My Rating:

by Jorge Silva (Sault Ste. Marie, MI)

I purchased a Titan N120 just over a year ago and it quit producing hot water last week. I had plans to put two in a row (the water here is very cold in the winter) but I have to do a panel upgrade first. In the mean time I put flow reducers at all the taps and it seemed to work fine for a year. I ordered another N120 (the new digital model) and after 6 days of shipping (and no hot water) I installed the new one. No modifications needed to the plumbing (used the old compression fittings) or wiring (existing 6 gauge wire). Turned on a tap to check for leaks (none) so I turned on the breaker and voila! hot water…. for 5 minutes. Then only the green ready and red (hi) leds were on.

Fortunately the distributor on eBay has a 7 day return policy so I’m sending it back. From what I’ve read in these reviews, I don’t want to deal with the company to fix this problem and I guess you get what you pay for. This being by far the cheapest model on the market should have set my expectations lower.

I opened the old one up (since the warranty was basically done) and the wire from the flow sensor on the inlet to the heating element next to the outlet had burned and melted the plastic below it! Looks like a classic – somebody didn’t tighten the fastening screw! And.. there’s a reset button in the box!!! Why wouldn’t it be outside the box so I can press it!

Guess I’ll be looking for a regular hot water heater. It’s too bad since I enjoyed not worrying about running out of hot water (household of 5).

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Dated: 2010-07-20

My Rating:

by Manuel Perez (Chico, CA)

I have been installing the Titan brand for many years and the work great. The power company in Cali is going to start offering insentives for these units. Both me and my clients love them. The most important thing is you have to size them correctly. I see to many people sizing the wrong and that is were the problems start.

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Dated: 2010-07-09

My Rating:

by gg (west palm beach, FL)

I’m thinking about buying a titan water heater. I see mixed reviews. Those that were sent back or did not work well, did you guys change the wire to a thicker gauge to facilitate the unit or the unit are just not good. Any advise will be great. Thanks.

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Dated: 2010-06-28

My Rating:

by WH (Pompano Beach, FL)

I have owned two of the Titan SCR2 units over the past 4 years. Both failed at approximate 2 year intervals. I do not plan to purchase a 3rd unit to replace the latest failure and cannot recommend this unit to any prospective buyers. The Titan internet home page says that “These units historically outlast your standard tank model and are extremely reliable giving you years of hot endless water. Many units that were sold over two decades ago are still operating reliably.” It also states that “One TITAN-SCR2 unit can supply the hot water needs of entire homes and apartments, and with the energy savings this state of the art unit will pay for itself quickly over time.
Neither statement rings true in my experience.
WH - Pompano Beach, FL

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Dated: 2010-05-27

My Rating:

by Major Allen (Big creek, MS)

Good concept, poor execution. 1/2 inch inlet restricts flow to the point that it will only supply hot water effectively for 1 device at a time. We wash clothes in cold water and I use the dishwashers heat function so the biggest hot water use we have is showers. I keep the temperature set low enough that I can take a shower with only the hot water on . It worked fine , if someone else wanted a warmer shower the adjustment was easy . It was perfect… for 6 months then the control board blew up (literally) the heat went to max and burned the heat element connector off before the breaker tripped. I had bought two for a house I am building but had to install one where I currently live . I will install the remaining one as a replacement here and buy something different for the new house. I paid 0 for the two.It would have been better spent on one higher priced unit that would last. Also I never saw a difference in the electric bill. I DID see for the breaker and for the wire though.If you must try this deice be sure o get the electric work done correctly . Trying to use a wire that ran your old heater will get you a flaming house A #6 wire is required no jury rigged wiring job or you will regret it if you live through the fire.

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Dated: 2010-05-25

My Rating:

by Major Allen (Big Creek, MS)

An edit to my post on the Titan n120 . The price paid for 2 units was 0. Major

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Dated: 2010-05-25

My Rating:

by Major Allen (Big Creek, MS)

How odd this site wiould not post the four hundred dollars I paid when I tried to type in numerics.

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Dated: 2010-05-25

My Rating:

by Major Allen (Big Creek, MS)

Apparently if you type a dollar sign it doesn’t post.

0

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Dated: 2010-05-25

My Rating:

by Greg Burke (Miami, FL)

I am shocked at some of the negative reviews here. I have installed these for the last 4 years and they are fantastic. 25 years in business, the longest for any tankless company with a reputation for the best “electric” tankless unit in the entire world. It does everything it says: endless hot water, save a ton on electricity, save space and help the environment. I can tell you that most that complain installed the unit wrong for sure. These have specific wiring and electrical requirements that if not met will affect performance and if you have a well or other water source it is sometimes good to put a filter to protect the unit. I think it is best to purchase from the source at www.TitanTankless.com rather than go outside and get a unit where your not sure of the company. There are many competitors out there posting bad comments but how could this company have lasted almost 26 years if the product wasnt fantastic.
if you have the N-120 make sure you use a 60 AMP breaker with 6 gauge wire. Also check to make sure you have the inlet and outlet set up right. You would be suprised how many people reverse it and damage the unit.
You can read up on it at www.TitanTankless.com

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Dated: 2010-05-17

My Rating:

by Frank (Tampa, FL)

I love the product, the city of Tampa is now recommending them. I have my titan for 8 years now. Its about time that Florida went green.

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Dated: 2010-04-30

My Rating:

by Oscar Garcia (Greenville, SC)

I purchased a Titan Tankless water heater a few months ago, they assured me it would heat enough water for 1800sqft home. After i received this miniature package I began to question its ability to do the job. I then asked several contractors in my area and none of them would install this product because of liability risk. So I called the company and no one answered. So I emailed the company and this is what they said, “Hello Mr. Garcia,

I am sorry you about any delays in your refund. I am going to look into this tomorrow and make sure it is addressed. Once I confirm the information your refund will be sent back to you.

Please email me direct at steve@titantankless.com so I can make sure you are taken care of”. So I returned the item with delivery confirmation. The package reached its destination but no one claimed it. The post office attempted over a month to deliver and still no one would claim it. I still gave them the benefit of the doubt and let Steve know about the delivery and he said he would look into it. I have since sent him emails and no response to any of them.

This company is not a legitimately working company and I would warn to stay away.

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Dated: 2010-04-26

My Rating:

by JZ (Flint, MI)

Titan SCR2-120…piece of junk…on my second one within a one year period. This second one lasted one day and the water went cold. Junk, Junk, Junk!!!

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Dated: 2010-04-11

My Rating:

by Gayle (Siloam Springs, AR)

I came onto this site to review a product, NOT to be bombarded about green house gasses and biofuels. If I wanted to read about the environment, I would go to an environment site or watch the news. Please stop polluting up sites like these for your political agendas. Thank you!

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Dated: 2010-04-07

My Rating:

by Doris (Jacksonville, FL)

My church purchased A Titan SCR2 at least 2 yrs ago. We have not had any problems with our unit. In fact, I am in the process of buying a home . I will close in 3 weeks, when I do, I am ordering for my new home.

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Dated: 2010-03-31

My Rating:

by Matthew (Epworth, IA)

Spend wisely, don’t look for this cheep solution as it is of low quality and will cost you more in time than a more expensive but higher quality heater.

I’ve had one of these units for less then a year. I’ve had to send it in four times now, the last three being one after the other (less than 5 minutes of use, or none at all). Bought a new water heater from Sears and tried to return a Titan to the manufacturer and they stonewall you.

While it was in use, I kept finding metal flakes in the faucet heads, and at one time, a little metal coil! Keep in mind, there is a metal screen over the water inlet for the heater and I have a carbon wrap filter and a sediment filter before that.

Every time it was sent back, all they do is hit the reset button and send it back to you. They know you aren’t local and can’t get in their faces about it.

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Dated: 2010-03-16

My Rating:

by Mike (Danville, AL)

Bought Titan N120 Jan 08 as a whole house as advertised and salesman assured me. I was not happy in the beginning and salesman suggested install a gate valve in outlet side of heater to adjust the water gpm for hot water. Well this worked but I sacrificed pressure and speedy bath fills for my wife. All this during the warm winter waw acceptable. SUmmer works great. Then cold winters, unit really lacks in performance. Now 2 years later, have a bad element, and have attempted via phone and email to contact Niagara with no response for going on two weeks. I am going back to a tank type and installing and LP tank for the new heater. Besides, haven’t noticed this thing saved me any money at all. Not very happy with them. On a good note, they do save the space. For this I give an A.

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Dated: 2010-03-02

My Rating:

by tom (indianapolis, IN)

we installed a n120 in our 1 bath home and have not had any problems. Installed under the kitchen sink and works great. If I had it to do over I would install the unit closer to the tub because in the winter we have to turn the water down to about 1gpm to get the water hot. I suspect this has something to do with it being so far away from the tub and heat loss. I may change this in the summer and see how it goes. Not that big of deal though, just takes 5 minutes longer to fill the tub. People can’t believe it when you show them the unit installed under the sink. We’ve had ours for aprox 3yrs with no repair issues but if we had to replace every 2 years it would still be worth it. The 50gal tank units are inefficient and take up so much space plus you will run out of hot water after a shower. I don’t see going back.

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Dated: 2010-02-16

My Rating:

by Gen. A.T. Smith (Olen, AR)

The Mystery of Global Warming’s Missing Heat
Richard Harris, NPR.org
Some 3,000 scientific robots that are plying the ocean have sent home a puzzling message. These diving instruments suggest that the oceans have not warmed up at all over the past four or five years. That could mean global warming has taken a breather. Or it could mean scientists aren’t quite understanding what their robots are telling them.

March 18, 2008
Carbon Dioxide Up For Sale
David Funkhouser, Courant
For the first time in the U.S., carbon dioxide goes on sale in September — and the bidding will start at .86 a ton. A consortium of 10 states, including Connecticut, said Monday it will hold the first auction of carbon emissions “allowances” on Sept. 10, part of a plan to curb greenhouse gases from the region’s power plants and slow global warming.
March 17, 2008
Befouls Forcing World to Ration Food Aid
Dennis T. Avery and Alex A. Avery, Enter Stage Right
The World Food Program is preparing to ration food aid for the world’s hungriest poor. Why? Primarily because we’re burning food in our automobiles. The rich-country mandates for biofuels have doubled and tripled world food prices in less than three years
UK Gov’t Accused of Misleading People over Emissions
John Vidal, The Guardian
Britain’s climate change emissions may be 12% higher than officially stated, according to a National Audit Office investigation which has strongly criticised the government for using two different carbon accounting systems. There is “insufficient consistency and coordination” in the government’s approach, the NAO said.
Just in Case: Geo-Engineering
Bryan Walsh, Time
I’m going to tell you something I probably shouldn’t: we may not be able to stop global warming. The Arctic Ocean, which experienced record melting last year, could be ice-free in the summer as soon as 2013, decades ahead of what the earlier models told us. We need to begin curbing global greenhouse emissions right now, but more than a decade after the signing of the Kyoto Protocol, the world has utterly failed to do so.
Next President Needs to Uncap Debate on Cost of Emissions Curbs
Alan Murray, Wall Street Journal
The Cassandras of global warming blame President Bush for running a faith-based, not science-based, presidency. But it’s Mr. Bush’s successor who, by embracing the fight against global warming, will have to make the greatest leap of faith.
March 16, 2008
China: We Won’t Act Unless You Pay
Xinhua
Governments of developed countries should play major roles in leading technology transfer and enterprises’ financing in global efforts to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, a Chinese official said at an international forum here on Sunday.
The US Perspective: Remarks on Post 2012 Climate Regime
Dr. Paula J. Dobriansky, Under Secretary for Democracy and Global Affairs U.S. Department of State
Fourth Ministerial Meeting of the Gleneagles Dialogue on Climate Change, Clean Energy and Sustainable Development Chiba, Japan March 16, 2008 The US Perspective: Remarks on Post 2012 Climate RegimeAmong the achievements of the Gleneagles process is a broadened appreciation and understanding that climate change, energy security, and sustainable development are among the greatest challenges that we face.
Toyota Prius proves a gas guzzler in a race with the BMW 520d
TimesOnline
The Toyota hybrid is hailed as an eco-paragon, so how does it fare against a big BMW? To find out our correspondents go on a run to Geneva
Rich vs Poor: Nations Clash at Climate Talks
AFP
Disagreements between rich and developing countries came into the open Sunday as the world’s top 20 greenhouse gas emitters worked to lay the groundwork for a new deal on climate change.
March 15, 2008
EU Leaders Promise to Act Against USA, China in Carbon Crusade
John Lichfield, The Independent
European leaders have pledged to lead a world crusade for a “low-carbon” economy but promised that energy-hungry industries would not be sacrificed on the altar of climate change.
Concessions to Germany Threaten EU Climate Plan
Ian Traynor, The Guardian
Europe’s chances of spearheading a global post-Kyoto climate change accord were jeopardised yesterday when Germany secured pledges that several of its heavy industries could be protected from international competition and exempted from the EU’s plan to combat global warming.
Blair Pushing Bush Climate Policy
AFP
Tony Blair on Saturday urged the world’s heaviest polluters including the United States and China to agree to binding emissions cuts, saying failure to act on global warming would be “unforgivably irresponsible.”
March 14, 2008
France Isolated in Plan to Place Carbon Penalties on US, China
AP
According the EU’s Industrial Commissioner, Guenter Verheugen, France is isolated With its demand to impose penalty duties for climate sinners. At the Brussels summit of the heads of state, nobody supported the suggestion by French president Nicolas Sarkozy, Verheugen said on Friday in an interview with Deutsche Welle. Verheugen said that Sarkozy is standing alone with his idea and didn’t attempt to recruit anyone for his plan.
Tony Blair to Become Climate Diplomat
Patrick Wintour, The Guardian
Tony Blair is to lead a new international team to tackle the intractable problem of securing a global deal on climate change which would have the backing of China and America.
Climate Panel on the Hot Seat
H. Sterling Burnett, Washington Times
More than 20 years ago, climate scientists began to raise alarms over the possibility global temperatures were rising due to human activities, such as deforestation and the burning of fossil fuels.
EU Countries Clash on Climate Policy
David Charter and Greg Hurst, The Times
Brussels EU leaders clashed last night over how to cut greenhouse gases a year after making climate change their top priority with a series of tough targets.
Carbon Fiat
WSJ Online
True, the EPA’s ruling is a minor setback for the global warmists. But it may pour the bureaucratic foundation for their larger policy goal, which is economy-wide regulation of carbon dioxide. Worse, the Bush EPA may do so by rewriting current environmental law, with little or no political debate.
Global Warming Claims Unsupported by Facts
Phillip Brennen, Newsmax.com
Reports by the U.N.’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) that the earth is experiencing unprecedented global warming are flawed and cannot be supported, investigators now report. In a study reported in the Washington Times, a panel of statisticians, chaired by Edward J. Wegman of George Mason University, found significant problems with the methods of analysis used by the researchers and with the IPCC’s peer review process.
March 13, 2008
Japan climate talks to tackle industrial emissions
David Fogerty, Reuters
The world’s top greenhouse gas polluters will try to work out ways to curb carbon emissions from industries and fund cleaner energy projects for poorer nations when they gather in Japan from Friday. The G20, ranging from top polluters the United States and China to Indonesia, Brazil and South Africa, emit about 80 percent of mankind’s greenhouse gases.

