Green Builder Media president Ron Jones talks with Scott Cohen, marketing director for Rheem's water heater division, at VISION House Las Vegas about the Proterra hybrid electric heat pump water heater, how it cuts water heating energy use by roughly 75%, and how tax credits and utility incentives offset its higher upfront cost.
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Ron Jones: Hi everybody. I'm Ron Jones, I'm president of Green Builder Media. We're here at the vision House Las Vegas by Beazer. We are delighted today to have one of the most important elements of modern living, and that is our water heater. I'd like to introduce you to Scott Cohen, who is director of marketing for the water heater division at Reed.
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Ron Jones: And he's going to show us one of the most amazing devices to find anywhere in any house.
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Scott Cohen: All right. For the vision house.
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Scott Cohen: Here in Las Vegas, we're using the rain Proterra hybrid electric heat pump water heater.
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Scott Cohen: It's a mouthful, but simply it is the most.
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Scott Cohen: Energy efficient water heater you can put in your home today.
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Scott Cohen: Combines the, the technology of a heat pump on top of a standard.
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Scott Cohen: Electric water heater.
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Scott Cohen: The main benefit.
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Scott Cohen: For a homeowner is.
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Scott Cohen: That they.
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Scott Cohen: Can reduce their energy.
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Scott Cohen: Consumption by about.
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Scott Cohen: 75%. Related to the water heater.
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Scott Cohen: While having a.
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Scott Cohen: Smaller, carbon footprint and bringing some.
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Scott Cohen: Convenience features that, you can't get with,
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Scott Cohen: With some of the other water heaters on the market today.
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Ron Jones: And that's not insignificant savings, because hot water is the second most consumptive energy user in a modern home. Next, the space conditioning. So if you can reduce that by 75%, what's the capacity of this unit?
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Scott Cohen: This one I believe, is 65 gallons.
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Ron Jones: So enough to handle an active family for sure. Absolutely. And because we're in an all electric application here, this is a really important move for a builder. Like these are to be able to incorporate not only the energy savings, but the proven technology and the better sustainability, story that comes with it.
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Scott Cohen: That's right.
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Scott Cohen: This is actually our fifth.
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Scott Cohen: Generation.
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Scott Cohen: Heat.
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Scott Cohen: Pump water heater, reexamining the heat pump water heater business since.
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Scott Cohen: About 2008 or 2009. This as I mentioned, this is our fifth.
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Scott Cohen: Generation.
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Scott Cohen: And we actually just, made some changes to this.
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Scott Cohen: Product.
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Scott Cohen: That actually allows it to be piped from the top. This one you can see is plumbed from the sides. We also have side connections available in a new build. You have the flexibility of using the top or the sides.
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Scott Cohen: In a retrofit.
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Scott Cohen: Application. Most likely.
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Scott Cohen: You're going to be replacing a water heater that already has.
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Scott Cohen: Top connections. So we put top connections on to.
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Scott Cohen: Make that retrofit.
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Scott Cohen: A.
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Scott Cohen: Lot easier. And again, here at.
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Scott Cohen: The vision.
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Scott Cohen: House, we're in a garage environment, which is great for water for a heat pump water heater.
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Scott Cohen: It will actually expel.
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Scott Cohen: Cool dry air and give you.
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Scott Cohen: A little.
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Scott Cohen: Bit of relief here in the, in the summer in Vegas, in the garage.
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Scott Cohen: But,
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Ron Jones: Yeah, plenty of ambient energy for it to work with, but then it actually cools the air slightly, in that process. So, talk about the sustainability, platform for, for rain, because I know it's a big part of the whole operation.
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Scott Cohen: It is. We've we in 2019.
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Scott Cohen: Our CEO, Chris.
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Scott Cohen: Peel, announced a company wide initiative, which is.
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Scott Cohen: Three prongs. One is products.
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Scott Cohen: We wanted to introduce a whole new.
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Scott Cohen: Line of air and water products that reduce greenhouse.
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Scott Cohen: Gas emissions by 50%. The.
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Scott Cohen: Other is our own manufacturing processes, where we are going to reduce our own manufacturing greenhouse.
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Scott Cohen: Gas emissions by.
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Scott Cohen: 50% and convert our plants to zero waste to.
