The average yearly cost for a conventional gas or electric storage hot water heater is approximately $500 for a 1300sq.ft. 4 member family home. It lowers or increases depending on how many people live in the house and on their particular water usage habits.

Conventional hot water heaters store water and maintain the water temperature to the temperature setting on the tank – usually between 120° and 140° F. That means keeping water hot even when you do not need it – while you are at work; while you are sleeping; while you are away on holidays.

These “standby” losses represent 15% to 25% of a household’s annual water heating costs.

Another thing that annoys all of us, is waiting for the water to heat up because someone took a bath before us. The storage tank water heaters only have a limited amount of hot water. After that is gone you have to wait for the tank to get heated again.

Throughout the rest of the world, where energy costs have consistently been higher than in North America, different methods of heating water are common.

Enter Tankless Hot Water Heaters. They began appearing in the United States and Canada about 25 years ago but have been used in Europe for the last 50 years.

Unlike “conventional” tank water heaters, tankless water heaters heat water only as it is used, or “on demand”. Opening a hot water faucet ignites the powerful burners and the computer monitors the water temperature and adjusts the burners according to the need. High demand, high heat. Low demand, low heat.

Because the efficiency rate of tankless water heaters is about 20% higher, averaging around 90% and going up to 96% and there is no stand by losses, savings on your energy bills are evident.

Some models even have the capacity to heat the house at the same time. With these tankless water heaters, which are connected either to radiant floor heat or to a heating coil in your furnace (air handler), you can bring high efficiency space heating capacities to every home.

Just imagine a contraption the size of your kitchen cabinet, heating your home and giving you an endless supply of potable hot water. You do not need a separate furnace and a separate hot water heater.

Some models can be mounted on the exterior of a home, freeing up valuable floor and closet space on the inside. The unit can be placed in a recessed box, flush-mounted and painted or textured to match the exterior of the home.

Tankless water heaters can also be used for supplementary heat, such as a booster to a solar hot water system, or snow melting systems, or to meet all your hot water needs.

The major players include: Takagi, Rheem, Noritz, Rinnai and up and coming Luna Baxi.

We would suggest researching different makes and models in order to make the right choice for your particular needs and circumstances.
Do you use hot water mostly in the mornings and evenings and frequently run out of hot water in the middle of a shower? With a tankless water heating system you can overcome the shortages of tank water heaters. The tankless water heater never runs out of hot water – you can take 3 hour shovers!

To further honor DirectBuy of Salt Lake City, Whirlpool top executives and representatives all joined in Utah to congratulate Owners Ed, Shirley and Dean Dandeneau and their staff. Sparing no expense, the center was treated to box suites at the Utah Jazz basketball game where they all gathered for a private award ceremony and dinner. It was a winning night for both the Utah Jazz team and the DirectBuy team of Salt Lake City.

â??We feel a great deal of pride in being the first center in DirectBuy history to reach one million in sales with Whirlpool,â? says Salt Lake City Franchisee Dean Dandeneau. â??These numbers are the result of a very dedicated and diligent staff that takes pride in helping members with their purchases.â?

Wendy Siegmeier, a sales representative for Whirlpool added, â??Whirlpool Corporation experienced a successful year with DirectBuy, as there were three other showrooms that also achieved one million in sales by the end of 2007. DirectBuy of Silicon Valley, DirectBuy of Cool Springs and DirectBuy of Portland East will also be presented with an award.â?

About DirectBuy

For more than 36 years, DirectBuy has been showing thousands of consumers unparalleled ways to save as they shop for virtually everything for in and around their homes â?? from furniture, carpet and flooring, and custom window treatments, to kitchen and bath cabinets and fixtures, appliances and much, much more. DirectBuy enables members to purchase most every product offering from several hundred manufacturers at more than 156 showrooms across North America and Canada. To learn more about DirectBuy, visit www.directbuy.com or www.directbuycares.com

About Whirlpool

Whirlpool Corporation is the worldâ??s leading manufacturer of major home appliances. Whirlpool markets Whirlpool, Maytag, KithenAid, Jenn-Air, Amana, Brastemp, Bauknecht and other major brand names to consumers in nearly every country around the world. Whirlpool inspires consumers with bold innovation and designs that make life much easier. More than ever before, Whirlpool brands are connecting with customers in ways that will last a lifetime. To learn more about Whirlpool, visit www.whirlpool.com or www.whirlpoolcorp.com

            (Hey, it may be temporaryâ?¦but weâ??ll take it!)

