Top 5 Things You Need To Know About Solar Water Heaters

Solar water heaters can really bring down the cost of hot water for many residential and facilities, but unless the following concepts are thought about, the investment will be wasted away. Before actually installing a Solar Water Heater, consider the following points.

1. How much water do you really need to heat up? - Try to get a consumption report of your showerheads to understand the capacity requirements. Do this by using a pail and stopwatch, then estimate average showertime, and get total consumption accordingly. Regular shower heads use 4.5 gallons per minute, Eco Friendly showerheads use 1.5 gallons per minute. Investing in even a high end eco showerhead is still a lot cheaper than buying a very big solar water heater.

2. What direction is your solar water heater facing? - Get the right angle and direction. North facing is best to get sun from its axis east to west. This will maximize heating time for water.

3. Flat collector panel or evacuated tubes? - Evacuated tubes are cheaper but they are not designed for the local climate. On hot weathers, these pipes burst, causing great inefficiency. You will not notice this problem as your back up electric water heater will run instead. This means, lots of money wasted on electricity that you were trying to save.

4. How's the weather? - Good brand solar water heaters can still get heat from a cloudy day. Invest a little more for a good brand and you will better appreciate your returns.

5. Any other use for hot water? - Do not forget to get a complete idea on where else you can use hot water. A pre heated water will be faster to boil for cooking as well, this point should not be discounted.

5 Essential Tips on How not to Waste Energy

While we have been promoting positive affirmations on the importance of going green, we have realized that there is an importance on the do nots as well. Here is a brief run down of how not to waste energy.

1. Do not keep non-essential appliances on standby - Conservation energy rules dictates that appliances that have a standby function do take a lot of electricity (especially appliances made at least 5 years ago). Do not leave appliances on standby when not in use and enjoy the savings later.

2. Do not be left unaware of your energy consumption - people who do not use energy meters end up on the losing end as people who do not monitor their own energy tend to consume up to 20% more energy than the rest. Get an energy meter and manage your energy consumption.

3. Do not keep old Air conditioners - It might have been a gift, but if it is more than 10 years old, a new airconditioner will pay itself off in less than a year.

4. Do not use incandescents - CFL have become so cheap that using incandescents is illogical. switch to energy efficient lighting and save that money that can go to a new shirt.

5. Do not leave water dispensers plugged overnight - Water dispensers can consume up to 400 watts per hour. When not needed, might as well keep it unplugged. Better yet, get a regular water dispenser and keep water bottles in refs.

Eco Calculator Widget now on Greener Philippines Page

A new widget called the Eco Calculator can be found on the right side of the blog, where paper usage can be monitored. There is also a Widget that updates on the current Carbon emissions on the atmosphere. Lastly, there is also a widget that can be used to calculate residential carbon footprints to help become aware on current household environmental impact.

Through this awareness we can strategize on what would be the best practice available to become more eco friendly.

10 Easy Steps to Greening Your Home

Everyone wants to do their part in greening their home, but investing in new equipment might not be an immediate answer, here are some pointers that can be done while saving up for your next Eco Showerheads or Energy Smart Meters.

1. Start recycling - Newspapers not brought to reclycling centers will not be recycled. By doing our share in giving all paper products for recycling, we are giving them a second life (or even more) by becoming something else. Do not just stop on Newspapers, look for old bottles and the likes.

2. Start Segregating Waste - Segregate food and biodegradable products from those that can be recycled, and those that just can't. food can become compost and fertilize gardens, and money can be made from recyclable items (aluminum cans, plastic bottles, glass bottles, paper).

3. Go LED or CFL - If you have not done this yet, then it is not too late to go to the nearest hardware and change all incandescent to CFL or LED. they are cheap and pay themselves off in a few short months.

4. Clean your Aircon and Ref - Ensure that all coils of your air conditioner and back of the ref is well ventilated and clean. Excessive amounts of dust and dirt makes them inefficient in transferring heat to the outside, and keeping inside cool.

5. Better Clean than Mask - Rather than having the need to use aerosol air fresheners or the likes, clean the house well enough to remove such need. You will find yourself in a more pleasant state. If possible, use incense sticks or oil lamps over aerosols. They last longer and have a more refreshing scent. Just make sure not to keep them in a fire hazard area.

