Should the government pay for or at least subsidize the installation of new hot water heaters?

That is more on the “last mile” end of energy conservation of things. While it would make sense, it’s also a costly undertaking. A water heater may only be $250 but how many millions would be needed?

That’s a few billion dollars right there, which is a large enough expense that Congress would wind up nixing it because energy conservation is “Liberal propaganda”. Not to mention how many of them lost a little money because your electric bill went down.

It’s a nice thought, but it’s also one of those things you’ll only see someplace like the EU. We are too stuck in the 19th century to do something that progressive.

@johnpowell Not sure where you live but around here water heaters get less and less efficient because of sediment buildup in them. Nobody really flushes them out like they are supposed to. I don’t think the gov’t can force people to do or have regular maintenance done. I strongly suspect your heater had sediment that reduced it’s efficiency.

I don’t remember from last year, but remember getting a credit on my taxes for installing energy efficient appliances and stuff.

Why would you need to heat your hot water?

You should check. Here we get a rebate from the state for updating gas and electrical major appliances. I’m not certain, but I believe the utilities are required to finance it. At the national level, can you just imagine conservatives agreeing to subsidize any sort of conservation measure?

@stanleybmanly Much of the cost of the LED bulbs I recently installed all around the house was paid by the electric company. Where they got the money from is beyond me, but I suspect that there are no federal dollars anywhere in there.

It’s also worth noting that the same electric company offers $500 rebates for installing newer, more efficient water heaters, though to qualify you must have it installed by a certified professional; no DIY unless you are certified.

No.

If it cut energy usage, it would logically make sense to invest in swapping out all of the old less efficient water heaters like they pay you for getting your older car off the road. However, it won’t work, I say for different reasons than @jerv believes, but it won’t work. Doing so might cause the property value of the building, be it a home, apartment, duplex, etc. to increase, that would mean that investors who own many rentable structures would gain money; that cannot be allowed to happen. In this society that is so anti-rich they do not want to see the rich get any break even if it is the logical thing to do and they themselves will see a benefit. If they see a 12% benefit but the rich will see 20% they will not want to do it simply because they rich got more of a benefit out of it than they. Instead of thinking they will make it easier for their children, and their children’s children, they will be stuck on not cutting the rich a modicum of slack.

@Hypocrisy_Central Fiscally responsible people who use fact instead of fear to guide their opinions are not so willing to cut off their nose to spite their face, so stop projecting. Besides, I’ve seen plenty of places get new water heaters without the assessed value of the home going up, so your argument died before you even got to the bolded print.

I’m in favor of tax cuts to incentivize behaviors that are good for the country (reducing energy demand by improving efficiency/reducing waste is good for the country).

Why should my taxes pay for your water heater?

@johnpowell Exactly where does the “federal government should indeed force and help pay for people to modernize their…” end?
Cars, I hope, as I need a new one!

Examine your question.
”...the federal government should indeed force and help pay for people to modernize”.
Your landlord needs to be subsidized?
So your utility bill will be lower?

Are you familiar with the concept of, Trickle Down Economics?

I don’t know the answer to your question but FYI: I saved quite a bit by installing a timer on our hot water heater. I bought it from the Home Depot for less than $40. You can have it kick on during the period(s) of the day when electricity is cheapest. I have ours kick on for 3 hours from 3 – 6 am and the water remains hot even in the evening hours.

@jerv Fiscally responsible people who use fact instead of fear to guide their opinions are not so willing to cut off their nose to spite their face
I am talking John Q on the street; he will more than likely see it as an end around on trickledown economics. If there are two places for rent that are similar but one has features that will save on energy cost, in the mind of John Q it has more value. Even if the government doesn’t attribute more value to it, to the consumer John Q it will and thus be seen as a giveaway to the rich who already have money. As one person in this thread already said, why should the government subsidize his landlord? I know a lot of people would have thought the landlord should have made those upgrade measures on his/her own without having to be teased into doing it by the government. But seeing the landlord is not paying the utility bill of his/her tenants why would they give a hoot to replace a hot water heater if it is still working, once it breaks, then they may replace it if it is too expensive to justify fixing the old one

@Hypocrisy_Central You must walk down different streets than me then. I grew up in a place that has consistently ranked in the top five states for education, and aside from my Navy years, have spent the majority of my life within ~100 miles of Canada. (I’ve never lived more than 100 miles from a coast either, unless you count being in the middle of an ocean on deployment.) And honestly, I think a lot of people would welcome their landlord doing something that reduces their utility bills more than they would consider it a conspiracy.

It may be different for those who rent from a multinational housing corporation than for those of us who actually know our landlord’s name. I keep in touch with our old landlord from NH. He owns a few rental properties, but he makes only a modest living. And the apartment complex (all three buildings worth) where I live now is run by a guy who lives in a house no fancier than many of my blue-collar coworkers and drives an old Toyota pickup.

~Yeah, they are the 1%, and I will spill every last drop of my blood to minorly inconvenience them.

“But seeing the landlord is not paying the utility bill of his/her tenants why would they give a hoot to replace a hot water heater if it is still working, once it breaks, then they may replace it if it is too expensive to justify fixing the old one”

I too would balk at expenditures that weren’t strictly necessary. And if I were a landlord who did my own work instead of paying contractors (quite likely due to inability to do so), the costs would go beyond financial. Now, if you want to explain to my landlord’s daughter why she hasn’t seen her daddy in two weeks, then go right ahead but I just don’t have the heart.

It would be different if there were incentives to do so, but you know DAMN well that we would never use taxpayer dollars on something so un-American. Especially not since that’s how they do things in teh First/Industrialized world.

@gorillapaws You forgot one added benefit; you implied it but didn’t spell it out. Power demand inexorably increases over time. However, if households were more energy-efficient, we could continue to meet demands without the need for more powerplants for longer than we could with inefficient homes. I wonder how many billions that saves…

What @ibstubro and @elbanditoroso said.

@jerv: One more point: a smart landlord is not going to arrive at his rental property in his best car. First of all, he is probably there to do work. Second of all, why would he want the tenants to think he’s anything other than a poor working Joe?

You are going to save the cost of the water heater in about 1 year. Why should the government help you with it?

Your local utility probably provides a rebate to the property owner. From the PGE page:

“Energy Trust incentives
You’re eligible for cash-back incentives through Energy Trust of Oregon for qualifying energy-efficiency and renewable-energy improvements. Incentives are available for:

Weatherization, including insulation and windows
Heating & cooling, including heat pumps
Water heating, including high-efficiency electric water heaters
Some ENERGY STAR® appliances
Renewable projects, including solar electric, and small wind turbines

Limited-time Energy Trust offers
Take advantage of these special Energy Trust incentives:

Receive a $500 cash incentive when a trade ally contractor installs a qualifying heat pump water heater.
Receive up to $700 for a premium-efficiency heat pump or $150 for heat pump optimization.”

@jca I’ve seen their driveways, and while their wives had newer, cleaner cars than they did, I don’t consider a 2009 Camry to be terribly extravagant. The type you talk about do exist, but I personally haven’t run into them.

Not unless they should also be required to install all new windows and doors in my home, re-blow the house with new insulation, and install water-saving toilets (those things totally suck, btw).

And for future reference, it’s called a “water heater,” not a “hot water heater.” Sorry, pet peeve of mine. I’m married to a plumber and that drives him insane.