Midea Wins Hot Water Innovation Prize to Broaden Access to Efficient Water Heating

PORTLAND, Ore. — The Northwest Energy Efficiency Alliance (NEEA), in collaboration with a national coalition of energy-efficiency organizations including the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE), has announced Midea as the winner of the Hot Water Innovation Prize, a national competition aimed at accelerating the availability of efficient water heating for more households.

The award-winning solution tackles one of the most significant barriers to wider adoption of heat pump water heaters: space. Heat pump water heaters consume a fraction of the energy used by standard electric resistance models, but conventional sizes often do not fit in homes with limited space. Midea's new split-system heat pump water heater, developed through the Innovation Prize, could soon give families in apartments, condominiums, manufactured homes, and other compact spaces the option to install an energy-saving heat pump water heater.

"This prize was created to solve a significant market challenge that has kept this highly efficient technology from reaching more homes," said Becca Yates, executive director of NEEA. "The innovation recognized today gives families more energy-saving options by making heat pump water heating a practical choice for a wider range of consumers."

Midea, a global manufacturer of home appliances and technology, has a long history of developing products designed to improve everyday life.

"At Midea, innovation starts with understanding our customers' needs," said Sarah Chinberg, Packaged AC Regulatory Engineer. "We participated in the Hot Water Innovation Prize because we saw an opportunity to bring the benefits of heat pump water heating to more homes. This recognition validates our team's work to develop a practical solution that delivers savings and flexibility with the performance that our customers expect."

Analyzing data from the U.S. Department of Energy, NEEA estimates that these split-system heat pump water heaters have the potential to lower energy use for more than 2 million homes per year, saving households an average of $240 annually on energy bills. According to NEEA's analysis, if all existing small standard electric resistance water heaters in the U.S. were replaced with those developed through the Hot Water Innovation Prize, the potential annual impacts include:

• A combined $5.6 billion in energy bill savings
• 35 billion kilowatt-hours saved per year, equivalent to the energy needed to power more than 3 million homes
• Approximately 13 million metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions avoided

Building the Path to Market

Unlike traditional product development, the competition brought manufacturers, energy-efficiency organizations, and testing laboratories together early in the process to lay the groundwork for future market implementation.

Following an initial qualification in late 2024 and a project plan review in early 2025, participating manufacturers developed product concepts into working prototypes, which then underwent laboratory testing and evaluation by an independent panel of seven judges.

The judges collectively represent decades of combined experience in water heating technology and engineering, residential water heater sales and installation, building science, utility energy efficiency programs, and market transformation. They assessed each prototype's energy performance, technical feasibility, installation practicality, and consumer value before selecting Midea as the winner. As the competition winner, Midea receives $175,000 to support continued product development.

NEEA and its partners are now working with utilities and other stakeholders to explore demonstrations and other market-development opportunities.

The Hot Water Innovation Prize is supported by a national coalition of organizations committed to expanding access to efficient water heating, including ACEEE, the Advanced Water Heating Initiative, the Bonneville Power Administration, Ecotope, Efficiency Vermont, the Midwest Energy Efficiency Alliance, the Northeast Energy Efficiency Partnership, the New Buildings Institute, the South-central Partnership for Energy Efficiency as a Resource, the Southwest Energy Efficiency Project, and the Vermont Energy Investment Corporation.

The Northwest Energy Efficiency Alliance (NEEA) is an alliance of more than 140 utilities and energy-efficiency organizations working on behalf of more than 14.5 million energy consumers across the Northwest. Since 1996, NEEA has used a market-driven approach to accelerate energy efficiency by identifying and overcoming barriers to adoption. Learn more at neea.org.