6. Use Alternative Cleaning Agents- Bleaches and other cleaners are not good for the environment, especially when later flushed down the sewer. If possible, look for eco friendly cleaning products that use Bio Enzymes and alternative cleaning materials (using vinegar and the likes).

7. Open lots of windows - Opening windows during the day is not only healthy, as air is circulated, but it also cools the house with the natural breeze. Just make sure you are not residing near a polluted area.

8. Let light in - Keeping windows open lets light in, reducing the need to use lamps or similar items indoors. Save lighting when there is natural daylight from outside.

9. Throw away old carpets - Dirty carpets are terrible things to keep at home. They invite mold and keep toxins. If possible, use hemp floor rags or natural wooden flooring (bamboo is best).

10. Turn the thermostat - Many find it a good idea to keep aircon thermostat at Max. when not necessary. The ideal room temperature (and healthy) is 24 to 26 degrees. Try to keep rooms at this temperature. Also try using water at 1 to 2 degrees colder than usual. It is not uncomfortable at all and yet saves a lot of money in the process.

Little changes in habit and minor adjustments to what we do can go a very long way.

Truths On LED Bulbs

Many have been recently promoting LED bulbs as the next green bulb of the future, and rightfully so. LED bulbs do not contain mercury, and can last up to 100,000 hours of lamp life. LED also has the distinctive advantage of not flickering, one of the major causes of migraine and fatigue in the workplace. Workplaces found to be using incandescent or halogen have found better productivity due to this, but are not economical. This is where LED have shown some powerful advantage.

But just because the bulb is LED does not mean to say it is environmental. There have been many LED bulbs now being sold or distributed using regular LED bulbs over the supposed bulbs. Others claim to be using CREE LED bulbs when the driver is not of proper quality. What would this all mean to the user? A useless bulb.

The current most efficient LED bulbs in production has a lumens per watt of 105, the same as that of CFL. It is truly no different compared to regular CFL bulbs, and even with 5 times the lifespan (assuming the LED driver is of good quality), the cost of using LED will not be realized.

LED do well in replacing fluorescent, where half of its illumination is on the ceiling, losing up to 70% of its illumination. LED has solved this issue by having only the bottom half of its tube filled with LEDs, giving the same illumination to that of T5 at half the required power.

But as previously stated, several factors should be looked into before purchasing the bulb. Get good information on the LED bulbs being used. Choose highly reputated LED bulbs and check their lumens per watt to ensure that they are indeed very efficient. Also make sure that the LED driver being used is of sound quality. There is also a strong issue on the heat sink. While LEDs do not produce as much heat, it still needs a good heat sink to ensure the product will last long.

Lastly, do the mathematical computation on amount of time needed to run the bulb. Compare savings against lifespan and review if the ROI is feasible. Many companies now are willing to replace LED bulbs for free provided they get a share of the savings. Others will find this feasible.

There are indeed many areas and avenues where LED is a better lighting illumination, but with the cost of the bulb, it is best to ensure this investment is definitely worth the money. Besides, a bulb that does not last long is also an environmental hazard. The longer a bulb lasts, the lower its carbon footprint.

Hand Towels or Hand Dryers? Which is more Environmental? Which is more Economical?

Public toilets are still popularly using hand towels due to the assumed fact that hand dryers are found to be expensive due to energy. Not only that, hand dryers have been found to be not as effective in drying hands, and worse yet, maintenance cost is quite high especially for the lower end hand dryers.

While the above all sound logical, many points with regards to environmental concerns, aside from economic concerns, have not been addressed. Facility owners and managers simply do not have data on how much does it truly cost to use hand towels and hand dryers. The lack of information definitely poses a risky and flawed decision.

According to Manhattan Green Solutions on their research, the cost of hand towels per piece is Php 0.22 and that 2 hand towels are typically taken from the dispenser to dry hands. More importantly, the environmental impact of hand towels is very high, given that trees have to be cut, which encourages deforestation.

