Points of Interest | Green Energy News

May 30, 2004 – Vol.9 No.10

POINTS OF INTEREST.

A weekly collection of websites worth visiting.

Here’s a typical day in most American homes.

People, families get up in the morning, take hot showers, maybe run the dishwasher, then trot off to school or work for the next eight hours or so. They come home, maybe do a load of wash, then hop into the sack for another eight hours, give or take a few.

But, for roughly 16 hours each day there’s work going on at home while nobody’s there to appreciate it. The hot water heater is making hot water that nobody needs or wants.

What a waste.

For years, even decades, others around the world have embraced on-demand (point-of-use, tankless, instantaneous) domestic hot water heating devices fueled by natural gas, propane or electricity that make hot water as it’s needed, not frivolously.

Fortunately, on demand systems are finally catching on in the U.S. and are said to be the hottest (pardon the pun) new appliance on market today.

The devices can be used to provide hot water for a single use, such as one faucet or for a whole house. Commercial applications are also numerous.

Solar thermal hot water systems, even wood-fired hot water systems, can be used to preheat in-flowing water for greater energy savings.

Devices using an electronic spark ignition, for propane or natural gas fueled units, are probably less expensive to operate than ones with a pilot light.

Prices seem to range from less than $200 (for a single use unit) to $1000 (a whole house unit).

Generally, the cost of these is more than a traditional tank-type water heater. The payback period in energy savings must be determined by comparing how much the initial cost and installation of the unit is (and how long it is expected to last) with how much energy (gas or elec.) is saved in terms of dollars and cents.

Some companies claim cost savings in hot water bills of over 50 percent.

Some states have incentives to encourage the purchase of the units.

Here’s a few companies that manufacture the devices:

-- Rinnai http://www.rinnai.us/

-- SETS Systems, Inc http://www.e-tankless.com/

-- EEMax http://www.eemaxinc.com/

-- Paloma Industries http://www.palomaindustries.com/

-- Stiebel Eltron http://www.stiebel-eltron-usa.com/

-- Seisco http://www.seisco.com/

-- Envirotech Systems Worldwide http://tankless.com/

-- Termotronic http://www.termotronic.com/

-- Bosch (USA) http://www.boschusa.com/