March 13, 2008
Borrowing to fight a nonthreat
Orange County Register
Despite next year’s projected billion budget deficit, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is so intent on implementing costly regulations and mandates to “fight global warming” that he now wants to borrow money to pay for the crusade. This is bad policy on at least two fronts. Even Sacramento Democrats see the danger in resorting to another ill-conceived fiscal fix by borrowing million over two years from the state’s beverage container recycling fund, which is supposed to repay consumers who recycle bottles and cans. The loan would be repaid with interest.
GE’s Immelt: U.S. Energy “Policy” Is a Certain Kind of Hell
Keith Johnson, The Wall Street Journal
The chief executive of General Electric has emerged as one of the most outspoken advocates of government caps on carbon emissions. But it’s not that visions of saving the planet are filling his “Ecomagination,” nor has he given up on Hayek. In transforming one of the world’s biggest companies into a clean-tech juggernaut, he just smells the chance to make a lot of money—if the U.S. doesn’t miss the train altogether.
EU threatens to punish climate deal rebels
David Charter, The TimesOnline
America and China face trade protection measures from Europe if they fail to join a global climate deal to replace the Kyoto Protocol, EU leaders will caution at their summit in Brussels today. Nations that refuse to curb greenhouse gases will be told that they face “appropriate measures” — code for trade sanctions — if they try to gain a competitive advantage by continuing to allow cheap, high-pollution production.
Green Panic: No Climate Deal by 2009?
EU Business
European Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso vowed on Thursday to defend industry threatened by competition from countries with lower environmental standards if international climate change talks fail.
France must act fast to train nuclear energy staff
Muriel Boselli, International Herald Tribune
France, one of the world’s largest producers of atomic energy, must act fast to avoid a shortage of skilled staff to run its reactors and win a role at the heart of a global nuclear revival.
Govt using climate change to push N-deal?
Indrani Bagchi, Times of India
The appointment of former foreign secretary Shyam Saran as the PM’s special envoy on climate change is a signal of a government looking ahead to a new administration in the US that might seek to renegotiate the nuclear deal with India. India is increasingly using the climate change argument to push forward its nuclear deal.
March 12, 2008
New Ads Hit Gore’s Energy ‘Hypocrisy,’ Critic Says
Randy Hall, CNSNews.com
A national advertising campaign contrasting Al Gore’s “energy-consuming lifestyle” with the need for energy in developing countries was launched by a conservative think tank Tuesday despite charges from global warming activists that the new effort merely recycles old attacks on the former vice president.
The Southern Baptist Capitulation
Paul Chesser, The American Spectator
The Christian denomination that was so ostracized (or admired, depending on your perspective) for resisting liberal modern-day pleas to conform to contemporary culture has finally caved in on so-called “climate change.”
The Global Warming Gorilla: Getting the Developing World Aboard
Dana Matiolli, WSJ.com
European politicians at a carbon conference today in Copenhagen had an 800-pound gorilla on stage with them. Norway’s Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg and Denmark’s Minister for Climate and Energy Connia Hedegaard both hail from Scandinavian countries that have taken aggressive measures to fight climate change. They both made passionate pleas for the world to join together to cut emissions. But the gorilla remains—how to get developing countries and major emitters like India and China to join in?
One Cooler Head
Investor’s Business Daily
Until his Damascus moment, Miklos Zagoni, a physicist and environmental researcher, had been touted as his nation’s “most outspoken supporter of the Kyoto Protocol.” But then this activist saw the work of a fellow Hungarian scientist. His world was rocked. “I fell in love” with the theory, he told DailyTech.com.
The new road to serfdom
Peter Foster, Financial Post
Criticisms of Environment Minister John Baird for the vagueness of the moves announced this week to force oilsands to sequester CO2, and prevent construction of “dirty” coal plants reflects the Alice in Wonderland quality of the climate-change non-debate. Opposition parties brayed that he had not been “tough” enough. Media headlines suggested that big emitters had “won.”
China promotes new era of coal-fired energy, despite pollution
Scott Simpson, Vancouver Sun
Despite global alarm about the threat that fossil fuel combustion poses to Earth’s climate, coal appears poised to recover its 19th-century prominence as the world’s top energy source, delegates at the Globe 2008 conference heard on Wednesday.
Key senator predicts strong global-warming measure
Renee Schnoof, McClatchy-Tribune
Leaders from more than a dozen U.S. environmental groups stood beside Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., in solidarity Wednesday when she announced that the Senate will have a good chance in June to strengthen and pass a landmark bill to slash greenhouse-gas emissions.
‘Green’ storage in forests may be going up in smoke
Tom Knudsen, SacBee.com
A new study has found that California wildfires emit more greenhouse gases than previously believed largely through the post-fire decay of dead wood, a finding that is raising questions about how effective the state’s forests are at storing carbon and slowing global warming. “No matter what anybody does in California to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, as long as these forests are burning, they are wasting their time,” Bonnicksen said.
March 11, 2008
The mammoth global warming scam
Melanie Phillips, The Spectator.co.uk
More evidence from the International Conference on Climate change last month which produced the Manhattan Declaration (see post below) of the way in which scientists who are sceptical about man-made global warming find their work is suppressed.
Energy Ad Campaign Targets Al Gore’s House
Susan Davis, The Wall Street Journal
The global-warming skeptics at the Competitive Enterprise Institute launched a national ad today targeting — who else? — former Vice President Al Gore. The ,000 buy is small as far as national-ad campaigns go, but it will run on cable over the next two weeks in Boston, Phoenix, Orlando, Pittsburgh, and Washington, D.C.
Carbon Labels Will Arm California and U.S. Consumers in Fight Against Global Warming
Ira Ruskin, California Progress Report
“What if consumers could reduce carbon emissions by simply choosing one product over another at their local store? With a carbon label – similar to a nutrition label for the environment – we could all be armed with enough information to make a difference, not through regulation or taxation, but through the power of consumer choice.”
EU wants developing nations to do more on climate
Gerard Wynn, Reuters
The European Union wants developing countries to make more effort to cut their ballooning greenhouse gas emissions rather than rely on carbon offset schemes, a European Commission official said on Tuesday. The Kyoto Protocol on global warming allows rich countries to meet binding targets on greenhouse gas emissions by funding cuts in developing nations.
Experts deny link between floods and global warming
James Randerson, Guardian.co.uk
In a report published today by the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology in Wallingford, researchers analysed flooding trends across England for the last four decades and found there appears to be a trend for less summer flooding, but more rainfall in winter. Last July’s floods were highly unusual, the researchers said.
Ad hits Gore’s green lifestyle
Jennifer Harper, Washington Times
In question is an advertising campaign that begins today by the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI). The broadcast spot says Mr. Gore’s Tennessee residence uses 20 times more energy than the average American household — a claim based on damning information released last year by the Tennessee Center for Policy Research, which examined Mr. Gore’s utility bills.

March 10, 2008
Media Snowjob on Global Warming
Lorne Gunter, National Post
Just how pervasive the bias at most news outlets is in favour of climate alarmism—and how little interest most outlets have in reporting any research that diverges from the alarmist orthodoxy—can be seen in a Washington Post story on the Nongovernmental International Panel on Climate Change (NIPCC), announced last week in New York.

California’s cap-and-trade won’t work
The Los Angeles Times
California deregulated its electricity industry in 1998, and shortly afterward the lights went out. Apparently, regulators hadn’t realized how easy it would be for unscrupulous traders such as Enron to manipulate the state’s power market once it was open to competition; the results were rolling blackouts and skyrocketing electricity charges. Californians are for all this—in many areas, power bills are inflated with extra fees to cover bonds and other expenses incurred during the disastrous experiment.

Southern Baptists Go Green
Washington Times
In a major shift, a group of Southern Baptist leaders said their denomination has been “too timid” on environmental issues and has a biblical duty to stop global warming. The declaration, signed by the president of the Southern Baptist Convention among others and released today, shows a growing urgency about climate change even within groups that once dismissed claims of an overheating planet as a liberal ruse. The conservative denomination has 16.3 million members and is the largest Protestant group in the United States.

Polar bears caught in a heated eco-debate
Oren Dorrell, USA Today
Eskimos in Alaska and Canada have joined to stop polar bears from being designated as an endangered species, saying the move threatens their culture and livelihoods by relying on sketchy science for animals that are thriving.

Carbon Output Must Near Zero To Avert Danger, New Studies Say
Juliet Eilperin, Washington Post
The task of cutting greenhouse gas emissions enough to avert a dangerous rise in global temperatures may be far more difficult than previous research suggested, say scientists who have just published studies indicating that it would require the world to cease carbon emissions altogether within a matter of decades.

Project 21 Helps Expose Hypocrisy of Environmental Elite in the Third World
David Almasi, National Center Blog
CEI’s commercial shows that many in the Third World – particularly those in Africa – are literally dying due to a lack of adequate power, and the catastrophe that could result from imposing anti-global warming emissions regulations on power generation in these areas. Forcing these people to go without would be especially galling considering Gore and his ilk are living opulent lifestyles.

Editorial: Air Schwarzenegger The governor wings his way home daily
Sacramento Bee
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who once joked that Sacramento was “death,” apparently doesn’t want to spend many nights in the graveyard.As the Los Angeles Times reported last week, the governor has been spending nearly every night in his Brentwood mansion, shuttling between Sacramento and Southern California in his private jet.

China’s GHGs Rise 2x as Expected
Sarah Yang, Eurkalert
Berkeley – The growth in China’s carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions is far outpacing previous estimates, making the goal of stabilizing atmospheric greenhouse gases even more difficult, according to a new analysis by economists at the University of California, Berkeley, and UC San Diego.

California’s greenhouse-gas law: Who will pay?
Ben Arnoldy, The Christian Science Monitor
Somebody, somewhere will have to pay for California’s landmark law that would force dramatic cuts in greenhouse-gas emissions by 2020. Two years on, it’s not much clearer who. State lawmakers last week expressed frustration with a proposal by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger that would further defer that decision.

Cloud-Engineering to Reverse Global Warming?
http://www.sundayherald.com/news/heraldnews/display.var.2104840.0.cloudmaking_plan_to_reverse_global_warming.php
EVERY CLOUD could have a silver lining in the fight against global warming and the brighter, the better.

EU’s Latest Climate Scare Tactic: Immigration
Bruno Waterfield, The Daily Telegraph blog
A scary European Union report is doing the rounds here in Brussels. The seven page summary of all the main alarmist climate change scenarios is well timed.

Alarming growth in expected CO2 emissions in China, finds UC analysis
Eurekalert

Previous estimates, including those used by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, say the region that includes China will see a 2.5 to 5 percent annual increase in CO2 emissions, the largest contributor to atmospheric greenhouse gases, between 2004 and 2010. The new UC analysis puts that annual growth rate for China to at least 11 percent for the same time period.
March 9, 2008
Grand Gestures, Hot Air and Cold Water
Debra Saunders, RealClearPolitics
Who says that the issue of global warming is a matter of science, not faith?

Solar Energy Firms Leave Waste Behind in China
Ariana Eunjung Cha, Washington Post
The first time Li Gengxuan saw the dump trucks from the nearby factory pull into his village, he couldn’t believe what happened. Stopping between the cornfields and the primary school playground, the workers dumped buckets of bubbling white liquid onto the ground. Then they turned around and drove right back through the gates of their compound without a word.This ritual has been going on almost every day for nine months, Li and other villagers said.

We’re a long way from warming ‘oblivion’
Paul MacRae, Canada.com
A Victoria environmental activist was quoted in the Times Colonist in January as saying he is trying to prevent “the demise of the planet.” No less a figure than UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon said, at the Bali environmental summit in December: “One path leads to a comprehensive climate change agreement, the other to oblivion. The choice is clear.”

Canada warns US over oil sands
Sheila McNulty, Financial Times
Canada has warned the US government that a narrow interpretation of new energy legislation would prohibit its neighbour buying fuel from Alberta’s vast oil sands, with “unintended consequences for both countries”. In a letter to Robert Gates, US defence secretary, Canada said that it “would not want to see an expansive interpretation” of the Energy Independence and Security Act 2007.

Climate dissent grows hotter as chill deepens
Christopher Booker, Telegraph.co.uk
Last week, virtually unreported in Britain, the extraordinary winter weather of 2008 elsewhere in the world continued. In the USA, there were blizzards as far south as Texas and Arkansas, while in northern states and Canada what they are calling “the winter from hell” has continued to break records going back in some cases to 1873. Meanwhile in Asia more details emerged of the catastrophe caused by the northern hemisphere’s greatest snow cover since 1966.

March 8, 2008
The Contrarian of Prague
Brian Carney, The Wall Street Journal
Being president of the Czech Republic is more like being England’s monarch than the president of the United States. While the Czech president has veto power over certain types of legislation, his role is supposed to be mostly ceremonial. But Vaclav Klaus—who was re-elected last month after being chosen by the Czech Parliament as head of state in 2003—has not been content to confine himself to ribbon cuttings and state dinners.

Ad to challenge Gore’s planet-saving image
Jennifer Harper, Washington Times
He has a mighty big carbon footprint.Al Gore’s opulent lifestyle and his virtuous plea to save the planet from global warming don’t mesh, according to the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI), which announced plans yesterday for a new national advertising campaign to showcase the contrast before the American public.

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Dated: 2010-02-03

My Rating:

by Luis (Coral Gables, FL)

Don’t waste your money with titan tankless water heater, mine last less than a year, stop heating and it take a week to be repaired ????? please !!!!!! i have kids and parents, and all we need to get a bath every day, so how this factory takes a week to press a reset button (i know it after leave this dump there) for the same money you can buy an excellent water heater in brandsmart or best buy, hot water in whole your house, no problems if open many faucet, hot water will be there…... the service in the factory is very ugly

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Dated: 2010-02-02

My Rating:

by Dan Mortenson (Cherokee, KS)

I purchased the SCR4 N210 almost 2 years ago. It was so great I ignorantly bought another one. Since then I have had 8 REPLACEMENTS.
They are JUNK!! The service has been at best compliant in replacing them. However if they break on monday I only have to take COLD SHOWERS for 4 days. If they break on tuesday or later in the week I can look forward to COLD SHOWERS for a week! YES, THATS 8 WEEKS OF COLD SHOWERS IN 2 YEARS. Im not sure if prison is that bad. They charge my credit card 0.00, send me a new one, with a return label (if they remember), and im lucky to get it in 4-5 days. After repacking the old one and returning it my card is debited. Two of the replacements out of 8 have been faulty. Everyone contact me at Titan@idle-a-while.com and we will get the class action started.

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Dated: 2010-02-02

My Rating:

by Dan Mortenson (Cherokee, KS)

Its me again, I noticed that my review said that they charged my card 0.00.
well that was a typo. its 0.00. see im not perfect either. I just want my 0 dollars back, and I’ll go away. Not until

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Dated: 2010-02-02

My Rating:

by Dan Mortenson (Cherokee, KS)

ok, maybe i am perfect. i guess they dont do dollar amounts on here.
lets try four hundred and fifty dollars. all i want is my nine hundred dollars back

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Dated: 2010-02-02

My Rating:

by Chris H (San Jose, Costa Rica, CA)

Have a Titan tankless water heater in our development in Costa Rica. Less than 1 yr old, have replaced it 3 times now and it just went down again. Have even had the factory to the site and they have replaced it twice. The thing is an absolute piece of shit and the company service is lousy too.

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Dated: 2010-01-30

My Rating:

by Leslie (Sarasota, FL)

Junk! We’re on our third Titan. The first 2 lasted about 13 months each. When you don’t have hot water, especially in winter, it becomes necessary to order another unit and have it shipped overnight. This will be our last one though. We’re saving to have a plumber come in and re-pipe for a different brand. Can never get the temperature right in the shower and takes long time to fill tub due to the fact the stream has to be slow for a hotter water temperature.

To be fair, our friends have had one for over 3 years with no problems. They are 3 bathrooms vs our 1.

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Dated: 2010-01-12

My Rating:

by Christ Rodgers (Culman, AL)

I have had mine for 4 years and I have not had any problems. I am in Alabama so the temperature in not that cold as other places. It is threw what they say, one you use one you will never go back to a tank. I purchased a cabin and the first thing I did was to take out the tank

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Dated: 2010-01-12

My Rating:

by Mike (Ithaca, NY)

I’m kind of surprised at how many negative reviews there are here. I’ve had 4 titan SCR2 heaters over the last 4 years, in different houses. One was ruined when the tenant allowed the pipes and heater to freeze over a long period, but the other 3 have been very good to me. I used 8 g wire and a 60 amp double pole breaker for installation, which was absolutely the minimum needed to power one of these. They do pretty well in one bathroom houses with a showerhead that is 2 gpm or under. I tried a showerhead that was 2.5 gpm and the heater couldn’t keep up with the flow, so the water was only warm. Ditto trying to fill a bathtub-just not enough power to heat it up for a normal flow. The faucets have areators, so the water is quite hot coming out of them. Overall, I don’t feel I can complain too much. The water seems nice and hot out of low flow showerheads in the cold upstate NY winter, and it’s continuous. I haven’t had the problems others mentioned, knock on wood. The electric bill is reasonable too, considering we seem to be overcharged on a regular basis by NYSEG in this area. With CFL lighting and the Titan water heater, it usually averages under a month

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Dated: 2010-01-01

My Rating:

by Mike (ERie, PA)

Wife calls me from home ” I was using hot water and the pipes started rattling and smelled burning rubber!!” AFter just 1 year the thing is junk!!! I followed all the recommendations of installation. I bought the Titan SCR2-120 about 2 years ago after my tank heater quit. I spent on a kit to fix the tank heater and the tankless sat on the shelf for 1 year. I installed the tankless after re-plumbing and installing 240 volt wiring from breaker box. Loved it.
Draw backs: standing for 1-3 minutes in shower trying to get the right temp.

Running water at 1 gpm to get hot enough for a bath.