Regular hand dryers are better in terms of cost at Php 0.27 per use, but the annual maintenance cost of replacing the button or the heating coil makes this both an economic and environmental nightmare. Worse, regular hand dryers are not perfect in drying hands, causing users to be either frustrated, or choose to get hand towels after to dry hands.

While this is a major quagmire that has been faced by facility owners, new technologies have made hand dryers more efficient. New Eco Friendly Hand dryers have been developed with some of the most amazing results.

First and foremost, Eco Friendly hand dryers like Veltia only consume Php 0.06 per use of energy, the lowest of its class, and definitely the most economical compared to tissue and regular hand dryers.

The use of high power wind at the speed of a hurricane "sweeps" water off the hands rather than trying to evaporating it, making it substantially more effective in drying hands, resulting to satisfied customers who will not need the use of hand towels.

Another interesting feature which is found in many proper hand dryers is the touch free system. The removal of parts to be touched or operated on by users mean substantially lesser maintenance cost. In fact, maintenance cost is close to zero for the first 5 years.

The resulting analysis, coupled with time saving of 80%, makes new eco friendly hand dryers more beneficial. While these hand dryers might have a higher start up cost, Return on Investment is usually less than 2 years.

In pursuit of going green, it is usually found that there is a large economic benefit in upgrading to a newer technology since it uses lesser resources over its lifespan. It does indeed pay to go green.

The Impact of Water Heaters to the Environment

One of the most deceiving equipments people least think about are residential water heaters. The Philippines typically use Electric Water Heaters in heating water for showers. But the question is, is there a big electricity cost in using electric water heaters? Is there a big impact in our Environment? Is there an environment concern in using electric water heaters that we do not know of?

Let us start off with the following computation for everyone's better understanding of how is energy computed for electric water heaters.

We first have to start off with how much BTU do we need to raise our water temperature to the desired level.

BTU stands for British Thermal Unit, it presents how much energy is required to raise 1 pound of water up by 1 degree Farenheit.

Remember that 1 Gallon of water is 8.337 pounds.

And an Electric Water Heater needs 4.9 Kilowatt hours to produce 16,600 BTU.

As an example, a typical shower head in the Philippines can consume 3.5 Gallons Per Minute to 5 Gallons Per Minute.

Gallons Per Minute is the amount of water a shower head uses in 1 minute.

With one of the clients I have worked with, their showerhead was consuming 4.8 Gallons per minute.

Their water before being heated is 20 degrees Celcius (68 Farenheit)

The optimal water temperature for a shower for my client was 38 degrees Celcius (100.4 Farenheit)

They needed to raise water temperature by 32.4 degrees Farenheit.

So, 32.4 degrees Farenheit, multiplied by 8.337 pounds per gallon, totals 270.119 BTU Per Gallon


Their showerhead at 4.8 GPM therefore needs 1,296.53 BTU Per Minute.


That is equivalent to an energy consumption of 0.38 kwh for heating water per minute

In monetary terms, at Php 9.5 per kwh, it costs Php 3.61 for hot water PER MINUTE.

An eco friendly showerhead using 1.2 GPM would cost Php 0.85 per minute of shower.

Therefore, Electric Water Heaters using conventional showerheads would actually cost Php 2.75 PER MINUTE more than eco friendly showerheads.

Besides the economic cost, each Kilowatt of Energy used in the Philippines has carbon emissions of 0.59 kilos.

While this sounds small, a person taking a 10 minute shower a day would end up with 600 Kilos of CO2 a year in the atmosphere more than necessary. This is 600 kilos of carbon could have been saved by using an eco showerhead.


The above computation is designed to give everyone a bigger glimpse of what is the impact of electric water heaters.

But there is more.

Using centralized water heating means that water is being heated and reheated to keep a proposed optimal temperature. Ill designed pipings would mean that water keeps cooling, and therefore the heater needs to keep heating.

It is therefore vital that hot water pipes are well insulated to ensure water is always warm. Check the body of the centralized water heater for any loss of insulation and have it fixed.

The economic and environmental benefit of a well maintained water heater, paired with an efficient showerhead would create a big change that many have not even thought about. Try to rethink our use of resource and through better management we are thus taking positive steps to an environmental future