Waste Not, Want Not: Conserve Energy by Upgrading Your Hot Water Heater

Enlarge Image Image Gallery Hot water heaters may seem innocent enough, but they are actually silent energy hogs that should be updated to conserve energy and save you money on your bills.  Just one topic of many sustainable ideas and solutions for your living space covered in “Your Green Abode,” the options to improve your water heating’s energy use range from behavioral adaptations to purchasing an Energy Star recommended high-efficiency water heater to replace your current behemoth.    COVER: SKIPSTONE BOOKS

The following is an excerpt from Your Green Abode by Tara Rae Miner (Skipstone Books, 2010). Drawn from interviews with experts, intensive research and trial-and-error experiences, the author provides a wealth of information on how you can conserve energy, incorporate eco-friendly products and give your house an overall green makeover from the ground up. The following excerpt comes from Chapter 2, “Save Time, Use Less Energy.”   

Right after heating and cooling, hot water is a typical home’s biggest energy expense. The EPA reports that the average household spends $400 to $600 a year on it. And for all that money spent, you won’t get a lot of well-used energy in return. That old tank buried behind boxes in your basement is most likely losing a ton: only 43 percent of a water heater’s energy goes toward heating the water you actually use; 31 percent is lost to standby heating (keeping the water in the tank hot). I’m talking about a clunky, more-than-a-decade-old hot water heater, the kind many of us — 27 million households — own. Seeing as a water heater only lasts about 10 to 15 years, we’ll have no choice but to upgrade soon. Here’s an opportunity to start thinking about energy-efficient options now, before that hot water runs out.

Conserve Energy First

Before we get to the new showroom models, let’s return to our mantra of conservation. Maybe your budget won’t allow for a big piece of new hardware, or maybe your landlord won’t pony up for the building. There’s still a lot you and your fellow tenants can do. If you’re hardcore, shorten your showers. Or if you don’t have the self-control, reduce your use automatically, and thus your heater’s workload, by installing a low-flow showerhead.

Next, try turning down the temperature. This isn’t as scary as it sounds — you won’t be left with dirty dishes or suffer through washing your hair in lukewarm water. Many hot water heaters are preset to 140 degrees Fahrenheit, which is too hot for most domestic uses. Ever have to mix your hot water with cold to get just the right temperature? You’re wasting the electricity that was used to heat the hot water in the first place. You probably won’t even notice the difference if you turn down the thermostat to 120 degrees (115 degrees may feel just fine), and you’ll also save roughly 10 percent of the energy it takes to heat your water. Or to look at it from a financial perspective, for every 10 degrees you lower the temperature, you’ll save 3 to 5 percent on your water-heating costs. Don’t forget to turn your thermostat to the lowest possible setting when you’re away on vacation. There’s no sense in heating water for nobody to use.