Ecologue.com

You can improve your current water heater's efficiency with a few quick fixes.

By FrontDoor.com

Even if you're not home and no one's using a drop of hot water, a typical water heater can burn through $50 in electricity in one month just keeping the water in the tank hot.

Tankless and solar hot water heaters are great, but simple changes to your existing setup can cut your energy bills and carbon emissions by 25 percent or more. Reduce the temperature of your hot water heater to 120 degrees, wrap it in a water heater insulating blanket and insulate the first 3 to 6 feet of hot and cold water pipes. These changes should take you less than an hour and cost less than $50.

If you decide to make a bigger investment, tankless water heaters use 20 percent less energy than traditional water heaters and heat water only when you need it. Solar water heaters, with roof-mounted solar energy collectors, are another great option.

You know that water that goes down the drain while you're waiting for it to heat up? A home with four faucets wastes as much as 12,000 gallons this way. Hot water delivery systems, such as the D'MAND system from Uponor Wirsbo Inc., bring hot water four to five times more quickly than a conventional system.

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