In an energy-efficient home, water heating is usually the second biggest energy consumer; in certain cases it may be the biggest. It surprises lots of people to understand that a typical electric hot water heater accounts for about 50 % the CO2 emissions each year of the average car!
Your first water heating priority would be to minimize warm water use by utilizing faucet aerators and low-flow showerheads, installing a water-conserving clothes washer and dishwasher, insulating the water tank, and insulating hot-water pipes. Beyond this, the largest difference you can make in lowering the environmental impacts of water heating would be to use a solar water heating system.
Solar water heating has existed for several years. In the early 1900s, it had been common in Florida and California, but interest dropped after World WAR II with really low energy costs. The 1970s saw an upsurge in interest and also the advance of literally hundreds of companies making, installing, and servicing solar water heating systems.
Unfortunately, most these businesses disappeared following a return of low energy prices and also the lack of federal Solar Tax Credits in the mid-1980s. Throughout the 1990s and early 2000s, the solar water heating industry has always been small but steady, experiencing some growth.
There are many kinds of solar water heating systems, including active closed-loop, active drainback, thermosiphon, and batch. Two of the systems are active, meaning that pumps are utilized to circulate water with the collectors and through heat exchangers in the storage tank. In the active closed-loop system, the heat-transfer fluid always remains in the collector and piping. In the drainback system, once sensors tell the system to seal down, water drains back to a little tank indoors.
Another two common kinds of solar warm water systems are passive. That is, they do not need pumps to flow fluid. The thermosiphon system includes a solar panel located below the storage tank. Because the fluid in the collector gets hotter, it naturally rises and circulates with the storage tank (or via a heat exchanger in the tank); this thermosiphon loop naturally transfers heat in the solar panel to the tank. Sometimes such systems use potable water and therefore are located within the heated envelope of the house where they cannot freeze, for example in a sunspace.
A load or integral collector storage (ICS) solar hot water heater may be the simplest of. It is almost always used like a preheater for any conventional hot water heater; plain tap water flows with the collector or batch solar water-heating tank on the method to the traditional hot water heater. The first hot water heaters were mostly batch systems.
Most solar hot water heaters function as preheaters for conventional electric or gas hot water heaters. Some systems possess a separate solar storage tank that feeds to the standard hot water heater. Others serve just one storage tank that also offers an electrical heating unit that kicks in once the solar heating isn't adequate.
Advanced gas-fired demand hot water heaters may be used with solar pre-heaters; when the demand hot water heater is made to heat water up to and including prescribed temperature, it's an excellent complement to some solar water heating system. When there's been a lot of sunlight and also the solar-heated water is very hot, the demand hot water heater is going to do hardly any supplementary heating, but in the winter or following a long cloudy spell, the demand hot water heater can offer most of the heating.
If you are not likely to use a solar water heating system whenever you build your new house, celebrate a lot of sense to arrange for the next installation. Such planning may include providing a south-facing roof using the proper pitch for solar collectors in your location and enough room for that panels, as well as pre-plumbing of pipes with the attic. Providing such plumbing once the home is being built doesn't add that much cost, also it can save a lot of cash once the solar water heating system is installed.
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04202011
1. Steel framing and green home building
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