Water Heating Energy Excessive

The United States should reduce the energy it uses to heat water by 25% by 2020, mainly through the use of solar and advanced water heaters.  That is the conclusion of a report, 'A Technology Roadmap' developed by the industry and funded by the Department of Energy’s Solar Energy Technologies Program.

The country consumes 100 billion kWh of electricity each year to heat water in homes and apartments, 1 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, 900 million gallons of oi and 500 million gallons of LPG.  “This energy comes at a significant cost,” the report notes. The average home spends US$207 per year to heat water, the third-largest household energy expense behind space heating and space cooling. Electric and gas water heaters dominate the residential market, accounting for 99% of units sold and 93% of the energy consumed by water heaters.

The use of solar water heaters, geothermal heat pump water heaters, tankless electric, high-efficiency natural gas, and gas-fired tankless systems account for a very small share of the national market, and these technologies offer significant energy (and water) savings and reduced GHG emissions that “will not be realized unless they are developed and brought to market in a sustained and orderly manner.”

The goal of the roadmap is to reduce primary fossil fuel use for water heating by 25% by 2020, and accomplishing that goal will require “integrated and focused technology and market transformation activities.” It will also require development of “efficient, user-friendly products that can compete in the market on the basis of price, performance, and value-added attributes such as environmental protection, insurance against supply interruptions, and the ability to meet multiple residential/commercial needs.”

Solar Water heaters can reduce energy consumption by 50 to 75% and whole house electric tankless by more than 20% (when compared to a conventional water heater), and high efficiency natural gas water heaters can be more than 20% more efficient than conventional gas water heaters.  On a national scale, installation of high efficiency natural gas water heaters in residences alone could save 223 billion cubic feet of natural gas (about=24 days worth of imports from Canada).  Eliminating 50% of the electricity consumed to heat water by installing solar water heaters could save almost 55 billion kilowatt-hours per year (about 26 days worth of electricity from the nation's nuclear power plants).

According to the Roadmap Solar water heating has several barriers to use:

• Cost - Solar water heater cost about $2600, up to ten times more expensive than conventional water heaters.  Development of polymer, rather than glass and metal, collection systems is targeted to cut that cost in half. The economies of high volume production would further reduce the cost. Long term financing, by utilities or the government, could reduce the cost to acceptable levels.  The Lakeland Electric utility has a program where they install and maintain the water heater for free and they charge the customer for the amount of hot water used, at a cost less than would be incurred by an electric water heater.  The utility reduces its peak demand and transmission losses.  The program generates a 7% annual rate of return for the utility and it generates Renewable Energy Credits for the utility.  Incentives and tax credits are widely used and encurage implemetation in the states where they are available.
• Reliability - Although early models were not very reliable, these problems have been eliminated in modern systems installed in temperate climates.  Freeze-up problems in more severe climates can be solved by using an active (pumped with temperature sensors) system rather that the drain-back systems used in temperate climates.  Water heaters used in Germany, which has a climate similar to that in the norther snow belt in the U.S., have overcome this problem.  An equivalent (based on population) 150,000 solar water heating systems are installed annually in Germany, which highly subsidizes the installation, vs. 6,000 in the U.S.
• Education - A plumber or plumbing supply house that is educated about the types of solar water heaters and benefits are more likely recommended installation of a solar heater than those that are not educated. Manufacturers and distributors need a more active education program that is disseminated to consumers, builders, plumbing unions, industry associations and retailers.
• Training  and licensing - Solar water heaters are more complex than conventional water heaters, installing them may require knowledge or experience that is not normally part of the training for plumbers that are the key sales route for water heaters.  The North American Board of Certified Energy Practitioners is in the process of drafting a certification/licensing program for solar water heaters which will be released for comment by the solar community.  Certification/licensing should go a long way towards ensuring that installers are well informed of the design and safety issues involved with with solar water heaters as well as the proper installation and operating procedures.
• Building practices and codes - Preparing a home, during construction, for solar water heating is a relatively easy cost effective avenue for energy and resource conservation.  A minimum requirement should be that rough-ins, from the water heater to the attic, suitable for running piping and electrical wires should be required when the home is being constructed.  Installing dry piping and conduit should be required if they could not easily be installed during a retrofit. Requirements that houses be oriented so as to best take advantage of solar incidence is a more controversial possibility.  Making code officials, developers and builders aware of the desirability of these requirements should be part of the educational program.

Electric Water Heaters

Advanced, high-efficiency water heaters (heat pumps,tankless instantaneous, and geothermal) are generally more expensive to purchase that conventional water heaters.  Their advantage over solar water heaters is that the technology is usually more mature.  Generally similar measures, as were outlined for solar water heaters, for cost, education, training practices and building practices need to be implemented.   The details of each of these points are different than for solar water heaters and are explained in the main Roadmap document.