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Dated: 2009-11-17

My Rating:

by ed (ashland, KY)

titan tankless water heater from a plumbing repair shop in march 2008, with myself being on a fixed retirement, cost was my biggest problem on anything i got for the house. i was led down the path of thinking this was to good to be true (and it was). never buy anything without checking the internet for porblems with what ever you plan to buy. the titan unit lasted 6 months. the plumbing people came right away, but said it would have to go to the factory for replacement, ok fine. after a vary long 15 days it was reinstalled. well i figured my problems were over. october 18 2009, it went out again, same problem computer control board. today is november 10, 2009 and the plumbing co. called and said they have it and would be over in a little while to reinstall it. if i had gone with a standard water heater with a thrmal blanket i would have saved 0.00 and i would not have been without hot water for so long. there warranty is 1 year on electonics. hmmm a light should have gone off in my head. anyway i have been doing a lot of research on the porblems with this type of water heater and the way i see it, the electronics is a big problem. please research the porduct before you buy. after they install this unit and if it goes out again i will be going to our state attorney generals office on this. i called the factory on this and recording after recording. so there you have it, again please do the research. ed

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Dated: 2009-11-10

My Rating:

by Stacy (Miami Beach, FL)

We were on our second replacement water heater when I smelled burning plastic/rubber. I heard a waterfall somewhere from within my apartment as i was watching tv. I finally tracked down my 2nd bathroom where our titan water heater is installed under the counter. I opened the cabinet to see smoke and steaming hot water shooting out from every corner of the titan box. The things under my counter were black; almost caught fire! The box was so hot I could barely turn the water power off! Basically, this product almost burned my apartment down. I was happy I decided to stay home that night since it was Saturday night. This box was a replacement from the first one we bought that just plain stopped working after the first 10 months of having it. The second one almost burned down my home after having it for only a year and a half! Seriously? When everyone in the building came over to see what was going on, they gave me the cold shoulder and raised eyebrows as if I should have known better than to have ever bought a titan. Well I know now… The don’t care either. They don’t want to give our money back, even after I have pictures of the damage and the receipt proving that its under 2 years old.

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Dated: 2009-11-07

My Rating:

by Agni (Canadensis, PA)

Four yeras ago we install 4 Titans in our rentals apt,2 in our home and we have one extra.Easy to install,but it is true that brokes sometimes(like everythink).We send one of them to Niagara ind. They fix it very fast and send back (no charge).The second was broken after three years of use.Fixed fast for 50 dollars.We are using 7 of them and we are happy like our friend who reccomended it to us. 7 Titans using 4 years and only 2 broken…And because we are using wells- not filtered water…I think it is a great product.

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Dated: 2009-09-29

My Rating:

by Beth (Longworth, TX)

I initially liked my Titan SCR2 for all the right reasons: great for a house with limited space, no worries about major water leaks, savings on electricity costs, etc. Unfortunately, the good times did not last, as my first unit quit functioning after about a year. I decided to buy another unit and install it, hoping that the first unit was just a lemon. Same thing happened. Perhaps the hard water in west Texas is a problem for these units. The electrician who did the wiring for me bought one, too, and he got so frustrated with his that he ripped it out and went back to a conventional water heater. I will probably do that, also.

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Dated: 2009-09-20

My Rating:

by Jerry Noel (San Antonio, TN)

Great product and American made…..

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Dated: 2009-09-02

My Rating:

by Jerry Noel (San Antonio, TX)

Great product and American made…..

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Dated: 2009-09-02

My Rating:

by Albert Bowmen (Westchester, NY)

I used the N-210 in my house in NY and it works great even in winter. People told me that tankless electric units would not work in winter here but I am here too say that they do work.

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Dated: 2009-08-25

My Rating:

by Jose (Pembroke Pines, FL)

read lots of reviews and decided not to buy one, Ima go check out lowe’s and home depot see what they have to cut my electric bill. Ima keep checking online. if its so hard to get in contact with the manufacturer after purchase i wont get it, it means it will go wrong and they dont wanna deal with it. Unbelievebable, hopefully i can find a real reliable one cuz light bill is killing me right now.

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Dated: 2009-08-25

My Rating:

by Jose (Pembroke PInes, FL)

Albert. I saw your post earlier, are you sure you dont work for them????

would anybody know which heater ya’ll would recommend that would be more dependable than this one. Longer lasting and not be a hassel for a simple exchange.

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Dated: 2009-08-25

My Rating:

by Gregg E (St. Monica, CA)

Great product and a great idea. Hot water on demand and energy savings that what we need now a days and Titan delivers..

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Dated: 2009-08-20

My Rating:

by Bryan Tavarez (Orlando, FL)

Great product, I am a general contractor in Orlando and I have been using these units in all my plans. They save me much needed space and the clients love them. I love these Titan units and will continue to spread the good word..

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Dated: 2009-08-12

My Rating:

by Robert Staks (Houston, TX)

I remodled and installed 3 untis in my 6000 sq ft home over 4 years ago and I love them. My electric bill went down (also I changes my a/c units to seer 14 units) and my wife simply loves the endless hot water. We are both titan tankless people for life…

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Dated: 2009-07-30

My Rating:

by Joe Faires (Loxahatchee, FL)

Installed the Titan SCR2 in my two bath house a year ago. I love it! Don’t know why other people have issues but my first one has been a pleasure.

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Dated: 2009-07-24

My Rating:

by Eddy Farino (Tampa, FL)

Great products, I love it….

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Dated: 2009-07-13

My Rating:

by Scott Bravo (Tampa FL, FL)

I have nothing but good things to say about this product. I used it got years when I lived in Miami and not it Tampa I installed on her in my new house. I do not understant some of the post here. The company is solid with 25 year exp. They are made here in the USA which is an added boost for me because during these times to see a company still building and employing workers here get my support. I have used them for over seven years and I recommened it to all.

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Dated: 2009-06-24

My Rating:

by JOhn Spicuzza (Cape Coral, FL)

I have had two Titan N-120 units since I built my house 3 years ago. I had to replace the one downstairs after 18 months. My upstairs unit just stopped supplying hot water out of the blue. I will have to replace this unit as well but not with one from Niagratech. I am disappointed in customer service from the first one.

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Dated: 2009-06-07

My Rating:

by Ken W (Boca Raton, FL)

I had the most miserable experience with the Titan SC4 tankless water heater. We thougt we would save energy costs by going tankless, with the added advantage of having “instant on” hot water, and “unlimitless hot water” to run a 2 person bathtub, etc. This is what Titan’s advertising department led us to believe, at least.

Well, the first water heater got installed at considerable expense (needed a 240 Volt line to be installed) but never worked right. Internmittant hot and cold water came out, making showers unbearable. The water would be too cold, so I would shift the tap to “100% hot water”. The water flow diminished and didn’t have the flow rate it used to have. The water was still tepid, but then would then get scalding hot. I dialed the water at the shower tap down to a little less… Ah just right, for about 30 seconds.. then ICE COLD!

Titan blamed the installation. No, that wasn’t it. We exchanged it for a 2nd water heater. This was installed at our expense again. This one didn’t work either! Same hot and cold internmittant temperature fluctuations again.

Then I read reviews and saw that this is a common problem with their water heaters. Then I read how they make it real difficult to return these for a refund. Needless to say, we are returning this water heater this week.

What a friggen nightmare!

Ken W.

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Dated: 2009-06-01

My Rating:

by Katherine Lulley (Orlando, FL)

I can tell you I researched Tankless units extensively before I took the plunge as I was skeptical about something so small replacing my huge tank. I decided to go with www.TitanTankless.com as the company has been making these for 24 years and must be doing something right. The Titan is a blessing for me and I still can’t believe it. I save a ton of space, have endless hot water, and my electic bill is about 30 dollars less. I paid 249 on Titan Tankless web site and it will pay for itself this year (hubby installed). The best was when I had family over and no one could believe that 6 people could shower in a row with the same hot water. THANK YOU TITAN TANKLESS..you made me a believer!!

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Dated: 2009-05-14

My Rating:

by fred (DC, AR)

by Hon. Jason Berit (Washington, DC)

Mr. Chairman, Ranking Member Domenici, Members of the Committee, thank you for the opportunity to appear before you today to discuss the sustainable contribution that biofuels can make to the Nation’s fuel supply in the context of the U.S. Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) and the food versus fuel debate. All of us recognize that high food prices and high gasoline prices are important “pocketbook” issues for American consumers. We also recognize the national and economic security importance of reducing our dependence on oil as well as the urgency of developing new fuels that will reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Our biofuels policy makes important contributions to each of these goals.
Federal Commitment to Sustainable Biofuels Development

As part of the 2007 State of the Union Address, President Bush called on Congress to significantly increase the use of advanced biofuels as part of the Twenty in Ten Initiative. Congress passed and the President signed into law the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (EISA), requiring that U.S. transportation fuels contain at least nine billion gallons of renewable fuels in 2008, growing to 36 billion gallons in 2022. Of the quantity required in 2022, at least 21 billion gallons must be advanced biofuels (non-corn), and of that 21 billion, 16 billion gallons must be cellulosic biofuels; ethanol from corn is capped at 15 billion gallons. The Department of Energy is committed to the goal of developing cost-competitive cellulosic ethanol by 2012. Our efforts will help spur the resources, technologies, and systems at the rate and scale needed to enable this mandate to be met, and impact climate change. To that end, DOE and other federal agencies are working to develop diverse, non-food feedstocks that require little water or fertilizer, and to foster sustainable agricultural and forestry practices. The Administration is also committed to developing a methodology, as required by EISA, to assess the life-cycle impacts of biofuels production, from feedstocks to vehicles, and analyze the impacts to land use and soil health, water use, air quality, and greenhouse gas emissions. Many of these issues are also being addressed through the senior-level Biomass R&D Board Sustainability Working Group, which the Departments of Energy (DOE) and Agriculture (USDA) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) jointly chair.

Together, DOE, USDA, and EPA continue to be committed to collecting and presenting accurate data, projecting potential impacts, and initiating the necessary and appropriate actions to ensure the sustainable growth of biofuels. To that end, DOE, USDA, and EPA have significantly ramped up our analytical efforts to ensure that we proceed with caution but also determination. The agencies will continue to work together as we undertake our respective responsibilities under Title II of EISA.

DOE is also leveraging other partnerships to support the RFS goals. The Department is investing up to 5 million total over four years (FY 2007-FY 2010, subject to appropriation) in cost-shared, integrated commercial-scale biorefineries that are projected to produce up to 130 million gallons of ethanol from cellulosic biomass in four years when they are fully operational. In addition, DOE is investing up to 0 million over five years (FY 2007-FY 2011, subject to appropriation) in smaller (10% of commercial scale) cost-shared biorefineries that will demonstrate a wider range of advanced biochemical and thermochemical conversion technologies and use a wide array of cellulosic feedstocks.

In addition, the Department’s Office of Science has recently established three major new DOE Bioenergy Research Centers—led by the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, respectively—which are bringing together top scientists and researchers in an effort to accelerate the transformational breakthroughs in basic science needed to make next-generation cellulosic biofuels cost-effective. The Department plans to invest over 0 million in total in this effort through FY 2012.

Misconceptions about Biofuels: Environment, Gasoline Prices, and Food Supply

Recent press coverage of ethanol and food prices has created a number of misconceptions about biofuels. The most prominent of these misconceptions are that ethanol does not improve the energy balance, that it has a negative impact on the environment, and that it contributes to rising food prices. We appreciate the opportunity to address these views. We believe biofuels are not creating a food security issue and are only a small part of increased food prices. In addition, biofuels offer a number of important energy and environmental benefits that will grow as the technology for next generation biofuels comes online.

Today’s corn-based ethanol has a positive energy balance—that is, the energy content of ethanol is greater than the fossil energy used to produce it—and this balance is constantly improving with new technologies. According to Argonne National Laboratory, each gallon of ethanol produced from corn today is estimated to deliver on average 25 percent more energy than would the fossil energy that is used to produce it. Over the last 20 years, the amount of energy needed to produce ethanol from corn has significantly decreased because of improved farming techniques, more efficient use of fertilizers and pesticides, higher-yielding crops, and more energy-efficient conversion technology. A few scholars have conducted studies that allege a negative energy balance for ethanol; however, these fail to take into account the energy use avoided because of the production of co-products such as Distiller’s Grain, a high-protein animal feed.

DOE’s current estimates find that ethanol also results in fewer greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions than gasoline, and is fully biodegradable, unlike some fuel additives. DOE’s analysis shows that today, on a life-cycle basis, corn ethanol produces approximately 20 percent fewer GHG emissions than gasoline. According to Argonne National Laboratory, with improved efficiency and use of renewable energy, this reduction could reach 52 percent. The positive energy balance and the potential GHG reduction from cellulosic ethanol is far greater, as I will discuss later in this testimony. It is important to note that the lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions estimates discussed here do not reflect indirect land use impacts requirements as specified in EISA. Life-cycle analyses involve a number of complicating factors, such as direct and indirect land use effects, and DOE is working with EPA as they develop a lifecycle methodology that meets the EISA definition.

Further evidence of ethanol’s environmentally sound contribution to the fuel supply is that vehicles fueled with the ethanol-blended fuels currently in the market—whether E10 or E85—must meet EPA’s stringent tailpipe emission standards. Ethanol has proven to be a safe, high-performance replacement for fuel additives such as MTBE.

Blending ethanol and gasoline has led to questions on its potential impact on gasoline prices. However, evidence from an Iowa State study suggests that without ethanol, gasoline prices would be higher. According to this analysis, even during the period in which MTBE was being phased out (2006) and ethanol prices were very high, had ethanol not been available, gasoline prices would have been even higher.

Ethanol is currently less costly than the refiner’s average mix of gasoline components. The cost of ethanol to refiners has been lower than the wholesale cost of conventional gasoline. In fact, as of the week of May 26, 2008, the gap was close to a .00/gallon difference; even adjusting for energy content, ethanol is cost-competitive. According to EIA, if we had not been blending ethanol into gasoline, gasoline prices would be between 20 cents per gallon to 35 cents per gallon higher.

With regard to food price impacts, our preliminary analysis suggests that current biofuels-related feedstock demand plays only a small role in global food supply and pricing. Moreover, the impact of biofuels on U.S. consumers is even smaller since the farm price of commodities accounts for less than 20 percent of U.S. consumers’ food costs.

Numerous studies have found that world food prices have increased due to many factors, including high oil prices (used both in transportation and production of food); droughts in some key exporting countries, including Australia; increased demand as emerging economies grow and their populations consume better diets and eat more meat; a reduction of global agricultural R&D; and other factors.

In 2007, about a quarter of the U.S. corn crop went to biofuels production, but this fact can be misleading in isolation. Only the starch from the corn kernel is used to produce the fuel, leaving the co-product Distiller’s Grain. These Distiller’s Grains are used as animal feed which is valued by its protein content, which is significantly higher by weight than the protein content of corn. As a result, almost one-third of each ton of corn used for ethanol production is recovered as a livestock feed. Thus, in actuality, only about one-sixth of the U.S. corn crop by mass is used in fuel production. Moreover, it is important to note that U.S. corn exports have been stable throughout the past decade, and have, in fact, increased recently.

Furthermore, our Nation’s enhanced farming techniques and continued improvement in plants and seeds will likely enable our supply to grow. Yield increases could enable us to double our corn based ethanol production over the next ten years while maintaining corn availability for other uses.

Finally, increased global food demand as living standards and diets improve is an important factor in explaining increases in commodity prices, and is unrelated to biofuels. According to the UN, global economic growth has driven up prices for all commodities.

The Potential for Cellulosic Ethanol and Other Advanced Biofuels

Evidence suggests that corn ethanol is not the primary driver affecting worldwide food prices. To help meet our long-term energy needs, the Department’s biomass research and development activities are designed to move toward non-food feedstocks that have the potential to have an even greater positive environmental impact.

The biomass feedstocks of today include grains (corn, sorghum, wheat), as well as oilseeds and plants (such as soybeans). The feedstocks of tomorrow will come from a variety of sources such as wastes and residues and fast-growing energy crops. These future feedstocks will consist of agricultural residues like stalks, stems, and other crop wastes, as well as forest resources such as wood waste, forest thinnings, and small-diameter trees. Examples of energy crops include switchgrass, miscanthus, and hybrid poplar trees, in addition to oilseeds and oil crops like algae and jatropha. Some of these promising energy crops can grow on marginal soils, and they can actually sequester carbon. Forest resources, green wastes, and sorted municipal solid waste will also play a role.

As I noted earlier, research to date suggests that today’s ethanol has a positive energy balance—that is, the energy content of corn ethanol is greater than in the fossil energy used to produce it. In the future, cellulosic ethanol is expected to improve upon this by delivering four to six times as much energy as needed to produce it. Additionally, DOE research has shown that cellulosic feedstocks can reduce life-cycle greenhouse gas emissions by 86 percent compared to gasoline.

A number of market and technical barriers to advanced biofuel production exist. Fortunately, Congress and the Administration have taken steps to diminish these obstacles, and we are poised to make even more progress. Market barriers include a lack of cellulosic feedstock market and high capital costs. The main technical barriers are a lack of cost-competitive conversion technologies, a lack of feedstock collection equipment, the absence of standard cellulosic biofuels production blueprints, and the lack of fully integrated large-scale systems. As part of the effort to overcome these hurdles, EISA helps establish a market demand for cellulosic biofuels. EISA also provides grants for research and development projects; and demonstration and commercial application of biofuel production technologies, including important research on plants, enzymes, and microbes. These efforts are working toward cost reductions in conversion technologies, and cost-shared biorefinery projects will help validate approaches.

We have made significant advances, but there is more that would be helpful to support the development of biofuels—for example, expansion of the use of woody biomass and increased penetration of flex-fuel vehicles into the market. Additionally, when developed in parallel to E85 infrastructure, intermediate ethanol-gasoline blends (those between E10 and E85) could also help enable continuous uninterrupted growth in production. The research we are supporting today to produce advanced biofuels beyond ethanol and biodiesel may also eventually help the industry. With continued technological advances at all levels, ethanol can help our Nation reap greater benefits in the future, complementing the President’s bold energy initiatives, which seek to increase our Nation’s energy and economic security.

