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MALTA, New York, US, November 30, 2005
(Refocus Weekly)
The United States should reduce the energy it
uses to heat water by 25% by 2020, mainly through the use of solar
and advanced water heaters.
Water heaters consume 13% of residential and 6% of all commercial
energy in the U.S., explains ‘Solar & Efficient Water Heating: A
Technology Roadmap’ developed by the industry and funded by the
Department of Energy’s Solar Energy Technologies Program. The
country consumes 100 billion kWh of electricity each year to heat
water in homes and apartments, 1 trillion cubic feet of natural gas,
900 million gallons of oi and 500 million gallons of LPG.
“This energy comes at a significant cost,” the report notes. The
average home spends US$207 per year to heat water, the third-largest
household energy expense behind space heating and space cooling.
Electric and gas water heaters dominate the residential market,
accounting for 99% of units sold and 93% of the energy consumed by
water heaters.
The use of solar water heaters, geothermal heat pump water heaters,
tankless electric, high-efficiency natural gas, and gas-fired
tankless systems account for a very small share of the national
market, and these technologies offer significant energy (and water)
savings and reduced GHG emissions that “will not be realized unless
they are developed and brought to market in a sustained and orderly
manner.”
“Given the environmental, energy security and economic attributes of
advanced water heaters, the contribution of these technologies in
the U.S. is woefully inadequate considering their potential,” it
states. “Despite their current struggle in the market, the companies
manufacturing solar and advanced high-performance water heaters
could realize futures of innovation and profitability and make major
contributions to U.S. energy goals.”
The goal of the roadmap is to reduce primary fossil fuel use for
water heating by 25% by 2020, and accomplishing that goal will
require “integrated and focussed technology and market
transformation activities.” It will also require development of
“efficient, user-friendly products that can compete in the market on
the basis of price, performance, and value-added attributes such as
environmental protection, insurance against supply interruptions,
and the ability to meet multiple residential/commercial needs.”
“This document is part of a continuing effort to enable solar and
advanced water heating to reach their full market and technological
potentials, and thus for the nation to realize the significant
energy and water savings and emissions reductions offered by the
technologies,” explains the introduction. The process started at the
2003 conference of the American Solar Energy Society which was
followed in 2004 by DOE’s ‘Solar and High-Performance Water Heating
Roadmap’ workshop in Baltimore.
“Solar water heating and, to some extent, high-performance water
heaters, have had disappointing market penetration for many of the
same reasons: higher upfront costs; lack of familiarity with buyers
and the building trades; and lack of product support,” it notes.
“For both solar and high-performance water heaters, the plumbing
trades are of key importance and efforts made to educate and
encourage them to investigate and adopt solar and advanced methods
of heating water are critically important.”
“Since solar and efficient water heating systems are most easily and
economically incorporated into new construction, the building trades
and architecture profession are also crucial to making these
technologies successful,” it adds. “There are many allies and
partners needed in this effort, and this Roadmap is intended to
piece them all together into a unified and directed plan.”
“Water heaters are largely overlooked by residential and commercial
customers; they are an ‘out of sight, out of mind’ piece of
equipment that draws attention only when the hot water stops flowing
(or starts flowing all over the floor when the tank fails),” the
report concludes. The magnitude of the savings of electricity and
natural gas from solar, geothermal and other high-efficiency water
heaters “have not been rigorously calculated at a national scale,”
improved electric water heaters could conserve 188 kWh a year of
electricity and, if all existing electric water heaters currently in
use were replaced with units meeting the new standard, the U.S.
could save 7.8 billion kWh of electricity or 0.03 quadrillion Btu
each year while consumers would have $950 million in discretionary
income by using less electricity.
“These savings could be dwarfed by widespread adoption of advanced
solar, electric, and natural gas water heaters,” but “more rapid
market acceptance of high-performance water
heaters must be enabled” and a shared suite of marketplace and
technological challenges must be addressed by government and its
industry partners.
“Although each product type faces differing technological
challenges, none of them identified during the roadmapping process
can be considered a showstopper; there are no technological
challenges that cannot be overcome,” it notes. “Drawing on the
talents and expertise of partners and stakeholders, today’s barriers
to solar and high-performance water heaters can be hurdled more
quickly and tomorrow’s barriers can be reduced and addressed more
efficiently.”
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