Roadmap developed to expedite solar water heating in U.S., reFocus website, Elsevier, November 30, 2005
Solar and Efficient Water Heating, A Technological Roadmap, 2005 (pdf, 73 pages), Represenatives of the Water Heater Industry and DOE, 2005

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Comments

[Francis de Winter]

1. Please put me on the mailing list.
2. If there is confusion on the peak, it is on purpose. Many want the world to continue buying SUVs, and are happy to provide financial support for those who spread confusion. For a few details, see http://www.hubbertpeak.com/dewinter
3. Keep up the good work.
4. Stay in touch.
5. You can see my resume by googling me.

[karl (there's a reason that solar and tankless join hands)]

This info on solar does not belong in efficiency catagory.

Solar hot water is not efficient! Tremendous amounts of heat is wasted, in fact because of the high capital costs and fixed potential heat return and inability to put the energy to any other use either the surplus hot water is simply not used or it is used somehow then flushed away for the cost of the sewer line.

ALthough during the winter extra heat can reduce space heating from other sources the cost has to compete with the payback and generally extreme cold means poor at least inexpensive models performance.

The tankless scheme robs ratepayers of owners chipping in the rest of the time to recover the costs of distribution which often exceed the energy cost itself.

As one solar gonzo crowed on here he saves the taxes on the energy he uses because he owns the plant! But no ethical argument likely would fly for doing so. It's always possible and sometimes easy to cheat and be regarded as a hero even so.

But then there is type of solar energy that is efficeient and that is the heatpump pwhich as I mentioned Carrier had a consumer model which for very little additional cost (to them!) provided dhw as a bonus essentially.

Compared to other forms of solar it truly rocked, and they had lots of inventory when I wanted to buy one, but they said it was discontinued, and only trade schools could get them.

They also told me there engineers could not talk about current products, as they only dealt with ones under development. In the dozen plus years since the thp3 I've not heard of another consumer model.

Instead we often have large amounts of heat gettting dumped from our fridges into our living spaces, while we burn tons of coal to heat hundreds of gallons of water that misses our bodies on it's way into the sewer.

And vertical jacuzzi's are regarded as illegal if they recirculated by people whose job it is to know that's not true even though I've yet to find one marketed.

It's just that the people who buy such luxuries don't care how much energy they waste as long as they can use as much as they draw and utilities make poor people subsidise the use of the rich to get there dollars and there support at rate hearing time.

So we see old andI mean ancient aC units serviced free, like the old lightbulbs used to be, by utilities who provide the mansions with three phase power to stop there owners from replacing the quiet units with either noisy ones that pay for themselves in like a month, or worse, finding out they are noising and ruining that aspect of new models sold fairly (price wise)for everyone but the buyer and neighbors etc.

I appreciate the catagory but these entries fail to deliver and do so some might say suspiciously.

We can all afford to change the productin schedule of LED's. It shouldn't be a one per gaming household willing to pay a grand each and ship from japan equation.

Right now if instead of walmart (i'm there next!) we all went to ebay for the five wat uner cabinetn kitchen lights there volum wold go up thousands of times, and there price woulod be cheaper life cycle wise then even bargain flourescents (under ten bucks for the strip)

And man are they stylish! Of course like other items the insertion of lead weights to convey quality would end once production ramped up.... making them that much better during earthquake!

[karl (the monster pdf is monstrously corrupt and a grand jury should be summoned)]

After downloading it and reading TOO much of it I now realize it's
http://www.nabcep.org/about.cfm

a certifying pro solar host and that explains the nonsense throughout it.

It really made me sick.

IN part as I thought it was Sam hosted.

But no such uncle is complicit..... except as credited as "facilitating" which means they should be up to get it off there internet or put in context.

whoever KDEGROAT is they don't let it be searched...... and it's just about the worst megabyte I've every downloaded. If only some of the admissions could be trusted.

I hope to find the document text and see all slurs against pumps. What the pump does is remove the high markup high labor panels from the package. Any wonder now about the signifigance of the host, that depends on certifying and pleasing such a 'work'force.

[heating]

If you have looked into solar energy as a method for heating your home, panels are usually the first things that come up.

There are, however, other unique methods.

The Solar Heating Aspect You Have Never Heard of Before

The power of the sun is immense. The energy in one day of sunlight is more than the world needs. The problem, of course,

is how does one harness this power. Solar panels represent the obvious solution, but they have their downside. First,

they can be expensive depending upon your energy needs. Second, they do not exactly blend in with the rest of your home.

Passive solar heating represents a panel free method of harnessing the inherent energy found in the sun for heating

purposes. If you come out from a store and open the door of your car in the summer, you understand the concept of passive

solar heating. A wide variety of material absorbs sunlight and radiates the energy back into the air in the form of heat.

Passive solar heating for a home works the same way as the process which overheats your car in the parking lot.

[Tony]

Its not heating water thats the real problem its the first 15 degrees

[Nolan]

That is a great article. Thank you for sharing it.

[Instantaneous Water Heater]

Great post! Thanks for sharing this Water Heating Energy Excessive post! I hope everybody gets a chance to read this post!:)

[Plumbing]

I find your article very interesting.
Water heater is a very great appliance especially to cold country. And for me its not the problem.