Conclusion

The food and fuel pricing issues about which you have raised questions are important and complex. We would again caution, therefore, against hasty judgments. Many analysts both within and outside of Government are currently working to analyze these issues and the one certainty is that our data will improve substantially in the months ahead.

Mr. Chairman, thank you again for holding this important hearing. I appreciate your leadership in this matter as well as this opportunity to address the current debate over the role of biofuels in our Nation’s energy portfolio. This concludes my prepared statement, and I would be happy to answer any questions the Committee Members may have.

Mr. Chairman and members of the Committee, thank you for the opportunity to testify on behalf of the Agricultural and Food Policy Center at Texas A&M University on our research regarding the relationship between U.S. renewable fuels policy and food prices. For more than 25 years we have worked with the Agricultural Committees in the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives providing Members and committee staff objective research regarding the potential affects of agricultural policy changes.

Due to the growing interdependence of agriculture and energy, over the past 5 years our Center has been focusing a considerable amount of research toward renewable energy policy and the likely consequences for U.S. agricultural producers, consumers, and renewable energy industry participants.

My testimony today summarizes the results from a number of our reports and analyses that evaluate the potential impacts of changes to U.S. renewable fuels policies. The most recent study, which I have provided for the record, is entitled “The Effects of Ethanol on Texas Food and Feed”. This report included an analysis of the impacts of farm level corn prices on the retail prices of selected food products at the national level and alternative RFS levels.

Over the past few years, the U.S. ethanol industry has been expanding as fast as plants could feasibly be built. Currently, as corn prices have increased, some of the proposed ethanol plants have dropped their plans and/or put them on hold. Most industry observers realize the Renewable Fuels Standard (RFS) contained in the Energy Policy Act of 2005 was never binding. However, this may not be the case with the RFS of 15 billion gallons of grain based ethanol mandated in the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007. Depending on corn and ethanol prices, the higher mandate will likely encourage the expansion of ethanol capacity to, at least, the 15 billion gallon per year level.

Governments around the world have enacted policies designed to encourage biofuels production, use, and protect biofuel producers from international competition. The U.S. has chosen to utilize a combination of the three: 1) the volumetric ethanol excise tax credit that is generally referred to as the “blender’s credit”, 2) the ethanol import tariff, and 3) the renewable fuels standard (RFS). There is no question that these three policy tools have influenced the amount of ethanol produced and consumed in the United States, as well as the level of ethanol imports.

In the short-run, it can be argued that economic encouragement is needed to develop a new industry through government policies. However, in the long run, the cost of production will determine whether biofuels are a viable energy alternative. The answer as to whether the corn based ethanol industry will be viable over the long-run is – it depends. The price of oil and the cost of ethanol feedstocks, both more than double where they were only last year, will determine ethanol viability. With or without government support, there will likely be combinations of low and high oil prices and feedstock costs that result in profits or losses for the ethanol sector.

Table 1 illustrates that the net returns for a typical ethanol plant varies substantially depending on feedstock (corn) costs and the ethanol price. Currently, the corn price in the U.S. is around .00 per bushel, and the ethanol price is slightly under .50 per gallon. With this combination, a typical ethanol plant would be expected to realize .06 per gallon in net income. While positive, these profit levels are not as likely to spur additional investment. Clearly, this is the reason why some proposed ethanol plants have put their plans on hold. However, for those plants already built, it is in their best interest to continue to produce as long as they can cover their variable costs increasing the amount a plant could pay for corn. There are a large number of ethanol and corn price combinations that result in negative net returns for a plant. While these numbers are typical of a 100 million gallon per year plant, each plant location has attributes or drawbacks that could tilt (both positively and negatively) the economic picture for that plant location.

Recent requests for a waiver to the RFS inspired research looking at whether a waiver, if granted, would have a significant impact. The initial RFS, instituted under the energy bill of 2005, always had a limited probability of binding or needing to insure the mandated level of ethanol blending given the powerful market incentives for ethanol production that prevailed in the two years following its establishment. The new RFS, instituted under the 2007 energy bill, requires significantly higher levels of blending.

We analyzed the possible market outcomes under the RFS, and under partial waivers of one-quarter and one-half of the conventional biofuel RFS. The waivers are assumed to be immediate and permanent. The results presented below reflect the averages for selected market variables over 500 realizations of possible future states of the world. In all scenarios, the tax credits for ethanol and biodiesel blending are assumed to continue. The high levels of fossil energy prices expected over the next few years result in powerful market incentives for ethanol production, in the absence of a supply-related spike in corn prices.

As indicated in Table 2, the expected national average wholesale market prices for ethanol are likely to remain in the mid-.00 per gallon range, with expected prices being somewhat lower if the RFS is relaxed by one-quarter, and even lower still if the RFS is relaxed by one-half. Under all scenarios these expected levels of ethanol production are above the RFS by a billion gallons or more, except for 2008 when the margin is much smaller. This again reflects the fact that high fossil energy prices will result in high demand for ethanol as a fuel extender. Partial relaxation of the conventional biofuel RFS would result in somewhat lower expected levels of production, as production would be lower if unfavorable market conditions were realized.
Like ethanol prices, expected corn prices are fairly steady near current levels under all scenarios. Expected prices across scenarios gradually diverge, with the one-quarter RFS waiver price falling about .30 per bushel below the full RFS price a few years out, and the one-half RFS waiver price falling about .50 to .60 per bushel below the full RFS expected price.

To summarize our results, a sustained reduction in the RFS by one-quarter to one-half of the RFS would not significantly reduce ethanol production or prices. These policy changes would be expected to result in corn prices that are 5 to 10 percent lower than those under current policies.

The boom in corn-based ethanol production in the United States has led to sharply higher corn prices and, by extension, higher soybean and other crop prices as farmers have shifted acres between crops. High prices for some crops like wheat and rice and other commodities such as milk have been higher due to other causes. The ethanol, or biofuel, revolution has, in turn, been caused by rapidly increasing oil prices, aided by government policies and the desire for cleaner burning fuels to ease global warming fears. The overall effect on agriculture and the economy, as a whole, is complex. While corn prices have increased, crop producers also face higher fertilizer and fuel prices. Higher feed costs have caused large increases in production costs for livestock producers. These rising production costs are being felt by producers, and to a lesser extent, consumers throughout the economy.

In our opinion the current discussion in the media about ethanol causing high food prices is overly simplistic. There is no doubt that higher corn prices are being transferred throughout the rest of the economy just as higher petroleum prices are impacting the economy. In the United States unlike most of the countries in the world, consumers spend a relatively small amount of their incomes on food – around 11 percent. The farmer’s share of retail food prices is around .19 per dollar spend on food. Obviously for some products the share is higher – especially retail food products such as fresh vegetables that have not undergone significant transformation and further processing. That is not the case for corn in the United States. Corn is typically used as feed in livestock and poultry production or it generally undergoes significant processing before it ends up as one of many food ingredients such as HFCS in soft drinks.

Our report identifies a number of other factors that have contributed to higher corn prices such as increased exports. The declining value of the dollar makes U.S. corn relatively cheaper to the rest of the world even with the highest corn prices on record. Another factor that has to be noted when discussing corn prices is the competition for land among commodities. Across the United States, not all land is suitable for producing every crop we grow. When farmers do have choices among crops, relative returns that consider relative prices and costs of production across crops cause crops with higher returns to bid land away from crops with lower returns. At planting time this year, the returns for soybeans relative to corn created an estimated 7 billion acre shift from corn acres to soybean acres from 2007. This happened even though corn prices were relatively high by historical standards. Soybean prices were also high for a variety of reasons such as the increased demand for soybean oil in biodiesel production and higher export demand for soybeans as a food and feed protein.

And finally, the average person probably does not understand the degree to which the weather both in the U.S. and abroad impacts food prices. As indicated earlier, weather problems across the world contributed to lower wheat availability worldwide, leading to higher wheat prices that led to higher bread prices. U.S. retail prices of rice and milk have been impacted similarly.

In an attempt to quantify the impact of key economic variables on selected retail food prices, we examined the dynamic interrelationships among retail food prices and the prices of labor, crude oil, and corn. Using data from January 1990 to February 2008, the results indicate that higher corn prices can be passed through to consumers relatively quickly for: bread, milk, and eggs; with retail prices of those products rising by amounts commensurate with the quantities of grains used in their production. We also find, however, that the contribution of higher corn prices to recent increases in the retail prices of bread, milk, and eggs are smaller than the contributions of other factors, such as national and international weather variability and production cycles. Labor cost increases have also contributed to increased retail prices of these commodities, but the effects of increased energy prices have been minimal through February 2008.

By contrast, we detected no statistically significant effect of corn on retail meat prices, to date. Taken as a whole, this evidence suggests that over the short-term (less than two years), livestock producers have been unable to pass higher feed costs to consumers, due to their industry structure and competitive pressures. There is no doubt, however, that these industries are experiencing dramatic financial losses due to increases in their costs of production. If current market conditions persist, meat supplies will eventually decline due to producer attrition and capacity reduction, which will lead to higher retail prices for meats. In short, retail meat prices must eventually adjust to reflect increased feed costs, the only uncertainty is the timing and duration of the adjustment period.

Mr. Chairman, that completes my statement.

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Dated: 2009-04-15

My Rating:

by Robert Burri (Lead Hill, AR)

I bought this unit 3 years ago. I am currently on my 6th warranty unit. I have never had one last longer than six months with failures ranging from flooded garage and electrical shock. At this point I simply keep re-installing the unit to see how bad it can get. I’d advise you buy something else if you don’t like cold showers

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Dated: 2009-04-06

My Rating:

by Juan Obregon (Tampa, FL)

Have one and I love it, got a new N-160 for my house and it take care of everything including my multiple showerhead. I tip my hat to these people

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Dated: 2009-03-25

My Rating:

by Greg Brown Sr. (Dallas, TX)

I installed the new model N-160 from Niagara a few montsh ago and I love the opperation of it. I have a 3200 sq. ft. home with three bathrooms and I am delighted with the operation.

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Dated: 2009-03-17

My Rating:

by William Pinker (Oak City, GA)

We purchased a home in 2001 that was twice the size of our old home. In our old home we had a 30 gallon water heater. We did everything to keep the bill down for electricity…use night rate, a timer and very little hot water. We had the titan put into our new home and have used all the hot water we have wanted ever since. Our electric bill went down, even with twice the space and no night rate and using hot water all the time. We have been exceedingly pleased with this unit. We tell everyone how wonderful this tankless water heater is for us. We will never have a conventional water heater again.

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Dated: 2009-03-17

My Rating:

by Steffany Viera (Orlando, FL)

I have been using my unit for over 4 years and I thing it is great. The contractor who put it is was saying that tankless units are being installed all over the east coast of Florida and that titan was the brand that they were using. I swear by my unit

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Dated: 2009-02-25

My Rating:

by Russell Prewitt (North Richland Hills, TX)

I purchased the Titan N-160. It took a couple of extra days than advertised to receive it. I paid a company to install it. It was installed with small modifications to the existing plumbing and electric set up. The product had barely warm water and was inconsistent. The installer did extensive troubleshooting. After a good deal of time, the product was determined to be faulty.
After leaving multiple voice mail messages and emails, we finally got a response to return the product. Thankfully, we did not break the seals on the box. They would not pay for return shipment on their faulty equipment. I would go tradition with heating my water or a better company.

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Dated: 2009-02-24

My Rating:

by Russell Prewitt (North Richland Hills, TX)

I purchased the Titan N-160. It took a couple of extra days than advertised to receive it. I paid a company to install it. It was installed with small modifications to the existing plumbing and electric set up. The product had barely warm water and was inconsistent. The installer did extensive troubleshooting. After a good deal of time, the product was determined to be faulty.
After leaving multiple voice mail messages and emails, we finally got a response to return the product. Thankfully, we did not break the seals on the box. They would not pay for return shipment on their faulty equipment. I would go tradition with heating my water or a better company.

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Dated: 2009-02-24

My Rating:

by Russell Prewitt (North Richland Hills, TX)

I purchased the Titan N-160. It took a couple of extra days than advertised to receive it. I paid a company to install it. It was installed with small modifications to the existing plumbing and electric set up. The product had barely warm water and was inconsistent. The installer did extensive troubleshooting. After a good deal of time, the product was determined to be faulty.
After leaving multiple voice mail messages and emails, we finally got a response to return the product. Thankfully, we did not break the seals on the box. They would not pay for return shipment on their faulty equipment. I would go tradition with heating my water or a better company.

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Dated: 2009-02-24

My Rating:

by Forrest Summers (Dallas, TX)

We purchased the unit while in the process of remodleling our home. Installed it w/o problem or difficulty, and it worked as advertised for 4 months…..THEN yesterday while I was washing dishes, there was a BURST of water within the unit, sprayed out, and then there was a following explosion of smoke and sparks….then the breaker was tripped. Needless to say that company would not let me speak to anyone but the lady that answers the phone, and the tech dept responds in 1 sentence answers. I have sent the unit back, and am looking for another brand to replace it with.

anyone have any questions, problems or concerns feel free to email me
summers1976@gmail.com

Thanks

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Dated: 2009-02-19

My Rating:

by Robert Finley (Statesville, NC)

Poor product with no company support. Product performed poorly from the start so I called manufacturer to ask for advice. After six (6) requests I never was allowed to speak with anyone but the receptionist who promised someone would call me…they never did repeatedly!Finally ripped unit out and replaced it with one from COSTCO which performes well. Unit is junk…don’t waste your money like I did.

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Dated: 2009-01-19

My Rating:

by Jerry R. (North Port, FL)

I built my house in 2006 and had the Titan SCR 2 installed in my new home. I also talked my neighbor with a brand new house as well into installing this unit. So far in 2 1/2 years he is on his 3rd unit and my second unit just stopped producing hot water. I am done with these. This product is garbage and unreliable. I would not recommend this unless you like to spend 0 every year along with the aggrevation of not having hot water and having to disconnect and re-install a new unit every year.

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Dated: 2008-12-21

My Rating:

by frank brezina (miami, FL)

Read the fine print on the warranty. They warrant the heating element for only one
year. This means most of the units will only last a year. They warrant for 10 years the non heating parts. So the most critical element will only last about a year.

This is my second titan in 4 years. This is getting expensive. Seems I have to buy a new heater every two years.

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Dated: 2008-12-16

My Rating:

by Sy Fredman (Jackson, FL)

Best unit for the money. There people are true designers was at the PHCC show in Miami any they unvailed there new digital line with LCD display. I little more and they will make the unit talk…..lol

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Dated: 2008-11-21

My Rating:

by Sy Fredman (Jackson, FL)

Best unit for the money. There people are true designers was at the PHCC show in Miami any they unvailed there new digital line with LCD display. A little more and they will make the unit talk…..lol

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Dated: 2008-11-21

My Rating:

by Mario Robina (Plant City, FL)

I have used them for a number of years and have found them very reliable. The comapny has a good track record and it has been in business for over 20 years so they must be doing something wright. I know the staff there and have delt with them several times while I lived in Miami. Trust me get yourself a titan you will love it…

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Dated: 2008-11-07

My Rating:

by CA (Austin, TX)

Installed two of these about year ago, so far no problems.

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Dated: 2008-09-19

My Rating:

by A. S. (Miami, FL)

My water heater is less than 2 years old and stopped producing hot water. Since I live in Miami, I brought it in for repair or replacement. I was appalled to hear that I would have to pay to repair a product that was less than 2 years old. That is unacceptable. Would you purchase a product that would need to be repaired every 1 3/4 years? Any savings in energy efficiency will be negated by the repair costs to the unit.

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Dated: 2008-07-30

My Rating:

by A. S. (Miami, FL)

My Titan SCR2 water heater is less than 2 years old and stopped producing hot water. Since I live in Miami, I brought it in for repair or replacement. I was appalled to hear that I would have to pay to repair a product that was less than 2 years old. That is unacceptable. Would you purchase a product that would need to be repaired every 1 3/4 years? Any savings in energy efficiency will be negated by the repair costs to the unit.

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Dated: 2008-07-30

My Rating:

by Fred Edmundo (Jacksonville, FL)

Great product, I have used and installed them for years. I think that everyone should get one.

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Dated: 2008-06-20

My Rating:

by Hon. Jason Berit (Washington, DC)

Mr. Chairman, Ranking Member Domenici, Members of the Committee, thank you for the opportunity to appear before you today to discuss the sustainable contribution that biofuels can make to the Nation’s fuel supply in the context of the U.S. Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) and the food versus fuel debate. All of us recognize that high food prices and high gasoline prices are important “pocketbook” issues for American consumers. We also recognize the national and economic security importance of reducing our dependence on oil as well as the urgency of developing new fuels that will reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Our biofuels policy makes important contributions to each of these goals.

