The most important point of the article: "Overcoming the knowledge gap with increased educational outreach about HPWH technology to consumers and contractors is crucial for acceptance and adoption of HPWHs." Contractors, on the whole (don't @ me, there ARE folks doing great work), are not doing a great job of sizing and installing these properly, simply because there is much more to consider than the water heaters of yesteryear. Best practices exist, and even with current technology limitations we can be doing a better job to ensure something remotely close to nameplate performance. In areas with inexpensive electricity, this is less important. But if you pay 0.50/kWh, as in CA, performance matters. People have long memories and we cannot afford backlash against technology that will come if we blow up electricity bills with terrible performance.
The most important point of the article: "Overcoming the knowledge gap with increased educational outreach about HPWH technology to consumers and contractors is crucial for acceptance and adoption of HPWHs." Contractors, on the whole (don't @ me, there ARE folks doing great work), are not doing a great job of sizing and installing these properly, simply because there is much more to consider than the water heaters of yesteryear. Best practices exist, and even with current technology limitations we can be doing a better job to ensure something remotely close to nameplate performance. In areas with inexpensive electricity, this is less important. But if you pay 0.50/kWh, as in CA, performance matters. People have long memories and we cannot afford backlash against technology that will come if we blow up electricity bills with terrible performance.