In+Hot+Water

We’re in Hot Water

The more you know:  - Heating water makes up about 13% of the average energy bill  - Washing clothes uses about 32 gallons of hot water  - Bathing requires about 20 gallons  - Washing dishes – 12 gallons  - Cooking – usually about 5 gallons

Ways to reduce energy consumption:  - Use low-flow shower heads. Doing so can reduce hot water used in bathing by about 50%  - Lower the thermostat on your water heater. Just 10 fewer degrees can lower energy consumption by about 5%  - Normal water heaters heat water constantly, even when you’re not using, which wastes a lot of energy. Tankless water heaters only heat water when you use it. Switching to a tankless water heater can reduce energy consumption by about 30%  - Siphon a small amount of water from your water tank roughly every 3 months. Sediment builds up in hot water tanks over time, which has an impact on their energy efficiency.  - Insulate water pipes. This enables lowering the water tank’s temperature without a noticeable difference in water heat

Standard domestic water heaters are powered by electricity. Even with the above precautions in mind, water heaters still use a great deal of energy, which comes from fossil fuels. There is an alternative, however: solar powered water heaters. Solar powered water heaters avoid all of the harmful greenhouse gas emissions associated with natural gas water heaters.

There are two types of solar powered water heating systems: flat plate collector system and batch collector system. Flat plate collector systems run a series of water filled pipes through an area that has a great deal of sunlight exposure. These pipes are designed to capture as much solar energy as possible and heat the water. Batch collector systems are water filled tanks with highly absorbent surfaces that soak up thermal energy from the sun and heat the water inside them.

These are some seemingly obvious ways to cut back on energy consumption, so why doesn’t everyone do it? The reason, of course, is instant gratification. The economy is currently in a recession, and people just aren’t willing to put out the extra money to switch to these solar powered hot water tanks and accessories. There is, however, a reason for the higher cost. These appliances will ultimately lower the amount of energy a household consumes, and thus lower the amount of money paid each month. An effective way to get people to make the change would just be to spread the word, and help make people realize that not only will changing to solar powered water tanks and appliances be the right ecological decision, but it will ultimately be the right financial decision as well.

Low-flow shower heads, insulated pipes, and solar powered water tanks are good ways to save money and energy, although solar powered tanks aren’t necessarily reliable. However, most people believe tankless water heaters have proven over time that while they do cut energy, they don’t cut costs. Tankless water heaters cost around $1000 to buy and about $1200 to install, whereas storage tank water heaters cost around $400 to buy and about $300 to install. Tankless water heaters generally reduce energy consumption by about 30%, which would save the average household about $70 on electricity bills per year. Tankless heaters last at most 20 years, and that’s if you’re lucky. It would take a few years longer than that to equal the extra money spent on the system. So you wouldn’t be saving any money. This would be true, except that $400 storage tank water heaters only last about 6 years. So you would have to spend $1200 just to last 18 years with storage tank water heaters. In summation, a tankless water heater is both ecologically and economically superior to storage tank models.

Sources: Nusz, Janean. “Beat Energy Costs: Hot Water.” 23 March 2010. [] []

[] Fletcher, Adrian. “ Solar Power Water Boiler - Cut Utility Bills With Solar Energy”. 23 March 2010. [] [] “Tankless Water Heaters: They’re efficient, but not necessarily economical” September 2008. 23 March 2010. []

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