Federal Commitment to Sustainable Biofuels Development

As part of the 2007 State of the Union Address, President Bush called on Congress to significantly increase the use of advanced biofuels as part of the Twenty in Ten Initiative. Congress passed and the President signed into law the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (EISA), requiring that U.S. transportation fuels contain at least nine billion gallons of renewable fuels in 2008, growing to 36 billion gallons in 2022. Of the quantity required in 2022, at least 21 billion gallons must be advanced biofuels (non-corn), and of that 21 billion, 16 billion gallons must be cellulosic biofuels; ethanol from corn is capped at 15 billion gallons. The Department of Energy is committed to the goal of developing cost-competitive cellulosic ethanol by 2012. Our efforts will help spur the resources, technologies, and systems at the rate and scale needed to enable this mandate to be met, and impact climate change. To that end, DOE and other federal agencies are working to develop diverse, non-food feedstocks that require little water or fertilizer, and to foster sustainable agricultural and forestry practices. The Administration is also committed to developing a methodology, as required by EISA, to assess the life-cycle impacts of biofuels production, from feedstocks to vehicles, and analyze the impacts to land use and soil health, water use, air quality, and greenhouse gas emissions. Many of these issues are also being addressed through the senior-level Biomass R&D Board Sustainability Working Group, which the Departments of Energy (DOE) and Agriculture (USDA) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) jointly chair.

Together, DOE, USDA, and EPA continue to be committed to collecting and presenting accurate data, projecting potential impacts, and initiating the necessary and appropriate actions to ensure the sustainable growth of biofuels. To that end, DOE, USDA, and EPA have significantly ramped up our analytical efforts to ensure that we proceed with caution but also determination. The agencies will continue to work together as we undertake our respective responsibilities under Title II of EISA.

DOE is also leveraging other partnerships to support the RFS goals. The Department is investing up to 5 million total over four years (FY 2007-FY 2010, subject to appropriation) in cost-shared, integrated commercial-scale biorefineries that are projected to produce up to 130 million gallons of ethanol from cellulosic biomass in four years when they are fully operational. In addition, DOE is investing up to 0 million over five years (FY 2007-FY 2011, subject to appropriation) in smaller (10% of commercial scale) cost-shared biorefineries that will demonstrate a wider range of advanced biochemical and thermochemical conversion technologies and use a wide array of cellulosic feedstocks.

In addition, the Department’s Office of Science has recently established three major new DOE Bioenergy Research Centers—led by the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, respectively—which are bringing together top scientists and researchers in an effort to accelerate the transformational breakthroughs in basic science needed to make next-generation cellulosic biofuels cost-effective. The Department plans to invest over 0 million in total in this effort through FY 2012.

Misconceptions about Biofuels: Environment, Gasoline Prices, and Food Supply

Recent press coverage of ethanol and food prices has created a number of misconceptions about biofuels. The most prominent of these misconceptions are that ethanol does not improve the energy balance, that it has a negative impact on the environment, and that it contributes to rising food prices. We appreciate the opportunity to address these views. We believe biofuels are not creating a food security issue and are only a small part of increased food prices. In addition, biofuels offer a number of important energy and environmental benefits that will grow as the technology for next generation biofuels comes online.

Today’s corn-based ethanol has a positive energy balance—that is, the energy content of ethanol is greater than the fossil energy used to produce it—and this balance is constantly improving with new technologies. According to Argonne National Laboratory, each gallon of ethanol produced from corn today is estimated to deliver on average 25 percent more energy than would the fossil energy that is used to produce it. Over the last 20 years, the amount of energy needed to produce ethanol from corn has significantly decreased because of improved farming techniques, more efficient use of fertilizers and pesticides, higher-yielding crops, and more energy-efficient conversion technology. A few scholars have conducted studies that allege a negative energy balance for ethanol; however, these fail to take into account the energy use avoided because of the production of co-products such as Distiller’s Grain, a high-protein animal feed.

DOE’s current estimates find that ethanol also results in fewer greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions than gasoline, and is fully biodegradable, unlike some fuel additives. DOE’s analysis shows that today, on a life-cycle basis, corn ethanol produces approximately 20 percent fewer GHG emissions than gasoline. According to Argonne National Laboratory, with improved efficiency and use of renewable energy, this reduction could reach 52 percent. The positive energy balance and the potential GHG reduction from cellulosic ethanol is far greater, as I will discuss later in this testimony. It is important to note that the lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions estimates discussed here do not reflect indirect land use impacts requirements as specified in EISA. Life-cycle analyses involve a number of complicating factors, such as direct and indirect land use effects, and DOE is working with EPA as they develop a lifecycle methodology that meets the EISA definition.

Further evidence of ethanol’s environmentally sound contribution to the fuel supply is that vehicles fueled with the ethanol-blended fuels currently in the market—whether E10 or E85—must meet EPA’s stringent tailpipe emission standards. Ethanol has proven to be a safe, high-performance replacement for fuel additives such as MTBE.

Blending ethanol and gasoline has led to questions on its potential impact on gasoline prices. However, evidence from an Iowa State study suggests that without ethanol, gasoline prices would be higher. According to this analysis, even during the period in which MTBE was being phased out (2006) and ethanol prices were very high, had ethanol not been available, gasoline prices would have been even higher.

Ethanol is currently less costly than the refiner’s average mix of gasoline components. The cost of ethanol to refiners has been lower than the wholesale cost of conventional gasoline. In fact, as of the week of May 26, 2008, the gap was close to a .00/gallon difference; even adjusting for energy content, ethanol is cost-competitive. According to EIA, if we had not been blending ethanol into gasoline, gasoline prices would be between 20 cents per gallon to 35 cents per gallon higher.

With regard to food price impacts, our preliminary analysis suggests that current biofuels-related feedstock demand plays only a small role in global food supply and pricing. Moreover, the impact of biofuels on U.S. consumers is even smaller since the farm price of commodities accounts for less than 20 percent of U.S. consumers’ food costs.

Numerous studies have found that world food prices have increased due to many factors, including high oil prices (used both in transportation and production of food); droughts in some key exporting countries, including Australia; increased demand as emerging economies grow and their populations consume better diets and eat more meat; a reduction of global agricultural R&D; and other factors.

In 2007, about a quarter of the U.S. corn crop went to biofuels production, but this fact can be misleading in isolation. Only the starch from the corn kernel is used to produce the fuel, leaving the co-product Distiller’s Grain. These Distiller’s Grains are used as animal feed which is valued by its protein content, which is significantly higher by weight than the protein content of corn. As a result, almost one-third of each ton of corn used for ethanol production is recovered as a livestock feed. Thus, in actuality, only about one-sixth of the U.S. corn crop by mass is used in fuel production. Moreover, it is important to note that U.S. corn exports have been stable throughout the past decade, and have, in fact, increased recently.

Furthermore, our Nation’s enhanced farming techniques and continued improvement in plants and seeds will likely enable our supply to grow. Yield increases could enable us to double our corn based ethanol production over the next ten years while maintaining corn availability for other uses.

Finally, increased global food demand as living standards and diets improve is an important factor in explaining increases in commodity prices, and is unrelated to biofuels. According to the UN, global economic growth has driven up prices for all commodities.

The Potential for Cellulosic Ethanol and Other Advanced Biofuels

Evidence suggests that corn ethanol is not the primary driver affecting worldwide food prices. To help meet our long-term energy needs, the Department’s biomass research and development activities are designed to move toward non-food feedstocks that have the potential to have an even greater positive environmental impact.

The biomass feedstocks of today include grains (corn, sorghum, wheat), as well as oilseeds and plants (such as soybeans). The feedstocks of tomorrow will come from a variety of sources such as wastes and residues and fast-growing energy crops. These future feedstocks will consist of agricultural residues like stalks, stems, and other crop wastes, as well as forest resources such as wood waste, forest thinnings, and small-diameter trees. Examples of energy crops include switchgrass, miscanthus, and hybrid poplar trees, in addition to oilseeds and oil crops like algae and jatropha. Some of these promising energy crops can grow on marginal soils, and they can actually sequester carbon. Forest resources, green wastes, and sorted municipal solid waste will also play a role.

As I noted earlier, research to date suggests that today’s ethanol has a positive energy balance—that is, the energy content of corn ethanol is greater than in the fossil energy used to produce it. In the future, cellulosic ethanol is expected to improve upon this by delivering four to six times as much energy as needed to produce it. Additionally, DOE research has shown that cellulosic feedstocks can reduce life-cycle greenhouse gas emissions by 86 percent compared to gasoline.

A number of market and technical barriers to advanced biofuel production exist. Fortunately, Congress and the Administration have taken steps to diminish these obstacles, and we are poised to make even more progress. Market barriers include a lack of cellulosic feedstock market and high capital costs. The main technical barriers are a lack of cost-competitive conversion technologies, a lack of feedstock collection equipment, the absence of standard cellulosic biofuels production blueprints, and the lack of fully integrated large-scale systems. As part of the effort to overcome these hurdles, EISA helps establish a market demand for cellulosic biofuels. EISA also provides grants for research and development projects; and demonstration and commercial application of biofuel production technologies, including important research on plants, enzymes, and microbes. These efforts are working toward cost reductions in conversion technologies, and cost-shared biorefinery projects will help validate approaches.

We have made significant advances, but there is more that would be helpful to support the development of biofuels—for example, expansion of the use of woody biomass and increased penetration of flex-fuel vehicles into the market. Additionally, when developed in parallel to E85 infrastructure, intermediate ethanol-gasoline blends (those between E10 and E85) could also help enable continuous uninterrupted growth in production. The research we are supporting today to produce advanced biofuels beyond ethanol and biodiesel may also eventually help the industry. With continued technological advances at all levels, ethanol can help our Nation reap greater benefits in the future, complementing the President’s bold energy initiatives, which seek to increase our Nation’s energy and economic security.

Conclusion

The food and fuel pricing issues about which you have raised questions are important and complex. We would again caution, therefore, against hasty judgments. Many analysts both within and outside of Government are currently working to analyze these issues and the one certainty is that our data will improve substantially in the months ahead.

Mr. Chairman, thank you again for holding this important hearing. I appreciate your leadership in this matter as well as this opportunity to address the current debate over the role of biofuels in our Nation’s energy portfolio. This concludes my prepared statement, and I would be happy to answer any questions the Committee Members may have.

Mr. Chairman and members of the Committee, thank you for the opportunity to testify on behalf of the Agricultural and Food Policy Center at Texas A&M University on our research regarding the relationship between U.S. renewable fuels policy and food prices. For more than 25 years we have worked with the Agricultural Committees in the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives providing Members and committee staff objective research regarding the potential affects of agricultural policy changes.

Due to the growing interdependence of agriculture and energy, over the past 5 years our Center has been focusing a considerable amount of research toward renewable energy policy and the likely consequences for U.S. agricultural producers, consumers, and renewable energy industry participants.

My testimony today summarizes the results from a number of our reports and analyses that evaluate the potential impacts of changes to U.S. renewable fuels policies. The most recent study, which I have provided for the record, is entitled “The Effects of Ethanol on Texas Food and Feed”. This report included an analysis of the impacts of farm level corn prices on the retail prices of selected food products at the national level and alternative RFS levels.

Over the past few years, the U.S. ethanol industry has been expanding as fast as plants could feasibly be built. Currently, as corn prices have increased, some of the proposed ethanol plants have dropped their plans and/or put them on hold. Most industry observers realize the Renewable Fuels Standard (RFS) contained in the Energy Policy Act of 2005 was never binding. However, this may not be the case with the RFS of 15 billion gallons of grain based ethanol mandated in the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007. Depending on corn and ethanol prices, the higher mandate will likely encourage the expansion of ethanol capacity to, at least, the 15 billion gallon per year level.

Governments around the world have enacted policies designed to encourage biofuels production, use, and protect biofuel producers from international competition. The U.S. has chosen to utilize a combination of the three: 1) the volumetric ethanol excise tax credit that is generally referred to as the “blender’s credit”, 2) the ethanol import tariff, and 3) the renewable fuels standard (RFS). There is no question that these three policy tools have influenced the amount of ethanol produced and consumed in the United States, as well as the level of ethanol imports.

In the short-run, it can be argued that economic encouragement is needed to develop a new industry through government policies. However, in the long run, the cost of production will determine whether biofuels are a viable energy alternative. The answer as to whether the corn based ethanol industry will be viable over the long-run is – it depends. The price of oil and the cost of ethanol feedstocks, both more than double where they were only last year, will determine ethanol viability. With or without government support, there will likely be combinations of low and high oil prices and feedstock costs that result in profits or losses for the ethanol sector.

Table 1 illustrates that the net returns for a typical ethanol plant varies substantially depending on feedstock (corn) costs and the ethanol price. Currently, the corn price in the U.S. is around .00 per bushel, and the ethanol price is slightly under .50 per gallon. With this combination, a typical ethanol plant would be expected to realize .06 per gallon in net income. While positive, these profit levels are not as likely to spur additional investment. Clearly, this is the reason why some proposed ethanol plants have put their plans on hold. However, for those plants already built, it is in their best interest to continue to produce as long as they can cover their variable costs increasing the amount a plant could pay for corn. There are a large number of ethanol and corn price combinations that result in negative net returns for a plant. While these numbers are typical of a 100 million gallon per year plant, each plant location has attributes or drawbacks that could tilt (both positively and negatively) the economic picture for that plant location.

Recent requests for a waiver to the RFS inspired research looking at whether a waiver, if granted, would have a significant impact. The initial RFS, instituted under the energy bill of 2005, always had a limited probability of binding or needing to insure the mandated level of ethanol blending given the powerful market incentives for ethanol production that prevailed in the two years following its establishment. The new RFS, instituted under the 2007 energy bill, requires significantly higher levels of blending.

We analyzed the possible market outcomes under the RFS, and under partial waivers of one-quarter and one-half of the conventional biofuel RFS. The waivers are assumed to be immediate and permanent. The results presented below reflect the averages for selected market variables over 500 realizations of possible future states of the world. In all scenarios, the tax credits for ethanol and biodiesel blending are assumed to continue. The high levels of fossil energy prices expected over the next few years result in powerful market incentives for ethanol production, in the absence of a supply-related spike in corn prices.

As indicated in Table 2, the expected national average wholesale market prices for ethanol are likely to remain in the mid-.00 per gallon range, with expected prices being somewhat lower if the RFS is relaxed by one-quarter, and even lower still if the RFS is relaxed by one-half. Under all scenarios these expected levels of ethanol production are above the RFS by a billion gallons or more, except for 2008 when the margin is much smaller. This again reflects the fact that high fossil energy prices will result in high demand for ethanol as a fuel extender. Partial relaxation of the conventional biofuel RFS would result in somewhat lower expected levels of production, as production would be lower if unfavorable market conditions were realized.
Like ethanol prices, expected corn prices are fairly steady near current levels under all scenarios. Expected prices across scenarios gradually diverge, with the one-quarter RFS waiver price falling about .30 per bushel below the full RFS price a few years out, and the one-half RFS waiver price falling about .50 to .60 per bushel below the full RFS expected price.

To summarize our results, a sustained reduction in the RFS by one-quarter to one-half of the RFS would not significantly reduce ethanol production or prices. These policy changes would be expected to result in corn prices that are 5 to 10 percent lower than those under current policies.

The boom in corn-based ethanol production in the United States has led to sharply higher corn prices and, by extension, higher soybean and other crop prices as farmers have shifted acres between crops. High prices for some crops like wheat and rice and other commodities such as milk have been higher due to other causes. The ethanol, or biofuel, revolution has, in turn, been caused by rapidly increasing oil prices, aided by government policies and the desire for cleaner burning fuels to ease global warming fears. The overall effect on agriculture and the economy, as a whole, is complex. While corn prices have increased, crop producers also face higher fertilizer and fuel prices. Higher feed costs have caused large increases in production costs for livestock producers. These rising production costs are being felt by producers, and to a lesser extent, consumers throughout the economy.

In our opinion the current discussion in the media about ethanol causing high food prices is overly simplistic. There is no doubt that higher corn prices are being transferred throughout the rest of the economy just as higher petroleum prices are impacting the economy. In the United States unlike most of the countries in the world, consumers spend a relatively small amount of their incomes on food – around 11 percent. The farmer’s share of retail food prices is around .19 per dollar spend on food. Obviously for some products the share is higher – especially retail food products such as fresh vegetables that have not undergone significant transformation and further processing. That is not the case for corn in the United States. Corn is typically used as feed in livestock and poultry production or it generally undergoes significant processing before it ends up as one of many food ingredients such as HFCS in soft drinks.

Our report identifies a number of other factors that have contributed to higher corn prices such as increased exports. The declining value of the dollar makes U.S. corn relatively cheaper to the rest of the world even with the highest corn prices on record. Another factor that has to be noted when discussing corn prices is the competition for land among commodities. Across the United States, not all land is suitable for producing every crop we grow. When farmers do have choices among crops, relative returns that consider relative prices and costs of production across crops cause crops with higher returns to bid land away from crops with lower returns. At planting time this year, the returns for soybeans relative to corn created an estimated 7 billion acre shift from corn acres to soybean acres from 2007. This happened even though corn prices were relatively high by historical standards. Soybean prices were also high for a variety of reasons such as the increased demand for soybean oil in biodiesel production and higher export demand for soybeans as a food and feed protein.