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Scott Cohen: Landfill. And the third piece of that.
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Scott Cohen: Was training, which.
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Scott Cohen: Is to.
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Scott Cohen: To train over 250,000, plumbers, Hvac contractors, builders and other people.
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Scott Cohen: Who have a seat at the table in.
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Scott Cohen: The industry on sustainable products.
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Scott Cohen: Sustainable.
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Scott Cohen: Practices.
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Ron Jones: Wow. That's ambitious. Congratulations. It must be really rewarding to be, in a division like this and seen so much brand, progress over the past few years.
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Scott Cohen: Absolutely.
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Ron Jones: Yeah. And and, you know, it's ubiquitous. Everybody's got a water heater. And you talked about retrofitting. Don't have to worry about venting. Don't have to worry about carbon monoxide or fumes or any of the downsides that we have with the older technologies. And so as we move into more and more renewable energy sources, what we will see is that this is really the answer.
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Ron Jones: And, it's it's the kind of thing what is what about the cost standpoint? If I, you know, I'm a recovering builder myself, so maybe you can you can condense me. It's worth the extra investment because of the payback or the long term, cost.
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Scott Cohen: Savings. All of those things are true.
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Scott Cohen: It is absolutely true that a heat pump water heater has a higher upfront cost for a homeowner who's doing a retrofit.
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Scott Cohen: The unit is.
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Scott Cohen: A little more expensive.
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Scott Cohen: And there may be.
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Scott Cohen: Some minor.
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Scott Cohen: Modifications, such as the.
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Scott Cohen: Condensate drain you've got here.
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Scott Cohen: In some applications, you might need to do a little ducting if you don't.
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Scott Cohen: Have enough room air. We have plenty here in the garage. So there is a higher upfront cost.
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Scott Cohen: But then to offset.
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Scott Cohen: That, there are numerous.
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Scott Cohen: Federal tax.
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Scott Cohen: Credits under the.
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Scott Cohen: Inflation.
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Scott Cohen: Reduction Act. There's also tax.
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Scott Cohen: Incentives for builders.
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Scott Cohen: Under the same under the same.
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Scott Cohen: Regime. There's also.
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Scott Cohen: Local utility and, incentives like.
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Scott Cohen: To convert to a heat pump water heater. And then in some areas there are.
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Scott Cohen: Actually, statewide.
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Scott Cohen: Programs.
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Scott Cohen: That that combined together can actually make the cost of.
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Scott Cohen: The heat pump water heater go roughly on par with the cost of a traditional electric water heater. And that's before you.
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Scott Cohen: Even get into the energy savings. Sure. As we mentioned, you're going to be spending 75% less on.
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Scott Cohen: Your water heating.
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Scott Cohen: On the electricity.
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Scott Cohen: For your water heating.
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Scott Cohen: And that's going to.
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Scott Cohen: Just rack.
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Scott Cohen: Up month.
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Scott Cohen: After month for the home.
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Ron Jones: And what's this projected life of this unit?
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Scott Cohen: This unit has a.
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Scott Cohen: Ten year warranty.
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Scott Cohen: With with with if.
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Scott Cohen: You take care of it, it can last even longer. But we have a ten year warranty on it.
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Scott Cohen: And that means if it fails.
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Scott Cohen: Before ten years, we will, we will take care of the cost.
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Ron Jones: Ten years, 120 months. How many dollars could you save? And 120 months for an average household? It's got to be considered, considering.
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Scott Cohen: It's several hundred dollars a year.
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Scott Cohen: You can see that this one, this unit costs about.
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Scott Cohen: $170 on average to operate per year. That'll fluctuate based on your.
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Scott Cohen: Local electricity.
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Scott Cohen: Rates. If you're in.
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Scott Cohen: A high electricity state.
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Scott Cohen: Your savings will rack.
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Scott Cohen: Up even faster.
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Scott Cohen: And if you're in a low.
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Scott Cohen: Electricity state.
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Scott Cohen: You're very fortunate.
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Scott Cohen: And the monthly savings aren't quite as much. But you still have all those incentives to make the initial cost savings.
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Ron Jones: You just keeps ringing every month, right?
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Scott Cohen: That's right.
