Residential hot water distribution systems: Roundtablesession
Residential building practice currently ignores the lossesof energy and water caused by the poor design of hot water systems. Theselosses include: combustion and standby losses from water heaters, thewaste of water (and energy) while waiting for hot water to get to thepoint of use; the wasted heat as water cools down in the distributionsystem after a draw; heat losses from recirculation systems and thediscarded warmth of waste water as it runs down the drain. Severaltechnologies are available that save energy (and water) by reducing theselosses or by passively recovering heat from wastewater streams and othersources. Energy savings from some individual technologies are reported tobe as much as 30 percent. Savings calculations of prototype systemsincluding bundles of technologies have been reported above 50 percent.This roundtable session will describe the current practices, summarizethe results of past and ongoing studies, discuss ways to think about hotwater system efficiency, and point to areas of future study. We will alsorecommend further steps to reduce unnecessary losses from hot waterdistribution systems.
- Research Organization:
- Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE; California Energy Commission
- DOE Contract Number:
- DE-AC02-05CH11231
- OSTI ID:
- 922802
- Report Number(s):
- LBNL-50409; R&D Project: E65160; BnR: 600303000; TRN: US200804%%1230
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: ACEEE 2002 summer study, Asilomar ConferenceCenter, Pacific Grove, California, 08/2002
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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