And finally, the average person probably does not understand the degree to which the weather both in the U.S. and abroad impacts food prices. As indicated earlier, weather problems across the world contributed to lower wheat availability worldwide, leading to higher wheat prices that led to higher bread prices. U.S. retail prices of rice and milk have been impacted similarly.

In an attempt to quantify the impact of key economic variables on selected retail food prices, we examined the dynamic interrelationships among retail food prices and the prices of labor, crude oil, and corn. Using data from January 1990 to February 2008, the results indicate that higher corn prices can be passed through to consumers relatively quickly for: bread, milk, and eggs; with retail prices of those products rising by amounts commensurate with the quantities of grains used in their production. We also find, however, that the contribution of higher corn prices to recent increases in the retail prices of bread, milk, and eggs are smaller than the contributions of other factors, such as national and international weather variability and production cycles. Labor cost increases have also contributed to increased retail prices of these commodities, but the effects of increased energy prices have been minimal through February 2008.

By contrast, we detected no statistically significant effect of corn on retail meat prices, to date. Taken as a whole, this evidence suggests that over the short-term (less than two years), livestock producers have been unable to pass higher feed costs to consumers, due to their industry structure and competitive pressures. There is no doubt, however, that these industries are experiencing dramatic financial losses due to increases in their costs of production. If current market conditions persist, meat supplies will eventually decline due to producer attrition and capacity reduction, which will lead to higher retail prices for meats. In short, retail meat prices must eventually adjust to reflect increased feed costs, the only uncertainty is the timing and duration of the adjustment period.

Mr. Chairman, that completes my statement.

Fullfilled: N/A

Dated: 2008-06-20

My Rating:

by Edd (Berklry, CA)

1. Why are global warming specialists watching the Arctic so closely?

The Arctic is global warming’s canary in the coal mine. It’s a highly sensitive region, and it’s being profoundly affected by the changing climate. Most scientists view what’s happening now in the Arctic as a harbinger of things to come.

Since 1979, the size of the summer polar ice cap has shrunk more than 20 percent. (Illustration from NASA)
————————————————————————————————————————
2. What kinds of changes are taking place in the Arctic now?

Average temperatures in the Arctic region are rising twice as fast as they are elsewhere in the world. Arctic ice is getting thinner, melting and rupturing. For example, the largest single block of ice in the Arctic, the Ward Hunt Ice Shelf, had been around for 3,000 years before it started cracking in 2000. Within two years it had split all the way through and is now breaking into pieces.

The polar ice cap as a whole is shrinking. Images from NASA satellites show that the area of permanent ice cover is contracting at a rate of 9 percent each decade. If this trend continues, summers in the Arctic could become ice-free by the end of the century.

3. How does this dramatic ice melt affect the Arctic?

The melting of once-permanent ice is already affecting native people, wildlife and plants. When the Ward Hunt Ice Shelf splintered, the rare freshwater lake it enclosed, along with its unique ecosystem, drained into the ocean. Polar bears, whales, walrus and seals are changing their feeding and migration patterns, making it harder for native people to hunt them. And along Arctic coastlines, entire villages will be uprooted because they’re in danger of being swamped. The native people of the Arctic view global warming as a threat to their cultural identity and their very survival.

4. Will Arctic ice melt have any effects beyond the polar region?

————————————————————————————————————————ALASKA HEATS UP
The effects of global warming on the north are not limited to the Arctic—higher temperatures are already affecting people, wildlife and landscapes across Alaska. Click on the numbers on this map to see what’s happening on the front lines of global warming.
1. Barrow 2. Shismaref 3. Yukon River 4. Wasilla 5. Kenai Peninsula 6. McCall Glacier 7. Fairbanks
———————————————————————————————————————— (See more Google Earth maps.)
Yes—the contraction of the Arctic ice cap is accelerating global warming. Snow and ice usually form a protective, cooling layer over the Arctic. When that covering melts, the earth absorbs more sunlight and gets hotter. And the latest scientific data confirm the far-reaching effects of climbing global temperatures.

Rising temperatures are already affecting Alaska, where the spruce bark beetle is breeding faster in the warmer weather. These pests now sneak in an extra generation each year. From 1993 to 2003, they chewed up 3.4 million acres of Alaskan forest.

Melting glaciers and land-based ice sheets also contribute to rising sea levels, threatening low-lying areas around the globe with beach erosion, coastal flooding, and contamination of freshwater supplies. (Sea level is not affected when floating sea ice melts.) At particular risk are island nations like the Maldives; over half of that nation’s populated islands lie less than 6 feet above sea level. Even major cities like Shanghai and Lagos would face similar problems, as they also lie just six feet above present water levels.

Rising seas would severely impact the United States as well. Scientists project as much as a 3-foot sea-level rise by 2100. According to a 2001 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency study, this increase would inundate some 22,400 square miles of land along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts of the United States, primarily in Louisiana, Texas, Florida and North Carolina.

A warmer Arctic will also affect weather patterns and thus food production around the world. Wheat farming in Kansas, for example, would be profoundly affected by the loss of ice cover in the Arctic. According to a NASA Goddard Institute of Space Studies computer model, Kansas would be 4 degrees warmer in the winter without Arctic ice, which normally creates cold air masses that frequently slide southward into the United States. Warmer winters are bad news for wheat farmers, who need freezing temperatures to grow winter wheat. And in summer, warmer days would rob Kansas soil of 10 percent of its moisture, drying out valuable cropland.

5. Can we do anything to stop global warming?

Click for a kid-friendly pamphlet about global warming’s impact on the Arctic.
————————————————————————————————————————International action is necessary to protect polar bears from extinction. Download the Polar Bears on Thin Ice fact sheet to learn more.
————————————————————————————————————————
Yes. When we burn fossil fuels—oil, coal and gas—to generate electricity and power our vehicles, we produce the heat-trapping gases that cause global warming. The more we burn, the faster churns the engine of global climate change. Thus the most important thing we can do is save energy.
And we can do it. Technologies exist today to make cars that run cleaner and burn less gas, generate electricity from wind and sun, modernize power plants, and build refrigerators, air conditioners and whole buildings that use less power. As individuals, each of us can take steps to save energy and fight global warming.

last revised 11.22.05

Fullfilled: N/A

Dated: 2008-06-02

My Rating:

by Bill (Wilmington, DE)

What’s up with all the nonsense on this page…. I used to recommend this product. However over 2 weeks ago my unit stopped functioning… go ahead try and contact Niagara for help… They returned my initial email promptly and asked for a picture of the inside of the unit to help me better and since then have not returned ANY emails or phone calls. This is the worst service I can remember from an American company. Do you expect your water heater to last only three years?

Fullfilled: N/A

Dated: 2008-05-07

My Rating:

by Frank Wo (L.A., CA)

1. Why are global warming specialists watching the Arctic so closely?

The Arctic is global warming’s canary in the coal mine. It’s a highly sensitive region, and it’s being profoundly affected by the changing climate. Most scientists view what’s happening now in the Arctic as a harbinger of things to come.

Since 1979, the size of the summer polar ice cap has shrunk more than 20 percent. (Illustration from NASA)
————————————————————————————————————————

2. What kinds of changes are taking place in the Arctic now?

Average temperatures in the Arctic region are rising twice as fast as they are elsewhere in the world. Arctic ice is getting thinner, melting and rupturing. For example, the largest single block of ice in the Arctic, the Ward Hunt Ice Shelf, had been around for 3,000 years before it started cracking in 2000. Within two years it had split all the way through and is now breaking into pieces.

The polar ice cap as a whole is shrinking. Images from NASA satellites show that the area of permanent ice cover is contracting at a rate of 9 percent each decade. If this trend continues, summers in the Arctic could become ice-free by the end of the century.

3. How does this dramatic ice melt affect the Arctic?

The melting of once-permanent ice is already affecting native people, wildlife and plants. When the Ward Hunt Ice Shelf splintered, the rare freshwater lake it enclosed, along with its unique ecosystem, drained into the ocean. Polar bears, whales, walrus and seals are changing their feeding and migration patterns, making it harder for native people to hunt them. And along Arctic coastlines, entire villages will be uprooted because they’re in danger of being swamped. The native people of the Arctic view global warming as a threat to their cultural identity and their very survival.

4. Will Arctic ice melt have any effects beyond the polar region?

————————————————————————————————————————ALASKA HEATS UP
The effects of global warming on the north are not limited to the Arctic—higher temperatures are already affecting people, wildlife and landscapes across Alaska. Click on the numbers on this map to see what’s happening on the front lines of global warming.
1. Barrow 2. Shismaref 3. Yukon River 4. Wasilla 5. Kenai Peninsula 6. McCall Glacier 7. Fairbanks
———————————————————————————————————————— (See more Google Earth maps.)
Yes—the contraction of the Arctic ice cap is accelerating global warming. Snow and ice usually form a protective, cooling layer over the Arctic. When that covering melts, the earth absorbs more sunlight and gets hotter. And the latest scientific data confirm the far-reaching effects of climbing global temperatures.

Rising temperatures are already affecting Alaska, where the spruce bark beetle is breeding faster in the warmer weather. These pests now sneak in an extra generation each year. From 1993 to 2003, they chewed up 3.4 million acres of Alaskan forest.

Melting glaciers and land-based ice sheets also contribute to rising sea levels, threatening low-lying areas around the globe with beach erosion, coastal flooding, and contamination of freshwater supplies. (Sea level is not affected when floating sea ice melts.) At particular risk are island nations like the Maldives; over half of that nation’s populated islands lie less than 6 feet above sea level. Even major cities like Shanghai and Lagos would face similar problems, as they also lie just six feet above present water levels.

Rising seas would severely impact the United States as well. Scientists project as much as a 3-foot sea-level rise by 2100. According to a 2001 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency study, this increase would inundate some 22,400 square miles of land along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts of the United States, primarily in Louisiana, Texas, Florida and North Carolina.

A warmer Arctic will also affect weather patterns and thus food production around the world. Wheat farming in Kansas, for example, would be profoundly affected by the loss of ice cover in the Arctic. According to a NASA Goddard Institute of Space Studies computer model, Kansas would be 4 degrees warmer in the winter without Arctic ice, which normally creates cold air masses that frequently slide southward into the United States. Warmer winters are bad news for wheat farmers, who need freezing temperatures to grow winter wheat. And in summer, warmer days would rob Kansas soil of 10 percent of its moisture, drying out valuable cropland.

5. Can we do anything to stop global warming?

Click for a kid-friendly pamphlet about global warming’s impact on the Arctic.
————————————————————————————————————————International action is necessary to protect polar bears from extinction. Download the Polar Bears on Thin Ice fact sheet to learn more.
————————————————————————————————————————
Yes. When we burn fossil fuels—oil, coal and gas—to generate electricity and power our vehicles, we produce the heat-trapping gases that cause global warming. The more we burn, the faster churns the engine of global climate change. Thus the most important thing we can do is save energy.

And we can do it. Technologies exist today to make cars that run cleaner and burn less gas, generate electricity from wind and sun, modernize power plants, and build refrigerators, air conditioners and whole buildings that use less power. As individuals, each of us can take steps to save energy and fight global warming.

last revised 11.22.05

Fullfilled: N/A

Dated: 2008-03-27

My Rating:

by Fabio (Orlando, FL)

So buch BS on this page. I have used it for years and it is a great product

Fullfilled: N/A

Dated: 2008-03-24

My Rating:

by Eric Rains (Berkley, CA)

Cellulosic Ethanol

While America maybe got a little bit over-excited by ethanol (to the tune of wasted subsidies and spikes in Mexico’s food prices) there is a great future here. And while corn ethanol, it turns out, really isn’t a very good idea, cellulosic ethanol is looking at a bright future. With huge bursts of funding both from federal subsidies and billionaire entrepreneurs like Vinod Khosla, we should expect advances on several fronts in 2008. First, techniques for producing the fuel from waste inexpensively will continue to emerge. Second, America’s first cellulosic production plants will come online, while the benchmarks required by the recent US energy bill will spur investment in a new round of plants that will come online sometime after 2008.

LEDs

America’s love affair with incandescent lights is over. Especially considering that they will be mostly illegal by 2012. So 2008 should be a year where Philips and GE get off their asses, start producing ultra-efficient LED lights in earnest. Already the technology is more efficient, longer-lasting and more user-friendly than CFLs or incandescents. The obstacle, it seems, is the price. But finally, Americans are getting used to the idea that paying more now will save you money in the long run. And as LEDs are a bit more approachable than CFLs, I think we’ll see a good adoption rate for LED bulbs. Especially as I predict they’ll start showing up on shelves in Wal-Marts and Home Depots in mid 2008.

No One Killed the Electric Car

2008 will be the year the EV came back to life. Tesla will make its first sales, the Chevy Volt production design will be released, while the first GM E-Flex drive trains will be driving around (in Chevy Malibu bodies.) Ford will begin marketing (though not selling) it’s plug-in Escape and GM will begin selling the plug-in Saturn Vue. While smaller producers like Aptera and Phoenix will sell their EVs as well.

CDs Will Die

DVDs have a slightly longer lifespan, but physical media are on the way out. Everyone realizes now that there’s no good reason to have a CD instead of an MP3. Frankly, it’s more expensive and less convenient. And while other media (include books and movies) are going to have a longer road to obsolescence, everyone, including record companies and musicians, will agree that CDs have gone the way of the 8 track.

The Kindle will light a Very Small Fire

Speaking of obsolete physical objects, book readers will continue to advance in 2008, but they’ll only just begin their journey to supremacy. That journey will be led by the Kindle which, though uglier, bulkier, and more expensive than the Sony Reader, is more well marketed and convenient than any other ebook reader ever has been.

Solar Really Will be Cheap

We’ve been hearing for years that “solar is going to be as cheap as coal.” And while that prediction won’t come true in 2008, solar will become extremely cheap. Nanolsolar and Heliovolt’s printable solar cells will sell like hotcakes to large buyers, leaving you and me on a long waiting list for personal panels. So while the large solar plants will start springing up, distributed solar will be a bit further down the road than 2008.

There will be 30 Stories about Cars Running on Water
And each and every one of them will be erroneous.

Small Cars Will Win

While it’s great that major car companies are creating cars like the Fit, the Mini and the Aveo, it’s my opinion that they are completely underestimating the desire for small vehicles in American driveways. Which is why I think that the Loremo and the Aptera will be widely acclaimed in the US. Honda will continue selling every Fit it can build, but it will take entrants from outside the establishment to show how interested people are in less substantial cars. Additionally, the Aptera and the Loremo both will establish themselves as early favorites for the automotive X-Prize which will begin in early 2008.

Comments (81)
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...
written by kent beuchert , December 31, 2007
Solar photovoltaic is an inferior technology regardles of the price, which is still exorbitant and impractical. Solar thermal is the only solar energy source worth bothering with. As for saving the Earth, that would require more than redcuing carbon, which has recently been proven as not the main impetus behind global warming. Sorry, it looks like would-be Earth saviors are actually global warming dupes. New technologies will be required to prevent global warming, if necessary.

...
written by Jose , December 31, 2007

I’m really looking foward to these advancements as well. Especially the one where the kindle conquers books and the mp3 conquers cds. I already have stopped using incandescent lights, so I can see many people making the change in 2008.

Note: I never knew EcoGeek was run by a member of Brotherhood 2.0

No future… for now
written by xavi , December 31, 2007

I won’t like to break the optimism of any reader, but my humile oppinion is that… yeah! these technologies and all that are to come will be an inflection point of our technological tendencies, but the humanity has done enough damage to our planet to consider them just little first steps to the great work of saving our planet. In the case of arriving someday when we can talk about achieved objectives, there will be also a lot of things missing forever.

Except for…
written by Keith_Indy , December 31, 2007

Everyone realizes now that there’s no good reason to have a CD instead of an MP3.

Except how do you actually OWN a song that’s only on an MP3? How do you get another copy when your MP3 dies or it’s memory becomes corrupted?

A CD or DVD is a permanent proof of ownership.

...
written by Keith_Indy , December 31, 2007

One other thing is I think the adoption of diesels will increase, as manufacturers are finally ready to adopt the 2009 standards (better emissions.)

