What Germany Can Teach Us About Home Energy Ask This Old House

[bucolic_frolic]

High tech German solar and renewable technologies use 1/2 the energy, per capita, of the United States. We think of alternatives as wind, photovoltaics, or wood, but there is also direct solar hot water and an array of storage and energy combining pumps and mixers. It's a 2015 video, but really informative.

[Karadeniz]

1. We're not even trying to improve....but we wouldn't want to hurt home sales.

[lostnfound]

2. Energy saving marked for later

[bucolic_frolic]

3. A tale to add to this thread

I have a 55 gallon electric water heater. It's 44 years old. It was top of the line, W.L. Jackson, perhaps the only good heater the company ever made because it was their response to the 1973-75 OPEC-induced energy shortage as they tried to revive the company. It's glass lined, with fiberglass insulation inside the shell. I've replaced the coils twice, and the thermostats once, and drain it every 12 years or so. I added an additional thermal fiberglass jacket to the outside ($12), and a water heater timer ($35). It only runs about 5pm to 9 pm each day. That little $50 investment in energy conservation saves about $12-14 a month. For 35 years!

The moral is that even though the heater lacks modern German engineering and technology, it was still possible to save quite a bit on energy with low tech investments.