Save Energy by Ditching Outdated Water Heaters

If I wanted to save energy, I knew that those hot showers that I loved so much weren't something to indulge in too regularly.  Wasting not only water and a significant amount of electricity to heat up that water, this habit is sadly not in keeping with a very ethical model in terms to energy consumption and saving what precious natural resources we have.  But the facts hit home even further when I learned that second only behind in home heating and cooling, that water heater supplying me with the scalding hot water that feels oh so good on a chilly winter night is the second leading home energy sucker.

Many in home water heaters work off of a tank; that means that at any given time the water heater is constantly turned on and working to keep a reserve of anywhere between 30 and 70 gallons of water at a temperature generally at or above 120 degree Fahrenheit.  While this is convenient in that you have a ready supply of hot water the minute you turn on the taps, this is a complete waste of energy in that no matter if you are using water or not, or even in your house for that matter, your water heater is running.  While this is obviously not good news for your home utility bills and is a major contributor to inflating it, it is also doing harm to the environment and the size of your carbon footprint.

However this doesn't mean that you must resign yourself to living without hot water or hang your head in shame every time you lather up under a soothing hot stream.  Instead you can do both yourself and the environment a favor by switching out your old, outdated and inefficient water heater for one that will save energy.  There are plenty of newer models that come with an Energy Star Label and can reduce the amount of energy they use by anywhere between five and thirty percent.  This will add up insurmountably over the years and will translate into not only savings for you but in the amount of carbon released into the atmosphere.

The five main types of water heaters you will want to consider are those that are tankless, work off of a heat pump, solar powered, gas condensing, and those that are storage.  While storage water heaters with and Energy Star Label will be the least expensive upfront they will be the least efficient at reducing your energy consumption, perhaps only by five percent.  This is an improvement, but because they still have a tank and constantly be working to keep a water reserve.  Tankless water heaters are a better route to  go to save energy in that they cans reduce your consumption by up to 30 percent; their drawback is that they are not able to supply you with a copious amount of hot water if your demands are high.  Such as if you have a large home, have lots of people using hot water regularly, and if you tend to have many sources using hot water at the same time.  They don't have a tank and will work only when you turn on the hot water taps and then directly heat cold water as it rushes through the pipes.

If you do live in a larger home and have a high demand for hot water, gas condensing water heaters will be able to give you that supply but again they won't be cutting back your energy usage as much as a tankless one, and of course there is the fact that they are only running off of gas power fuel and that's not the most environmentally friendly.  Heat pump water heaters run solely off of electricity and are the most efficient of the like.  Where as a tankless water heater earns an Energy Star Rating of about 0.82 these will be that of 2.0 or higher.

Finally there are solar water heaters that will cut out the electric company completely and you will rest easy knowing that you are following the most ethical model and reducing your own carbon consumption the most.  However sadly these water heaters are only made in small models and aren't able to produce that much hot water.  They may be able to be applied to a single tap, but can't necessarily supply hot water to an entire home.  Yet no matter which way you go you will do well to oust that old, inefficient standard tank water heat for one that is much better able to save energy!