            Recently weâ??ve seen the market rally on the heels of Obamaâ??s announcements regarding job creation, the nationâ??s infrastructure, and economic stimulus. In fact, the DOW is up 20 percent from its mid-November lows. But while these rallies will provide a reprieve from the relentless selling that has been going on in the stock market, they probably wonâ??t last through the first quarter of 2009. When the retail numbers come out in January, I suspect weâ??re in for another round of pessimism.

            The real problem is that Americaâ??s problems are much, much bigger than the current recession. Theyâ??ve been building for decades. We keep hearing a lot of talk about getting our economy â??back on track.â? In truth we donâ??t want our economy to be on the same track it was on before it fell apart. If we donâ??t address the real issue facing the economyâ??spending beyond our meansâ??these short-term market rallies will be the only ones we see for a very long time.

And there is still a huge elephant in the room in the form of unfunded entitlement programs. Unfortunately, President-elect Obama has said he is not going to focus on these challenges or address the national debt, but rather follow the conventional wisdom and spend, spend, spend to stabilize the economy. Thatâ??s worrisome because irresponsible spending is what created this mess to begin with.

Rather than trying to spend our way out of this mess, I would ask the president-elect to pressure Congress to renew tough budget controls like the PAYGO rules that expired in 2002 as soon as possible. And Iâ??d ask him to take additional steps to cut spending, finance the entitlement programs, balance the budget, and start paying down debt as soon as possible.

            My new book I.O.U.S.A. illuminates todayâ??s financial crisis in a unique and easy-to-grasp way by examining four serious â??deficitsâ? the nation faces: the budget deficit, the personal savings deficit, the trade deficit, and most importantly, the leadership deficit.

The book serves as a companion to the critically acclaimed documentary of the same nameâ??a national debt documentary that was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival, was recently named as a nominee for the Critics Choice Award for Best Documentary, and is on the short list of Academy Award nominees in the Documentary Feature category.

In I.O.U.S.A., I consult â??The Mount Rushmore Crowdâ? of the American economic scene to shed light on the economic challenges facing the nation. These luminaries include several experts who have been tapped by President-elect Obama for financial advice, such as Warren Buffett, Robert Rubin, and Paul Volcker, who was recently appointed chairman of Obamaâ??s Economic Recovery Advisory Board. Others include Alan Greenspan, Paul Oâ??Neill, Ron Paul, Arthur Laffer, Steve Forbes, William Bonner, and more.

Americans should enjoy the stability resulting from these short-term gains, but should understand that we are headed for more economic hard times and that now is not the time to slink back into our irresponsible habits. 

Americans need to pay close attention to the decisions that are being made by our government officials, and we need to hold them accountable at every end. But we also need to use this break from a volatile market to continue to get our own financial house in order. Individuals need to save more, invest wisely, expect less from the government, and be willing to pay for the services they do expect. Doing so is the only way we can hope to come out of the recession into a brighter economic future.

# # #

About the Authors:

Addison Wiggin is the editorial director and publisher of The Daily Reckoning and executive publisher of Agora Financial, a multi-million-dollar financial research firm and publishing group based in Baltimore, Maryland. The Daily Reckoning has attracted more than 500,000 readers in the United States and Great Britain, has been translated into French, German and Spanish, and has been popularized by such mainstream publications as Money and Marketwatch.com. Wiggin has been featured as an expert in such publications as The New York Times Magazine, Worth, The Washington Times, The Washington Post, Time, The Pittsburgh Post Gazette, The Baltimore Sun, The MotleyFool.com, The Street.com and CNN/Money.

He is also coauthor along with William Bonner of Empire of Debt: The Rise of an Epic Financial Crisis (Wiley, 2006). He is the author of newly revised and updated Demise of the Dollar and Why Itâ??s Even Better for Your Investments.Mr. Wiggin has been a student, writer, and commentator of financial markets and governments for more than a decade. With a masterâ??s degree in philosophy from St. Johnâ??s College and experience working with the Cato Institute in Washington, D.C., Mr. Wiggin has acquired both a macroeconomic and contrarianâ??s outlook on domestic and international markets.