Result a 70 MPG diesel car available soon. http://www.popularmechanics.co…?series=19

While it’s not the ultimate solution to our problems, it could be an important step in slowing down our dependency on oil, and decreasing our emissions.

cd > mp3
written by Loki , December 31, 2007

Storage keeps increasing for less money. Mp3 is only a decent substitute for cds. HiDef portable audio is the next place to go. 96Khz and bitrates > 320kbps has to come soon for the people that demand detail

why hasn’t nanosolar gone public?

written by David , December 31, 2007

i’ve been following nanosolar recently and have noted each time i read about them that they are held back by capacity. why haven’t they gone public? if they want funding to build 5 more plants to produce solar cells at their claimed price (about /watt), they could go public now and increase their capacity ten-fold within a few of years…

Automotive X Prize

written by Eric Boyd , December 31, 2007

If you’re looking for more information on the Aptera, Loremo, or any other Automotive X Prize team, I’ve got a new website up: http://xprizecars.com/

MP3s vs CDs?
written by Fox , December 31, 2007
CDs are a clear winner in terms of sound quality… not to nitpick… but optical media for storage’s sake makes less sense now that lossless formats like FLAC are becoming more popular on the intartube pirate hangouts.

www.Openeco.org/energycamp & Energy Camp

written by Michelle , December 31, 2007

Great list! For my New Year’s resolution, I’m going to Macworld a few days early this year to go to an event called Energy Camp in SF. I’m not going to stop bathing or anything but I figured there is something I can do to make a difference by learning how to reduce carbon emissions and waste. Check out www.openeco.org/energycamp for info.—Its free by the way!

MRS.
written by Meriam Uze , December 31, 2007
In 1943, I lived in a rented apartment in Florida. Our electricity was obtained by solar lplates on the roof feeding batteries. Our landlord told me that he only needed to use electricityfrom the power company a few days a year.It saved him a great deal of money. Why was the technology not used further over the years? We certainly need it now.

Solar panes

written by Stef , December 31, 2007

Really looking forward to cheap solar panes. That could change something

cell phone as book reader
written by avagee , December 31, 2007
The manufacture of electronics is a dirty, energy intensive business. You can get he eco benefits of eBooks without causing the manufacture of any extra device – your cell phone makes a fine eReader.

They do have small screens, but this lets them be ultra portable – you carry your phone with you everywhere – right?

For a while now I have been reading free books from http://www.booksinmyphone.com they give away classic books, you can install direct to the phone or via a PC. For me, for novels, the phone is a great reading experience.

...
written by kc , December 31, 2007

Solar photovoltaic is an inferior technology regardles of the price, which is still exorbitant and impractical

German company has just started selling solar panels at .90 cents a watt, this broke through the coal production cost for electricity and solar has become cheaper to produce then electricity then coal.

WE NEED BIODEGRADEABLE PLASTIC

written by Dudes , December 31, 2007

All the plastic ever created is still out there…much of it in the ocean…broken down to very small pieces and bing ingested by filter feeders at the bottom of the food chain, thusly either killing them or passing the stuff up the chian to wreak short and ong term damage and potential total world life colapse.

not much point

written by blahblah , December 31, 2007

Human nature is to consume and destroy. Besides the Sun is expanding and will eventually ‘eat’ this planet so there is no ‘saving’ this place anyway..

Again with the Warming?

written by Val , December 31, 2007

I still don’t understand what people don’t get about cycles? Science has proven that the earth will cycle. Call it what it is, “Saving the Humans” not the planet. Aside from actually destroying, by some insane bomb, the earth, it will still be here. We can do whatever that will kill us off, and some other planet or animal lifeform will spring up and continue on. shakes his head We should focus more energy and $$ on developing the means over living in space, and let the earth cycle. Remember the tectonic plate theory? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plate_tectonics
Oh, I’m sure there weren’t any temperature changes during any of that though.

...
written by RhapsodyInGlue , December 31, 2007

Val, to environmentalists “saving the planet” probably is a better term. However “the planet” would refer to the entire ecosystem. In reality, out of the thousands upon thousands of species that are likely to go extinct in the coming 100 years if nothing is done, humans are not one of them.

Granted there will be tremendous suffering within the human race and likely many lives lost… but people are far too mobile and adaptable (those with money) to ever go extinct.

Humanity has a test coming… a test of our collective morality. I suppose looking for an escape pod into space is one answer to that question.

...
written by k , December 31, 2007

Only way to curb emissions is for Americans simply to stop consuming so much. Lets start depending on railways more to get around cities.

here

written by Alex , December 31, 2007

“Except how do you actually OWN a song that’s only on an MP3? How do you get another copy when your MP3 dies or it’s memory becomes corrupted?”

What do you do when your CD becomes scratched, warped or even breaks? You should have backed it up to MP3, where it can be copied and reproduced in lossless codecs (320kbps is close enough, other formats can be true lossless).

“A CD or DVD is a permanent proof of ownership.”
Really the only good thing about owning the actual CD or DVD is that you can look at the illustration. That is it. If you wanted a permanent proof of ownership, you might as well keep the receipt. I’m sure that you don’t have all the receipts for all your products that you have at home, do you?

Gave up my lights

written by Bill , December 31, 2007

I changed each and every bulb in my house over to a CFL last weekend – even the harder-to-find ones. I’m eagerly awaiting the electric bill next month – hope it will save a bundle – but the environment’s the real reason I did it. Now if we could just get over our dependence on oil/long commutes, etc., we’d be in good shape.

observer

written by Pete , December 31, 2007

Kent Beuchert wrote that carbon was not the main culprit causing global warming. What is it then?

Do you really want to save?

written by John , December 31, 2007

If this country really wants to save and conserve. Force people to use public transportation. Look at the moneys wasted so grandma and grandpa can drive that gas guzzler around town rather than call a cab or take the bus. It makes me just as sick to see this behavior as to watch someone spending food stamps at the grocers on beer and cigarettes!
Just change the laws on entitlement programs so that if you want government assistance, you have to use government funded transportation. Really a no brainer that kills two birds with one stone!
Only people that have jobs to go to need private transportation. Ask any intelligent parent!

...
written by Jack Morrison , December 31, 2007

This was posted a while back by David Lassiter:
David Lassiter says on December 12th, 2007 at 6:12 pm
Kerry Beaauhrt also goes by the name Kent Beuchert and has beem paid extensively by the oil and gas lobbies to reject current electric car technologies. He posts usually in the first or second listing and works at a lobbying firm in Virgina. He has recently changed his name to continue receiving salary targets while trying to throw others off his efforts. Regards – David Lassiter

...
written by antigravity , December 31, 2007

Forgot an important one…

http://www.gravitycontrol.org

capable of fuel-less propulsion, free energy, and more

MP3 instead of CD? Don’t think so.
written by Steve , January 01, 2008
I don’t think CDs are going anywhere. Retail shelf space may go away, but I think they’ll be for sale online for quite a while. You need a substitute, and MP3 isn’t it. No compressed audio format is worth purchasing, at least not if you’re concerned about sound quality or want to be able to do anything with the songs in the future when new, better formats become available. Transcoding from one lossy format to another results in additional loss of sound quality. No thanks. I always pay for my music now, but I won’t pay for MP3s.

...
written by PanPan , January 01, 2008

Solar thermal is certainly more efficient than solar electric (for now), but both are useful, so hooray for cheap solar electric. As for global warming, it’s foolish to think that anything is “proven” at this point. You can find articles and studies to support whatever position you want to take. One thing is almost certain: Unless we change our definition of quality of life, the only major problem we need to solve is overpopulation. No realistic amount of technological progress can offset the sustained growth in resource consumption that accompanies sustained growth in population. Or even sustained improvement in quality of life with a constant population level. Keep in mind that much of the world lives in poverty and consumes almost nothing. So few people will even consider the only long term solution—reduced population.

MP3s sound just as good as CDs—quit t

written by Fred_M , January 01, 2008

I’ve got more invested in high-end audio than I care to think about and I’m so tired of the crowd that claims that CDs sound superior to MP3s. They make this claim without regard to bitrate, without citing any reputable double-blind tests, and without any basis. The fact is that a variable bitrate MP3 created with a high quality codec like LAME is audibly indistinguishable from the CD from which it was created. I’ve run double-blind tests with 0 headphones, 00 speakers, high-end CD players from Rega and Rotel, amps from Hafler, Adcom, and Creek. The result is always the same, regardless of listener age, experience, music type, and track choice: No better statistically than random guesses.

Now I’m not saying that MP3 should be an archival format—for that, one should use lossless, but it is fine as an end-user playback medium.

Taxi, Taxi???

written by J.C. , January 01, 2008

Lemmie see I call a taxi that drives 21 miles empty from town takes me round trip and then returns empty to town – yeah that makes sense –
No wait I take the bus at 6am then wait til 5pm to come home –
-much better

As for my government assistance – refund my SS and Medicare payments and I’ll call it even – won’t even charge interest.

Most metro areas Taxi service is a joke (several $ per mile) We used to have good bus service and even street cars – wonder how high taxes and/or fuel will need to be to bring them back?

Can’t resell songs

written by Gary Schuetter , January 01, 2008

Now the record companies can not keep selling the same songs over and over as new mediums come out.

MP3s vs. CDs, Electronic books vs. paper
written by Cameron Probert , January 01, 2008
As far as the mp3 versus CD debate, I’d have to say CDs have already lost in a way. The album as we knew it has long since died. Musicians now produce albums that are a collection of singles.

That said, there’s one big thing that’s keeping CDs alive and that’s the transportability of digital media. I’ve heard a lot of complaints about switching a song file that you own from one device to another device (even if the original file is still working). That’s the real problem with CDs versus mp3s. If they make a mp3 that I can have on my player and my computer and my other computer (that I purchased legally) at the same time then it will surpass the CD. Until that point, CDs are here to stay.

As far as books, eh.. it’s a niche market as it is. And one of reasons why books haven’t run into the same problems with digital transfer that music/movies/television all have, is because book-buyers like having a physical product. Unless the readers can really emulate a book, then I don’t forsee books going anywhere. But this is all my completely uninformed opinion.

MP3 - Missing the point
written by JB , January 01, 2008
I don’t think the argument is that there is a discernible difference between high bit rate MP3s and compact discs. At some point it is probably difficult to tell the difference, but for me that point is not below 200Kbps. Amazon offers MP3s at 256K, most apparently variable bit rate. Maybe that’s fine, and maybe that’s the only thing you’re interested in. I personally want high quality for situations where it matters, and I want to be able to make the highest possible quality 128Kbps versions for portable use. And not in MP3 format. If you can’t hear the degradation of MP3 at 128K, then the only equipment issue is your ears. So, assuming I want to make WMA files at 128K, a 256K (or 320K) MP3 file is a poor place to start. They use different lossy models. Therefore, MP3 files are a poor choice as a reference copy. There’s an implied “for me” in any such statement, of course, but that’s also true for anyone who says that MP3s are fine. For you. Having the original uncompressed version on disc gives anyone (you AND me) the option to make whatever files you want.

...
written by Grey , January 01, 2008
Ebooks offer no real benefit over printed books. They only offer benefit to publishers, which is why they keep getting pushed and why they haven’t found widespread acceptance in all the years they’ve been around.

A printed book is compact, light, easy to use, flexible, and tactile. Ebooks cost more, burn electricity, and make you scurry to find an outlet after their battery runs out halfway through your novel.

It’s idiotic to say books are obsolete. It’s like saying hammers, doors, sidewalks are outmoded. Hank has let his love of geekery overtake his common sense.

lplates in 1943
written by wesley bruce , January 01, 2008
Meriam Uze said:
In 1943, I lived in a rented apartment in Florida. Our electricity was obtained by solar lplates on the roof feeding batteries. Our landlord told me that he only needed to use electricityfrom the power company a few days a year.It saved him a great deal of money. Why was the technology not used further over the years? We certainly need it now.

Meriam can you get us a name, address and more details on how the cells worked? I knew there were solar thermoelectric (Seebeck effect) systems back then but solar cell are supposed to be 1946 not 1943. Photo-diodes are older but the cell your talking of is three years before the accepted fist unit and ten years before commercialisation. Wow.
If the things are still lying around some where, photos, documents anyting, they would be worth millions on the veteran energy market. In the dotcom boom dead server boards dating from the first experiments in Internet, university trash, sold for millions.

...
written by Mel Carroll , January 01, 2008
I’m all for solar, anything that gets us out of the ethanol as oil delusion, happy to stop flinging plastic data discs around the planet but have to put muy foot down about books. the ebooks fad is a fad. The more information you put on the net, the more an educated citizenry is going to want to go to the library or the bookstore and hold a book in their hands while they read, ponder, take notes, learn.
Electricity is a luxury and silly electronics only make sense in a world with lots of batteries and no room for books.

...
written by Paul , January 02, 2008
The compact disk may be on its way out, but until such time as EVERYBODY has a computer with internet access, CD’s will be around for a while. I am a musician, and many musicians sell CDs at their engagements because it makes economic sense to do so – they can be cheaply produced, and the artist can control what is on them. Even mp3 downloads are going to be a thing of the past eventually, as DVD audio is on the way in, and for that a “sample rate” of 192 KHz is the norm. Compact disk will be replaced by DVD audio disks, but technically, that is still a “CD”. When absolutely everybody has a computer and access to the internet, then the CD might go “bye-bye”, but until then, the CD has its place, and it will for a while. Same thing with books vs. e-books: printed paper books still serve an important function, and they always will, even if the format of the book eventually becomes primarily electronic. You can read a printed book without electricity – an e-book requires it. If I’m studying for an exam the next day and there is a power failure, which do you think I’d want?

Concerned Watcher
written by Ian , January 02, 2008
Who Writes This Stuff ? Really??

The subjects are good, the background research is questionable.
Anything to do with current audio or visual DATA Storage or Transfer is debatable. The end of CD’s…No. It may now be old story stuff but it works & above all is a damn sight more reliable.
EV subjects. Have a look back between 1898 & 1930. Many EV’s were running around. Thomas Edison was also big on this scene with his Alkaline Battery(not the type battery as we know it). Before prophesising, get your facts right before you look like an idiot, and we take you apart for it…
Now, the solar power stuff..RESEARCH !!! BEFORE opening your mouth and defining just as how much a fool that you are.
Truly a damn foolish entry into the world of Ecogeek.

Passing on hidden costs to society and t
written by Krishnaraj Rao , January 02, 2008
There is an important social principle that is currently being violated by many manufacturing activities: the principle that, while engaged in a profit-making activity, one must not leave a mess behind for the rest of society to clean up.

This principle is understood in a societal context as common decency, but is continually breached in our economy to such an extent that nobody even objects!

The easiest example is that of mineral water and soft-drink manufacturers, who sell a product that results in a consumer who usually discards a non-biodegradable PET bottle into the environment in an unregulated manner.

We should mobilize citizens to demand legislation that every manufacturer must repurchase/collect and recycle as many tonnes of raw material as he uses on a week-by-week basis. For example, if a mineral-water manufacturer uses ten tonnes of plastics per week to manufacture bottles, he MUST buy back ten tonnes of plastic scrap and safely recycle it. The same goes for automobile manufacturers, who must buy back that many tonnes of metals, plastics, glass etc. every week, and find ways to recycle them. The cost may be met by raising the market price of their product… but the responsibility to make the recycling activity happen MUST be fixed on the manufacturer of every product.

The same goes for manufacturers of tyres, batteries, plastic goods, newspapers, clothes, chemicals, auto-lubricant oils, etc. The list is long.

And if this makes some manufacturing and marketing processes unviable, it means that their economic activity was unviable in the first place, and was sustainable only by passing on hidden costs to the environment, to society, to consumers etc !

Many industrial activities are environmentally and socially subsidized to keep them economically profitable. Let us lobby governments to knock off that subsidy and see how many activities remain sustainable!

I propose peaceful demonstrations to remedy this

Small groups of citizens shall collect the branded packaging material of various manufacturers from the environment, and delivering them in large bundles every week to their corporate offices. It belongs to them, right? So let them have it back!

A peaceful demonstration like this, sustained over some weeks, would make a powerful statement. I think this will make a powerful media impact as well… and thereby, an impact on the consciousness of people.

What say? I would appreciate your detailed responses to this idea.
—
Warm Regards
Krish
http://globalwarming.rediffiland.com
http://friendlyghost.rediffiland.com

An apology.
written by Ian , January 02, 2008
In hindsight, I have been too critical. This is a forum for constructive views, not outright critism..Never a constructive viewpoint.
A way forward, a way for debate is the way. I apologise for shooting of the cuff.
Electric Vehicles..As pointed out, there were some advances made earlier last century with batteries. The Edison battery had some remarkable features. One of which was efficiency & robustness.
Solar Power..Anything here would be great. Has anyone looked into steam turbines using fluids heated by concentrated solar energy…Similar techniques used in (relatively simple) Nuclear power stations may be helpful.
Reduce your carbon footprint..Another way of saying, don’t waste stuff. Another way to think of carbon footprint is; Reduce your waste and you will save money. Yes, you will. If you don’t have to buy something that most of which you will throw out, you will save money..Think about it. Recycling or aiming for zero carbon footprint will actually cost LESS in the long run. Plus you’ll still have a great planet to live on.

...
written by Brad , January 02, 2008
Krish,

Great idea! I’m going to do just that. Collect Coke bottles, cans and cardboard into a box and mail it to Coca Cola Bottling Co. It’ll cost me some to mail it, but you’re right, it makes a point. I’ll probably get it back, but then ensues the return-to-sender battle. Perhaps I’ll include a short letter as well. Dear Coke, I enjoyed your products. I’m returning to you the parts I couldn’t consume. Please recycle them and sell them back to me filled with goodness.

