department of Energy will seek a judicial order to prevent the sale of the noncompliant models.

However, Advanced Distributor Products issued a statement saying that, through a database entry error, ADP incorrectly listed its two heat pump models — both inactive R-22 units — referenced by the DOE as noncompliant. The company said the errors have been corrected and, in fact, both units were compliant at all times with applicable federal energy conservation standards. ADP stated that it fully stands behind the integrity of its certification and rating process.