By Mary Beth Breckenridge
Beacon Journal home writer
New energy standards for water heaters may cost you the next time you have to replace yours.
There’s a silver lining, though: For most people, the water heaters should save enough in energy costs to more than make up the price difference. And the Earth will benefit from reduced demands on energy resources and lower greenhouse gas emissions, supporters of the new standards say.
With most tank heaters, manufacturers will be able to meet the new standards with some fairly small modifications. With larger heaters, however, technologies will be required that could increase the cost of a water heater by hundreds of dollars. And the changes might complicate some installations, hiking the cost even more.
