[SustainableTompkins] water heating

[Margaret McCasland]

Short answer, Tony:
Propane is always an option, and a small tank can be set outside a 
house in almost any location.


Some pros and cons:

Electricity is an inefficient way to produce heat.

Burning anything (propane, natural gas, wood, etc) releases green house gases.


Maybe in the future, when our grid has plenty of electricity from the 
sun and wind and/or appropriate scale hydro, the lack of efficiency 
will be offset by the clean-ness of the electric power.  But right 
now most of the electricity in the grid is from coal, so efficient 
gas heaters seem like the best option.

For folks with the correct exposure, I assume solar hot-water is a 
good current option, and there may be tax credits for that. Local 
experiences with solar hot water? Would you need a gas back-up for 
prolonged cloudy days in cold weather?

I know there is some solar heat to collect even on cloudy days, but I 
was also told during an energy audit that my house doesn't get enough 
sun for solar anything (tho that was before remote panels were an 
option).

Solar electric doesn't seem like a good option as a backup for solar 
hot water; you'd have to have a lot of batteries to get electric hot 
water when there wasn't enough sun to keep your water hot from a 
solar hot water system.

Margaret

>How about electric point of use systems? Anyone with experience with these?
>No nat gas service where I live though for $2k or so, one could hook up to a
>gas line if you want to.
>Tony
>