Kate Incontrera is the managing editor of The Daily Reckoning. Ms. Incontrera was also an associate producer and writer on the critically acclaimed documentary film I.O.U.S.A. Before joining Agora Financial in 2004, Ms. Incontrera studied writing at The University of Cambridge and at Towson University in Baltimore, Maryland.

About the Book:

I.O.U.S.A.: One Nation. Under Stress. In Debt. (Wiley, September 2008, ISBN: 978-0-470-22277-5, $19.95) is available at bookstores nationwide, major online booksellers, or direct from the publisher by calling 800-225-5945. In Canada, call 800-567-4797.

The problem is that with all the media hype, most people think it’s too hard a job to go green. In truth, there are literally thousands of easy ways to go green. One of the most cost efficient and easiest ways to go green is to switch from incandescent light bulbs to compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFL’s).

History of Early Compact Fluorescent Bulbs

Not many people realize that fluorescent light bulbs have been around since the 1800’s. In the 1970’s, General Electric improved the design, but found it was too expensive to build factories to mass produce the bulbs. The use of these bulbs was generally limited to office buildings, garages and under the kitchen cabinets.

In addition, the light they gave off was not of the quality we expected from an incandescent light bulb. The shape also restricted their use to a fixture that would allow the use of a long tubular bulb. They could not be easily used in table lamps, desk lamps or floor lamps.

Another factor that limited their use was that they often flickered and made an annoying humming noise.

In recent years, all that has changed. Improvements in the bulbs, especially with the development of the electronic ballast, have eliminated most of the negative features that made them less popular in the past.

The Pros of Compact Fluorescent Lamp, (CFL’S)

Listed here are some of the positive reasons to switch to CFL’s:

1. CFL’s now are shaped to fit nearly all our light fixtures.

2. The light they give off is comparable to traditional light bulbs.

3. They use 75-80% less electricity then traditional light bulbs.

4. A 60w standard bulb can be replaced with a 13-15w CFL Bulb to give the same amount of light.

5. The CFL bulbs last ten times longer. The average life span of a CFL is ten times longer than that of a standard light bulb.

6. Using CFL’s will keep a half ton of CO2 out of the atmosphere over the lifetime of the bulb.

7. The CFL bulb is less hot to touch, so is easier to change if it had been lit.

8. There will be eight less incandescent light bulbs that find their way into landfills if CFL’s are used.

9. CFL’s now come in many designs and can be used for many different applications.

10. The installation of CFL’s can earn a discount with some utility companies.

The Cons of Modern Compact Fluorescent Bulbs, (CFL’S)

As with anything, there are some negative features to these bulbs that should be taken into consideration when you decide to make the switch.

1. CFL’s have a higher initial cost.

2. CFL’s do not work well in places where the light is switched on and off frequently. This will reduce the life span of the bulb.

3. Not all CFL’ can be used with dimmer switches. Special bulbs are required for this application. Again the life of the bulb will be shortened.

4. Some timer mechanisms are incompatible with CFL’s.

5. Not all bulbs are suitable for outdoor use. Low temperatures may reduce light levels.

6. CFL’s contain a small amount of mercury which is toxic. Mercury vapor can be released if the bulb is broken.

7. Bulbs of inferior quality are showing up on the store shelves and may not be of high quality and will not last as long.

Despite the negatives, CFL’s have become extremely popular in the last several years.

Benefits of CFL’s

Replacing one 60 watt standard bulb with a 15-w CFL will save you more than $40 in electricity costs over the life of the bulb if you use it 6 hours a day. Add to that less trips to the store, and less money spent on replacement bulbs, the savings are significant.

Multiply that times the number of light bulbs you have in your home and you could realize a significant savings in both money and energy consumption.

Some states require that burned out CFL’s be disposed of at a hazardous waste facility (the preferred method of disposal) while most municipalities allow them to be disposed of in regular trash. Stores like Home Depot and Ikea are offering easy recycling for CFL’s.

CFL’s do contain a small amount of mercury and opponents to these bulb cite that as a major drawback. One should just remember to never incinerate these type bulbs. This will disperse the mercury into the atmosphere.

Conclusion

The benefits of CFL’s have become evident in terms of the amount of energy saved and the amount of green house gasses that are not being pumped into the atmosphere. If everyone in the US used CFL’s we could retire 90 average size power plants.

