Electric Heating Systems

According to the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), water heating accounts for up to 17 percent of national residential energy consumption, the third largest energy end-use in homes behind heating and cooling units and kitchen appliances. As homeowners install amenities that require increased hot water volume, such as luxury tubs and custom showers, the percentage of energy used to heat water will continue to rise.

In an attempt to address this significant percentage of energy consumption, DOE has developed ENERGY STAR criteria for water heaters, the last major residential appliance that the program has not addressed. According to DOE projections, Americans are expected to save approximately $780 million in utility costs while avoiding 4.2 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions by the end of the fifth year in effect.

Five categories of residential water heaters will be eligible for Energy Star labeling - high-performance gas storage, whole-home gas tankless, advanced drop-in or integrated heat pump, solar and gas condensing. The new Energy Star criteria go into effect in 2009.

"The Energy Star program empowers consumers to make smart energy choices that will save money and energy, and reduce our carbon footprint," said DOE Assistant Secretary for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Andy Krassner. "Expansion of the Energy Star program to include water heaters will give Americans yet another way to more efficiently use energy in their homes and, in the interest of increasing energy security and addressing climate change, help further the President's goal of fundamentally changing the way this nation uses power."

By leveraging the established value of the Energy Star program, DOE hopes that manufacturers will focus on developing more efficient technologies and that consumers will recognize that Energy Star water heaters will deliver similar or better performance than conventional models while using less energy and saving money. According to an April 2008 report released by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Energy Star label favorably influences more than 70 percent of households, up from about 50 percent in 2003.

More than 9,000 organizations have joined Energy Star as partners committed to improving the energy efficiency of products, homes and businesses. The Energy Star label now appears on more than 40 kinds of consumer products. A.O. Smith, industry leader for more than 70 years, has engineered a full line of Energy Star water heaters to meet the hot-water needs of households while benefiting budgets and the environment.

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The sun produces untold trillions of watts of power, and even though we receive just a tiny fraction of that power, it is many times capable of empowering our entire world. For the past few decades, solar power has been gaining prominence as the technology matures and it becomes even more efficient and cheap to produce equipment for. Most people are familiar with solar panels that convert solar rays into usable electricity. However, solar power can also be harvested for its heat energy, as in the case of solar power water heaters, which don't use any source of power but the sun to heat water.

Millions of Degrees

The sun burns so brightly and hotly that it is many millions of degrees in temperature. When it reaches Earth it only warms us to 0 to 100 degrees Fahrenheit. That might not seem too impressive, but there is still a great deal of heat in all of the solar rays that bombard us. The only problem is finding a way to harvest those solar rays. Most of them aren't absorbed, and if there were a way to effectively absorb many of them, a great deal of concentrated heat could be produced for our use. Solar power water heaters use solar panels to trap that heat and concentrate it (effectively making it hotter), so even though the atmosphere might not get hotter than 100 degrees, or even if it is below freezing, solar power water heaters can easily heat water up to 200 degrees (although they may require a backup source of energy from time to time).

Many consumers might be rightfully wary of purchasing any new technology, and solar power water heaters and no exception. However, as they mature, you can rest assured that the appliances will become even more reliable and efficient, so only make the purchase when you feel comfortable and assured. Even bigger savings can be achieved through the use of what are known as passive solar water heaters. Active models use pumps and other mechanical devices to move the warm liquid or air along, but passive versions achieve the same results without the use of those devices, so they save even more energy and consequently money.

If you're ready to start weaning yourself off of the power grid, then now is the time to upgrade to solar power water heaters. You'll end up saving hundreds of dollars a year, and you'll never have to worry about the energy being shut off because the sun won't stop burning for billions of years. On top of all of those savings, you'll also be able to sleep easier at night knowing you are doing what you can to help deal with the climate crisis and save the environment.