The U.S. Department of Energy on Friday proposed energy efficiency standards on water heaters it said would save consumers $11.4 billion on energy and water bills annually.
The standards on residential water heater efficiency, which are required by Congress, have not been updated in 13 years. Water heating is responsible for roughly 13% of both annual residential energy use and consumer utility costs, the DOE said.
Correct. It seems bonkers at first glance that anything could have an efficiency over 100%, but in the case of heat pumps specifically for the use case of heating something (water, your house, etc.) the above is true, and you can achieve over 100% in that context.
One complaint I can predict about heat pump/reverse cycle water heaters is that they are not silent, whereas a resistive element one is. (Gas ones aren’t silent either, though, so there’s that.)