Americans rarely connect their flowing hot water to their energy consumption. Like children (and probably more than a few adults) who think that meat comes from the supermarket, not from the steer, we all take heated water exceedingly for granted - hot water comes from the tap. In fact, unless you have a solar water heater - which fortunately is not as rare as in former days - or live in Iceland where thermal electricity fuels appliances, fossil fuel is consumed to keep our water hot. The water is being kept hot all the time, whether you use it or not. The controls to water heaters are not user friendly, and most of us avoid heading down to our basements unless there is a pressing need, so basically we're wasting a lot of energy heating water that sits around in a tank.
reducing your home's carbon footprint
Showing posts with label hot water heaters. Show all posts
Showing posts with label hot water heaters. Show all posts
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
We're All in Hot Water When We Waste Energy!
Americans rarely connect their flowing hot water to their energy consumption. Like children (and probably more than a few adults) who think that meat comes from the supermarket, not from the steer, we all take heated water exceedingly for granted - hot water comes from the tap. In fact, unless you have a solar water heater - which fortunately is not as rare as in former days - or live in Iceland where thermal electricity fuels appliances, fossil fuel is consumed to keep our water hot. The water is being kept hot all the time, whether you use it or not. The controls to water heaters are not user friendly, and most of us avoid heading down to our basements unless there is a pressing need, so basically we're wasting a lot of energy heating water that sits around in a tank.
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