In an effort to reduce greenhouse gasses, Australia and Canada have already banned the use of incandescent bulbs and the United States has passed legislation that is phasing out the manufacture of incandescent light bulbs and will ban them entirely by the year 2012.

Replacing energy-hogging incandescent bulbs with energy-saving fluorescents (CFLs) is a simple, effective way to slow the rate of global climate change while saving money. It’s good for the environment, it’s economical, it’s efficient, and it’s easy.

Types of Storehouses

There are different types of Canadian storage units. They differ in size as well as in the facilities they provide. Some of the units are small, just like a cabinet, providing the customer a chance to safely keep his small belongings. For storing larger items such as furniture, cars, boats and the like, there are larger units. There are different facilities provided by these storehouses and the customer can choose the particular unit depending upon the goods that he wants to store in it. If the goods are meat, fruits or wine that need particular environment or specific temperature then you can keep them in climate controlled units. Items such as electronic goods and paintings need a moisture-free environment. So for them it is required to hire a unit that provides temperature and moisture controlled facility. Some facilities provide highly secured environment such as round the clock CCTV surveillance, guards, burglar alarms etc. If the customer wants to keep his highly expensive goods such as antique jewelry in the storehouse, then he can hire such secured units. However, the important thing here is to first assess the needs of the storage and then only decide about hiring the unit. Naturally, there is no need to spend a fortune for storing summer clothes and golf sets in the storage facilities with highly secured environment. You should not pay for features that are of no use.

With the growing popularity of Canadian storage facilities, today there are storehouses in almost all locations. This helps the customer to choose the location that is nearest to his house or office. This provides him the convenience of accessing the storage facilities whenever the need arises. However, some storage facilities have preset access hours. The customer needs to find out if the access timing suits him or not.    

Canadian Storage facilities also provide a great help to people who are relocating. Depending upon their needs, customers can hire a unit with required size, facilities and duration. Accordingly, he would be paying the rent for the size and facilities used. These storehouse facilities provide the most economical solution to customers’ storage needs.

Don McCormick, semi-retired former President of MessagingDirect, successfully started three companies. As an Associate with a venture capital company, Mr. McCormick provided market diligence for venture capital investment opportunities, and served as Vice-President/COO of a portfolio company. Mr. McCormick joined MessagingDirect as Vice President, Sales in November 1998. He added responsibility for Marketing in April 1999 and was appointed Chief Operating Officer in January 2000. Don graduated from the University of Manitoba with an honors degree in business followed with corporate careers at both Xerox Canada and Oracle Corporation. McCormick recently joined the Trakware Advisory Council.

According to McCormick, “The vast majority of companies rely on ERP and database management capabilities to accomplish enterprise tasks today, emerging technologies, such as next generation MES (manufacturing execution systems) manufacturing intelligence, and business analytics are playing an increasingly important role. Trakware is unique poised for substantial growth as ETO manufacturers recognize the requirements to advance technologically.”

The term engineer-to-order (ETO) denotes a style of manufacturing rather than a specific industry segment. Other synonymous terms are “project-based” or “custom” manufacturers. ETO companies typically have distinct characteristics about the way they conduct business that differentiate them from discrete or repetitive manufacturers.

ETO companies build unique products designed to customer specifications. Each product requires a unique set of item numbers, bills of material, and routings. Estimates and quotations are required to win business. Products are complex with long lead times, typically months or even years. Unlike standard products, the customer is heavily involved throughout the entire design and manufacturing process. Engineering changes are a way of life. Material is purchased not for inventory but for a specific project. All actual costs are allocated to a project and tracked against the original estimate. Once complete, the product is typically installed at the customer’s site. In most cases, aftermarket services continue throughout the life of the product.

TRAKware provides an integrated solution for Manufacturing, Planning, and Control (MPC) functions such as:

• estimating

• order entry

• project execution

• scheduling

• shop floor data collection

• purchasing/receiving

• shipping/invoicing

• job costing

• financial analysis

• accounting

Founded in 1995, Trakware’s partners include Microsoft, Oracle, ADP, Sage, and SolidWorks, Dell and TouchSystems. TRAKware software allows any manufacturer with unique requirements of a custom engineered-to-order business, in any industry, to have total control of each and every order through the plant. Trakware is the leader in delivering innovative Manufacturing, Planning, and Control (MPC) solutions for project-based manufacturers.