Energy positivity is established for a class of solutions to Einstein-aether theory and the IR limit of Ho\v{ r}ava gravity within a certain range of coupling parameters. The class consists of solutions where the aether 4-vector is divergence free on a spacelike surface to which it is orthogonal (which implies that the surface is maximal). In particular, this result holds for spherically symmetric solutions at a moment of time symmetry.
Categories: gr-qc hep-th