Water Heaters
Here is the next tip in our “Don’t be an Eel with Energy” challenge.
Two of the biggest users of energy in a standard home are the fridge and the hot water heater. Why, because these are two devices that run 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. It is estimated that upto 40% of a households greenhouse gas emissions come from electric hot water heaters. This equates to about 4 tonnes of gas a year!
Fortunately, there are many easy and inexpensive (with the exceptions of replacing the unit) options to reduce the impact of your hot shower.
- Change Units - Next time your hot water service stops servicing you with hot water consider replacing it with a more efficient unit.
- Solar Hot Water - By installing a Solar hot water service, you can sleep comfortably at night knowing that you are emitting nearly 0 green house gasses
- Heat Pump - A new type of hot water unit uses the same principal as a fridge in reverse to heat water. However, for the same reasons that a fridge is inefficient (when trying to remove heat), a heater is actually more efficient. Click here for an example unit.
- Gas - Natural gas high efficiency water heaters produce around two-thirds lower greenhouse emissions than electric heaters
- Switch to Green power - By using “Green” electricity you can minimise the impact of your electric hot water service. Before you do, check our Green Electricity Watch which reviews and rates the different “Green” electricity plans from all the different energy suppliers. This ensures that you are getting what you paid for and are not just handing over money for nothing.
- Turn the temperature down - If you risk burning yourself with the hot water from your tap, your hot water service is set to high. Turn it down to 40-45°
- Use cold water for the laundry - There is very little need to use hot water when doing the washing. By simply washing your clothes in cold water you can reduce your need for hot water
- Reduce wasteful use- By fixing leaking water taps, avoiding using the hot water taps for washing hands and short uses, keeping plumbing well maintained, turning off the hot water unit whilst you are not at home for long periods (ie: on holidays)
Sources - Renovation Nation (The Age), Energy Australia
Photo courtesy of flickr user alexfittyfives
Tags: Energy Eel