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Ron Jones: So and then in terms of, the dependability, the providing the hot water you need, there's no issues.
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Scott Cohen: It works just for most, for almost all homeowners. It's going to work exactly like their electric water heater.
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Scott Cohen: Most people like to just.
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Scott Cohen: When they replace the water heater.
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Scott Cohen: Replace it, close that closet.
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Scott Cohen: Door and.
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Scott Cohen: Forget about it for a long time. And once you get this set up.
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Scott Cohen: It's largely.
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Scott Cohen: The same.
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Ron Jones: What, what other points would you like to make about the direction you're going or what's new and exciting and real?
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Scott Cohen: Well, there is a major, regulatory change.
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Scott Cohen: Coming in 2029. It's called make for, it's the National Appliance Energy Conservation Act. Okay. And,
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Scott Cohen: Under the rules that were.
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Scott Cohen: Published last May, the efficiency.
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Scott Cohen: On water heaters is going to be required to be.
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Scott Cohen: Higher. Much higher to the point where, you would only be able to achieve that efficiency through.
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Scott Cohen: A heat pump water heater.
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Scott Cohen: So that's going.
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Scott Cohen: To drive a lot of innovation in the market.
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Scott Cohen: You'll see a lot.
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Scott Cohen: More, different form factors, different price points of heat pump water heaters and a Rheem. As the leader in the market. We're very excited.
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Scott Cohen: About these changes. We've been innovating.
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Scott Cohen: Around heat pump water heaters for many years on both of our air and water.
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Scott Cohen: Businesses. So we feel like.
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Scott Cohen: We're ready for this change, and we're excited.
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Scott Cohen: To.
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Scott Cohen: Bring these new products to the market.
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Ron Jones: Just out of curiosity, what is the volume range in this line of products?
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Scott Cohen: Sure. This the Proterra is available in 40, 50, 65 and 80 gallon models. For some people, we recommend going a size.
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Scott Cohen: Larger than you.
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Scott Cohen: Might go normally, because that will give.
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Scott Cohen: You a little more storage.
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Scott Cohen: Capacity or allow.
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Scott Cohen: You to run the water heater and.
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Scott Cohen: Heat pump only mode as much as possible. That's going to.
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Scott Cohen: Get you your maximum energy savings.
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Scott Cohen: It also has some.
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Scott Cohen: Other operating.
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Scott Cohen: Modes. For example, if you have guests in the.
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Scott Cohen: House and there's a really.
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Scott Cohen: High demand.
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Scott Cohen: For for hot water, you can put.
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Scott Cohen: It on high demand mode that will use the electric elements as backup so that you don't end up.
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Scott Cohen: Running out of hot water, and it gives you more control to.
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Scott Cohen: Balance.
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Scott Cohen: The performance requirements and your desired energy.
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Scott Cohen: Savings.
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Ron Jones: It's amazing. The technology is outstanding. So, at the end of life, so are there plenty of recycled water, components here and, and, and what does that look like?
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Scott Cohen: Well, usually at the end of life,
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Scott Cohen: The water heater is pretty much.
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Scott Cohen: Shot. Yeah. Yes.
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Scott Cohen: There are probably some there are some recyclable.
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Scott Cohen: Components. Contractors will have to take care of the heat pump at the top. It's a.
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Scott Cohen: There are recyclers that will remove.
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Scott Cohen: The.
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Scott Cohen: Refrigerant.
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Scott Cohen: Right, in.
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Scott Cohen: Order to.
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Scott Cohen: Recycle it. That's a requirement. Other than.
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Scott Cohen: That, it.
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Scott Cohen: Removes and gets disposed of just like any.
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Scott Cohen: Other water heater.
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Ron Jones: Okay. Other technologies that you might be, flirting with or product lines or systems that are not right, on the front shelf yet?
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Scott Cohen: Nothing I can say.
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Scott Cohen: Today, but we are always working at the frontier of energy efficiency and trying to develop new energy efficient products.
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Scott Cohen: So, with.
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Scott Cohen: The market going in that direction, we're investing.
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Scott Cohen: Heavily in.
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Scott Cohen: That area as.
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Scott Cohen: Well. And, and,
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Scott Cohen: We look forward to bringing some exciting new products to market.