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A Sustainable Way to Fix Gas Leaks in Water Heaters
Apr 20 2020
Natural gas present in water heating systems escapes through leaks, and also because some of this gas is not combusted by the burner.
According to a new study carried out by Stanford University, such small inefficiencies can certainly add up: The ensuing emissions of methane from water heaters throughout the United States are possibly over three times higher than the predicted limit. Incidentally, methane is a powerful greenhouse gas.
But the good news is that there are simple fixes that can be used across a majority of the global economies.
These appliances are letting less than 1 percent of their gas escape, but so is the natural gas production at the opposite end of the system, and a Sustainable Way to Fix Gas Leaks in Water Heaters, then we have all the leaky pipelines and meters in between. Fixing gas leaks is an iterative challenge. For water heaters, we know what we have to do.
Natural gas systems, ranging from stovetops to well pads, are often leaky. The gas escaping into the air, be it from a damaged valve on a pipeline or from the moment when a burner has not yet trapped the pilot light, contains 90% methane.
Compared to carbon dioxide (CO2), methane gas is several times more effective at capturing heat and accounts for nearly a fourth of the Earth’s atmosphere warming caused by all greenhouse gases put together. In the last 5 to 10 years, a majority of the studies have looked at locating and repairing these leaks.
Wasted natural gas from appliances in homes and commercial buildings is probably the least understood cause of climate change from natural gas use.
The scientists targeted water heaters because they are responsible for a fourth of natural gas consumption in a typical U.S household that consumes gas for hot water, heating, and cooking purposes. In the United States, nearly 58 million water heaters that utilize natural gas are responsible for the leakage of about 91,000 tons of methane every year in the form of un-combusted gas.
More than two decades ago, considering methane’s relatively higher potency as a greenhouse gas than that of CO2, 91,000 tons of the methane gas warms the Earth as much as 7.8 million tons of the CO2 gas.
That’s a very small part of total U.S. emissions, but it’s the equivalent of 1.7 million cars driving on gasoline for a year.
A Sustainable Way to Fix Gas Leaks in Water Heaters
As part of the study, water heaters were tracked in 64 homes based in San Mateo and Santa Clara counties in California from the period of June 2018 to November 2019. While only a few studies have been carried out on methane leakage caused by appliances, one research investigated natural gas water heaters in California and predicted that emissions were approximately 5.4 billion grams throughout the state.
The latest study, performed at Stanford University, includes additional measurements of the on and off pulses in the newer version of tankless water heaters and supplementary measurements of pilot light emissions from traditional storage water heaters. The study predicts that the figure for California is at 17.7 billion grams, which is over thrice as much.
Storage Tank Versus Tankless
The study identified a highly crucial difference in the emission rates between those two simple kinds of natural gas water heaters. While the traditional natural gas water heater preserves the heated water in a tank, the other, newer version of the heater does not have any tank.
Upon opening a hot water faucet, the tankless water heater instantly fires up the gas to heat the flowing water. A negligible but increasing number of water heaters in the United States are tankless models. In Asia and Europe, about one in five systems does not preserve hot water. At the global level, tankless systems are increasing at a yearly rate of above 7%.
Since that growth trend is expected to continue, we thought it important to compare the two models. On average, we found about twice as much methane emissions from tankless water heaters than from storage water heaters.
But tankless heaters are believed to be more efficient because they burn less natural gas for each gallon of hot water when compared to that of traditional systems and hence release less amounts of CO2. On the whole, tankless water heaters discharge 18% less greenhouse gases when compared to that of the storage water heaters.
A Sustainable Way to Fix Gas Leaks in Water Heaters
Luckily, since tankless water heaters are still turning out to be more famous, particularly in North America, the latest models can be redesigned to minimize un-combusted and leaked natural gas.
Individuals who have been close to a space heater or water heater when it fires up would have heard the burst of combustion at the start of a cycle; this is when a gust of natural gas leaks un-combusted.
When the unit shuts down, methane is discharged at that time too. This is applicable to both kinds of water heaters.
However, in the case of tankless heaters, the on and off pulses are responsible for nearly 60% of the discharged methane. Whenever a hot water faucet is opened and shut, tankless models switch on and off, respectively. The stored water is heated or reheated intermittently. The scientists have recommended that the on and off pulses of tankless water heaters can be reduced considerably to minimize the leakage of methane gas, without impacting their performance.
We find other pretty simple design fixes, too,” added Jackson. “For heaters with tanks, most of the release of un-combusted gas is from the pilot light when the heater is idle. Standard pilot lights should be replaced with electronic igniters.”
The new study also found that the rising popularity of single handle faucets should be reconsidered, irrespective of the type of heater.
With single handle faucets, people trigger hot water draws unknowingly by moving the handle straight up and then to the cold side. Or they go for hot water but then decide they’re really not willing to wait for it. It’s a simple but pointless source of emissions of both methane and CO2 that is multiplied every day,” Jackson concluded.
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Caveat Emptor
(redirected from Buyer beware)
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[Latin, Let the buyer beware.] A warning that notifies a buyer that the goods he or she is buying are "as is," or subject to all defects.
When a sale is subject to this warning the purchaser assumes the risk that the product might be either defective or unsuitable to his or her needs.This rule is not designed to shield sellers who engage in Fraud or bad faith dealing by making false or misleading representations about the quality or condition of a particular product. It merely summarizes the concept that a purchaser must examine, judge, and test a product considered for purchase himself or herself.
