Energy Saving Water Heaters

By: EconomyWatch   Date: 30 April 2010

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Saving Energy and Money with Tankless and Solar Water Heaters

With global fossil fuel reserves estimated to last less than 40 years, it has become essential for people to utilize energy-efficient products in their homes.

While the developed nations have already raised energy prices, two of the most powerful developing nations, namely China and India, are on the brink of following suit. One way to reduce energy expenses at a time like this is to use energy saving appliances, such as water heating appliances that consume less power.

Storage tank water heaters can be replaced by tankless water heaters to save energy. As the name suggests, tankless water heaters do not have a tank and stores no hot water. Thus, water is heated as and when needed. Installing tankless water heaters, which are also known as demand or instantaneous water heaters, in homes where daily hot water consumption is at or lower than 41 gallons can result in energy saving of between 24% and 34% vis-à-vis conventional storage tank water heaters, according to the US Department of Energy’s EERE (Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy) initiative. Savings can be raised to between 27% and 50% by installing a separate demand or tankless water heater for supplying to different hot water outlets. Apart from resulting in significant energy saving, tankless water heaters last longer than storage water heaters.

Whether it is a conventional storage tank water heater or a tankless one, the most common type of water heater used in the US and in most of the European countries is the natural gas heater. Gas-fired tankless water heaters usually provide a higher hot water flow rate than electric ones. However, energy wastage in gas-fired tankless water heaters can also be higher, if they have a constantly burning pilot light. Purchasing a gas-fired tankless water heater model that has an intermittent ignition device (IID) instead of a standing pilot light can maximize energy saving.

A solar water heating system may be able to cater to as much as 85% of a home’s hot water energy needs, according to wikipedia.com. Although solar water heating equipment can be costly, several governments provide incentives that bring the price down. For instance, in the State of Oregon in the US, federal and state incentives can reduce the price of solar water heaters by almost half. Similarly, installation costs in the UK have declined substantially over the past few years, from roughly £9,000 to about £3,000. The Australian Government is offering rebates of $1,000 to every household in the country that wishes to replace electric storage water heaters with solar water heaters. This scheme is on systems installed between July 18, 2007 and March 2012.


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