Energy...

They may have released the news on April 1st, but this is no joke: the Department of Energy has finally announced ENERGY STAR® criteria for water heaters, a move that could save Americans millions of dollars (and millions of pounds of carbon emissions) every year.

There are already federal standards for water heaters, but these new criteria take things several steps further.

The ENERGY STAR® criteria will be rolled out in two phases -- the first effective January 1, 2009, with the second effective September 1, 2010. The criteria vary for the five types of water heaters (high-performance gas storage, whole-home gas tankless, advanced drop-in or integrated heat pump, solar, and gas condensing), but they all raise the standards well above the existing minimums.

Meanwhile, GE took the opportunity announce what it says are the first two water heaters already compliant with the new criteria. The first of these, the GE Tankless Gas Water Heater, will be available this May. Their innovative new GE Hybrid Electric Water Heater is expected to so go sale in the fourth quarter of 2009.

Granted, these criteria won't help you if you're in the market for a new water heater today, but if you read up on the new rules, you'll be a better educated consumer, and your water will be hot without causing more global warming.