The modern trend in laws protecting consumers, however, has minimized the importance of this rule. Although the buyer is still required to make a reasonable inspection of goods upon purchase, increased responsibilities have been placed upon the seller, and the doctrine of caveat emptor (Latin for "let the seller beware") has become more prevalent. Generally, there is a legal presumption that a seller makes certain warranties unless the buyer and the seller agree otherwise. One such Warranty is the Implied Warranty of merchantability. If a person buys soap, for example, there is an implied warranty that itwill clean; if a person buys skis, there is an implied warranty that they will be safe to use on the slopes.
A seller who is in the business of regularly selling a particular type of goods has still greater responsibilities in dealing with an average customer. A person purchasing antiques from an antique dealer, or jewelry from a jeweler, is justified in his or her reliance on the expertise of the seller.
If both the buyer and the seller are negotiating from equal bargaining positions, however, the doctrine of caveat emptor would apply.
It’s illegal to ban honest reviews
By: Annette Soberats | Feb 21, 2017 2:07PM
Congress unanimously passed the Consumer Review Fairness Act to protect people’s ability to share in any forum their honest opinions about a business’ products, services, or conduct. Some companies had been using contract provisions – including their online terms and conditions – to threaten to sue consumers or penalize them financially for posting negative reviews or complaints. The new law makes that illegal.
Three Problems Still Plaguing Online Shopping, and How to Fix Them
by Claudine Bianchi
October 9, 2019
The popularity of online shopping has transformed both the retail industry and the customer's buying experience. Consumers can now buy virtually anything they want just with the click of a button—anytime and anywhere. Gone are the days when shoppers were forced to leave their homes, setting aside hours of their days to shop and stand in long checkout lines. Without doubt, e-commerce is changing retail for the better.
But it's far from perfect...
According to analysis from Internet Retailer on US Commerce Department data, e-commerce accounted for 14% of total retail sales in 2018. Clearly, there's a need for brands and retailers to address the changing shopping landscape and better meet customer demands, otherwise they will be left in the dust of industry Goliaths (looking at you, Amazon).
In this article, I discuss three of the biggest challenges today's online shoppers face, along with some ways brands and retailers should consider to mitigate those challenges.
Choice Paralysis
Think about the last time you were shopping for something online but did not know exactly what you were looking for (for me, it was a camera for my 15-year-old daughter). You were likely overwhelmed with the number of choices (thousands) that were presented to you with technical jargon (aperture? f-stop?). And... no salesperson to help out or guide you!
"Choice overload" is all too real.
In fact, a recent study found that 42% of consumers admitted to abandoning a planned purchase altogether because there were too many choices.
It's imperative to be mindful and aware of the choices your target audience faces so that you can avoid pushing them away.
Successful online brands and retailers will make the shopping experience as easy as possible for consumers. Though product variation can help differentiate a brand or retailer, providing relevant options is what will really make them stand out from their competition.
Retailers and brands have to find ways to guide shoppers to the products that are specific and relevant to them. They might use digital assistants, online quizzes, or other forms of digital customer engagement technologies. Those solutions can provide consumers the ability to discover products they love, products specific to them—in a timely and streamlined manner.
'Can't find what I'm looking for!'
Having a company site that is easy to navigate is a crucial part of success; though a shiny, unique website will gather initial appeal, it will lose its luster if its actual functionality is limited.
Consumers want a shopping process that is as simple and seamless as possible. Recent studies from Forrester Research have found that about 50% of sales are lost because the customer cannot easily find what they are looking for.
They key to success lies in creating (or revamping) websites to be simple while being as informative. Shopper frustration is greatly reduced with the implementation of intuitive navigation and an effortless shopping experience. One way to do that is to analyze where consumers are clicking and going to the most, and then working to enhance the parts of the site where they are spending the most time.
A successful website should create the feeling of "this site 'gets' me"; if that's done correctly, shoppers will continually come back for more.
I love strolling down 5th Avenue in New York. But imagine if Saks put its entire inventory in its store windows. Would you be enticed to enter? I know I wouldn't be! In fact, it's the stores that carefully and creatively display certain items (that single pair of gorgeous shoes on a pedestal lighted to bring out the best of the vamp and heel...) that I want to go into, to be politely addressed by an informative sales associate, and guided through my buying decision ("those make your legs look so long!").
That in-store experience is what we need to reinvent as a digital experience.
Online vs. Reality
How many times have you bought something online, and then when you actually receive it you realized it looks or operates completely differently from how you thought? It has happened to all of us: The product displayed on a website is not how it appears in-person.
E-commerce retailers should take all steps necessary to ensure that the customer is happy from the moment they begin their shopping journey online to the moment the product is in their hands.
To avoid the disaster of shoppers' not knowing what they are getting, brands and retailers need to change the way they portray products. Don't just include a variety of product pictures—show them in a variety of environments to appeal to a variety of buyers. Videos are also a great way to show the consumer how your product looks and operates.
Other successful approaches from brands and retailers have included allowing customers to upload their own pictures and videos in review sections. That way, other interested consumers can see the product firsthand.
Fully 86% of consumers are willing to pay more in turn for an improved customer experience. Customers notice when an organization goes the extra mile to address their pain points. The result is happier—and repeat—customers.
As invaluable as e-commerce has been to the transformation of retail, customers are begging for more. Online retailers should be prioritizing the shopper journey and making the buyer experience the best it can possibly be. (We just have to be careful we don't give them too much!)