Cellulosic ethanol: Hemp?
written by Hammo , January 02, 2008
Regarding cellulosic ethanol, I have heard that a plant called “switchgrass” is promising. It reportedly grows abundantly with minimal fertilizer. Corn apparently requires lots of fertilizer and other energy to produce it.

I wonder if hemp could also be used as a cellulosic ethanol. In addition to it’s other uses as food, for clothing, paper, oils, etc., it would seem a natural for cellulosic ethanol too.

Canada and many other countries grow hemp. Maybe it is time for the U.S. to consider allowing it.

Food for thought in the article: “George Washington’s whiskey distillery rebuilt; first president also grew hemp at Mount Vernon” (AmericanChronicle.com, October 11, 2006) at …

http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/viewArticle.asp?articleID=14731

Two words….
written by Virgil , January 02, 2008
Government Regulation!
Seriously, none of this is going to happen while the consumer is left to choose. Only when choices are removed or mandated by legislation (such as banning incandescent light bulbs) will the public do anything. It just requires a president with a pair of ba11s (yes, possibly even Hilary!) to level with the public about what a mess we’re in. Changing to a longer than 4-year term of office might do the trick, to allow our leaders to focus on the long-term view instead of just getting into office and making enough money to get back in next time.

to Virgil and other ecoGeeks
written by Dan , January 02, 2008
Which of the US presidential candidates will most likely be the strongest supporter of renewable energy?

This, to me, is the key question.

Thank you.

CD Going Away, Think Not
written by Rob , January 02, 2008
Hey just had to comment about your prediction of CD’s going by the wayside. Music is not there only use. I am a proffesional photographer and until they come out with a portable device the size of an IPOD that can hold a terabyte or more, I don’t see CD’s going anywhere anytime soon.

More on CDs
written by Suburban Cuurmudgeon , January 02, 2008
Another alternative to storing your CDs on a hard drive would be buying licenses for songs/albums that are kept on someone else’s servers, much like the “on demand” cable programs. One could amass a large catalog and not have to worry about storage or damage. DVDs would also go the way of the Dodo, (or VHS tapes). The vendor keeps all purchase records and everyone is happy.

check these little cars out
written by j , January 02, 2008
www.zapworld.com

Solar power
written by Terri , January 02, 2008
I happen to have a friend who was trying to get this going way back in 2001, www.powersat.com . don’t know why it’s taking so long for the rest of the world to catch up….

...
written by JK , January 02, 2008
LED’s saving the world? Lol what a joke. First off, LED’s as we currently have them used for applications produce light that is nowhere near the spectrum of incandescents. This can produce problems for many individuals who seek the natural warmth of incandescents. Not to mention the fact that many actually have sensitivity to LED lighting which causes them to see the flicker brought on by the Frequency at which these lights operate. Second, you are doing NOTHING so “save the environment” or “be green” as the fad currently is. The supposed energy that you will save by using Leeds is off-put by the fact that they require extra time to produce in their Chinese factories, which in turn requires more factory energy, and more CO2 pumping out of smoke stacks. This current Congress is a completely and utter joke. They can’t even take care of the real issues at hand, but they can ban incandescent light bulbs, and Albutetol Asthma Inhalers (yes, they said they pollute the atmosphere too much). Well, when the suicide rate increases from increased fluorescent usage, not to mention the increase in birth defects from mercury poisoning, and asthmatic related deaths increase, at least they can all pass knowing they helped to “save the environment”.

...
written by Keith_Indy , January 02, 2008
What do you do when your CD becomes scratched, warped or even breaks? You should have backed it up to MP3, where it can be copied and reproduced in lossless codecs (320kbps is close enough, other formats can be true lossless).

We do have an iPod, so most all our CDs have been transferred onto our computer, which I back up on DVDs. I think I’ve had 2 scratched music CDs in life. I’ve had 4 or 5 hard drives which have crapped out in the same time frame. I’ve lost work because of that, though I’ve often recovered much of my work from, you guessed it, CDs.

Another alternative to storing your CDs on a hard drive would be buying licenses for songs/albums that are kept on someone else’s servers, much like the “on demand” cable programs. One could amass a large catalog and not have to worry about storage or damage. DVDs would also go the way of the Dodo, (or VHS tapes). The vendor keeps all purchase records and everyone is happy.

A possibility, but I think the consumer would loose out in the end (because the almost always do.)

And if you really want to know…
written by Karsten , January 02, 2008
...how to pollute less, use fewer resources, waste less energy right now go to the (completely non-commercial) website below. I sat down and collected and evaluated any possible idea to create less pollution. Not all is making enough of a difference; not all is desirable for all of us. But most likely you can do much more than what you are doing at the moment. Forget the small, easy steps. And forget hoping for technological solutions or government regulations while going on as if nothing is wrong. The only person you can control is you. If you do not care about the “talk” just read the advice. Good enough.

Karsten —
http://www.polluteless.com
Practical (and independent) Advice to Pollute Less

saving the earth??
written by robert jones , January 02, 2008
the only thing that this world needs saving from is WORTHLESS, IDIOTIC, MINDLESS, BRAINWASHED ,PATHETIC PUPPET SHEOPLE LIKE YOU “ECO-GEEKS”!!!!!!!!!!!

National Public Radio
written by Joey , January 02, 2008
Hi Hank,

I was wondering… do you frequent NPR?

Joey

Follow the trail
written by Tony , January 02, 2008
Regardless of improvement whether biological, ecological… as long as the people in charge of making the decisions are also the ones that benefit monetarily, the good, real solutions will probably stay on the drawing boards. Change the “intention” first then the rest should follow naturally. Too many decisions are put in the hands of companies and polititians that don’t care about anything or anyone but their own material gain and ego boosting. This is the problem that leads to all other environmental, social and economical problems. Greed and selfishness. We need to rethink how the power to make decisions is shared. Yet, when we have a president that gained a second term through false means, it says a lot about where we are as citizens and how much we are already used to eating out of the WRONG hands.

CDs will entually be mute…
written by screenz , January 02, 2008
Reason 1:
CDs are primarily storage devices, and as such, has a disadvantage due to their small storage capacity of under 1GIG. You can only fit so much data/music on them.

The reason why this will not last very long, is that portable harddrives, jump drives, mini SD etc, which are ballooning in size by the day, will eventually be the preferred mode of storage for all media types. this may already be the case. Benefits: they are smaller than a CD and have large capacities, they are fully compatible with nearly all file types, and any computer will recognize them. As for MP3s, you can carry these in whatever bit rate you want on this devices, and some will double as MP3 players, etc. Certainly there are other benefits….but i will end it here.

Follow the trail
written by screenz , January 02, 2008
Man, you are sooooooooooooo RIGHT. THANX FOR THE ENLIGHTENED THOUGHT.

recycle
written by randomdude , January 02, 2008
ya all of this is great stuff but dont forget the resources to create our tech will run out eventually if we dont recycle

...
written by bill , January 02, 2008
you can have my V8 engine and cds whe you tear them from my cold dead fingers!!! And I plan to buy hunderds of regular bulbs soon to ensure a supply of soft, yellow light that works on a dimmer switch.

...
written by Robert White , January 02, 2008
Hey! You dumb #%#$%@@% If you want to save energy. You should live in an RV. Everything runs on 12 volts, and propane. I understand why the human race will end, the are too stupid to change!

...
written by VICB3 , January 02, 2008
You don’t punish people into change. Ban something and they’ll want it twice as badly as before. Offer up an alternative, a subsitution, and, if it makes sense, they’ll gradually accept it.

Solar, Leds, Electric Cars, Music on drives, etc. all make sense in certain contexts, and are absurd and or not quie there in others. And some are just threshold technologies. And some, unfortunately, are just frauds.

What works? What’s the future? Simple: you just let the marketplace decide. Anyone who doesn’t understand this simple fact is just a pie-in-the-sky leftist, fearful of his or her cravings, and in over-passioned thrawl to any one of the various ”-isms” that are floating about, fashionable one day, forgotten the next.

Anyway, that’s what I think

Mycologist / Mycellia
written by Wily Koyto , January 02, 2008

• stimulate the immune system, helping the human body resist and fight viral diseases and cancers
• lower cholesterol levels
• represent a pesticide-free alternative to the traditional white button mushroom
• are instrumental in the recycling of wood and agricultural by-products
• can easily be grown by everyone—outdoors in your garden or yard (mycological landscaping)—or indoors within greenhouses, solaria, or controlled environments.
  http://fungi.com/front/intro/index.html

  Thanks Hank – Stimulating prognosticatio
  written by daqu40 , January 02, 2008
  These all make sense except the small cars. People only want small cars where big ones are too difficult to use or too expensive.

  Try this on for look in to the future. Americans (especially in rural areas and the west) in 2018 are still driving very large vehicles, but they are mostly electric battery powered and get hundreds of miles to a single charge. Who wouldn’t want a vehicle that can carry them, their family and stuff and have no emissions to speak of.

  See http://www.azonano.com/news.asp?newsID=5572 for a peek at how this might be possible.

  Solar thermal vs solar electric
  written by KentB , January 02, 2008

  >>Solar photovoltaic is an inferior technology regardles of the price, which is still exorbitant and impractical. Solar thermal is the only solar energy source worth bothering with.

  Well, probably true that thermal energy is more abundant than electricity from panels. But what good is a lot of thermal energy? You can spin some turbines, but solar panels will have a place in technical applications and peak power generation even if they are inadequate to replace fossil fuels, etc. And there is plenty of room for cost reduction in the production of panels.

  This web page is telling me that my comment is too short. I would think short comments are a good thing.

  My other idea is to set up a hundred nuclear plants in Nevada at 1000 MW each to produce hydrogen on a grand scale for transportation uses. The funny part of the idea is that it would work. I wonder how much enery there is in the known uranium reserves compared to fossil fuels. In the 1950s the AEC claimed that electric power from nuclear reactors would be too cheap to bother metering. Now nuke plants cause huge rate increases. Gee that is weird. What went wrong with the original plan?

  CRIME OF THE CENTURY 911
  written by 3000 KILLED ON 911 , January 02, 2008

  TIME TO EXPOSE REAL ENEMY OF 911 DECEPTION

  GOOGLE ZIONIST CRIMES….

  I hate tech some times
  written by Tony M , January 02, 2008
  1) I will keep my books.They can keep the E reader.
  2) I DO like LED bulbs.Less heat,less power used.
  3) I’ll keep my CD’s,DVD’s and MP3.I game so I prefer DVD’s

  4)I’ll keep my 97 Ford ranger 4 banger.Runs well and is ok on gas.If they make an engine that I can put in my truck then I convert.Till then,NO!

  5) Wouldn’t mind solar for my home! That’ll stick it to the MAN!

  It may save the earth but no us…
  written by joey , January 03, 2008
  Science is going to save us?...ha ha ha

  MP3 - THE music carrier? I certainly hop
  written by Lee , January 03, 2008
  No reason to own a cd? Apart from the valid comment made above about ownership, what about the sound-quality? More and more people don’t seem to care about this, which is a massive shame. People don’t realise how much of a recorded performance they are missing out on with compressed mp3. CD sounds bad enough, but mp3 is a lot worse – long live the lp! How bad for the environment is something that’s very small and lasts for over 30 years. I feel there are many more important and useful areas with bigger environmental gains to concentrate on than music! I drive a small car with a 1.2 litre engine, I can travel 260 miles on around 30 litres of petrol. And as it’s so light, it’s also fun to drive (in the uk)!

  I call bullshit
  written by Borislav Trifonov , January 03, 2008
  CD —not dying, until uncompressed audio of equivalent or better quality is widely available. Though users with good systems and ears may not be the majority, they are still around and catered to by manufacturers (else there wouldn’t even exist formats like SACD and DVD-Audio). Though such users are the minority, their spending is significant due to the exponentially larger prices in high end audio over standard consumer equipment.

  Cellulosic Ethanol—it has been demonstrated that special algae in a big vat can produce ethanol at a density a couple of orders of magnitude higher than anything else that grows. This is the ethanol technology that should be getting the most attention.

  LED Lights—they’re inefficient compared to fluorescents, let alone HID —both of which are more common anyway. Their color is also significantly worse. It’s easy to forget, listening to all the environmentalist propaganda, that the eye likes the continuous spectrum of sunlight, and only a filtered incandescent light (such as the Solux which is commonly used in museums, and my house) can duplicate that. All other light sources produce spiky spectrum, which affects the color of objects. This is why two lights which have the same color temperature can still produce significantly different appearance of objects. It’s also been demonstrated in studies that true sunlight increases the productivity of humans, so it would follow that lights that match the sunlight spectrum are most effective.

  I also want to bring to attention an additional point here that affects ALL household equipment: unless you are in a climate, or season where you are cooling your house by opening windows or having the heat on, ALL internal appliances are 100% efficient because inefficiency is energy expressed as “waste” heat, but all of that goes towards heating the house. If you’re in a temperate or colder climate, for example, appliance inefficiency only really wastes energy in the summer.

  Electric Cars—where are you going to get enough copper to wind motors to replace all gas engines on the road? Not a chance.

  Solar Panels—by the time it pays for its production, it’s not quite that cheap in terms of energy spent on manufacture vs energy produced. More important, you’d have to cover the planet in solar panels and wind mills to produce enough energy for unrestricted progress and the tenfold increase of energy use developing and undeveloped countries create as they become fully industrialized. Nuclear energy is the only practical source that can provide lots of energy in the long term (i.e. when you shut down all fossil fuel plants).

  ...
  written by Borislav Trifonov , January 03, 2008
  By the way, I hope the author responds to the serious comments here.

  ...
  written by Steve , January 03, 2008
  MP3, not being lossless, will not replace my CD’s. I have ripped my collection in a lossless format but, until MP3, MP4 etc becomes lossless, CD’s, DVD-audio remain relevant.

  master
  written by francis hatin , January 04, 2008
  Magnet Generators Known Alternative Energies Eagle-Research.com Fuellessengine.com Tell them I sent U www.hempabcdeals.biz Other Links for Earth Manipulators or Manipulated Learn to Educate your Teachers Thank You for SHairing for Benefit of Others

  ...
  written by francis hatin , January 04, 2008
  ? browser or keyword Condensator 4 6 8 Cylinder Applications Learn then Teach

  music media
  written by Bradley Olson , January 04, 2008
  The record companies have tried SACD and DVD-A but with the exception of the high end audiophile, jazz and classical communities, these formats have died as although you can play a DVD-A disc in a regular DVD player, for the higher resolution 5.1 mix, you need a DVD-A compatible player. For SACD, the hybrid discs if played on a standard CD player only play a standard CD version of the album, and for the higher resolution discs, you need an SACD compatible player and single layer SACDs of course require the compatible player. To set up higher resolution 5.1 machines, you need a receiver with the 6-channel input (requiring 3 stereo RCA cables instead of just one) and for most people, this is too much in cables and the discs were often more expensive than standard CDs. The vinyl LP is making its comeback to the point that a lot of record companies are putting out a lot of their big selling albums on vinyl LP, old and new and there is a huge selection of turntables available from the cheapo junk quality tables you see on Best Buy shelves to high end audiophile turntables that although they can cost up to ,000 are usually built with higher standards of quality and the DJ standard and well-built Technics SL1200MK2 is still being manufactured and selling to this day and has lead to many similar turntable with a similar high quality construction, parts, etc. such as the Numark TT-500 are also being built and are priced at a midline price level at about 0-600. Many turntables even have a USB cable for mass convenience in recording LPs to your computer, but the quality of these turntables are often mediocre at best. There are even receiver companies putting out decent stereos with a phono input all over again including Sherwood with their RX-4109 receiver sold at Radio Shack and is built extremely well, sounds great with the right speakers, and often sell for less than 0.

  in support of incandescents
  written by r.j.mehta , January 05, 2008
  I detest the pale light of CFL bulbs ! The incandescents give off a lovely white light. Why not pay more attention to making high speed rail travel more acceptable and improve connectivity all over the US, and in every country, rather than those greenhouse gas spewing aircraft taking off every minute !!
  The amount of fossil fuel saved per person would be enormous !

  Not to add my wood to the fire…
  written by Ben , January 05, 2008
  Not to add my wood to the fire but I don’t think CDs are going away purely on the fact that there is a CD player nearly anywhere. In your car, in your home, all rooms of your home.

  ben.

  Biodegardable Plastic
  written by Judyth , January 05, 2008
  There is a company (Cereplast) who is producing bio-plastic – they are building a factory in Idaho, as we speak. www.cereplast.com

  CFL’s & Solar Power
  written by KJ , January 05, 2008
  Below is a link on an article on Concentrating Solar Power. It uses mirrors to reflect the sun to heat up water to turn a turbine and make Power.. I guess they have some of this out in Nevada
  http://www.motherearthliving.c…33-1.html

  CFL. The colours are better then a few years ago, but still have a problem with them blowing out long before the 8,000 hours. I have had bulbs blowing out in 1-3 months. Yes they save me on my monthly electric bill, but replacing them that quickly takes my savings away because of the replacement costs And they are useless as outdoor lights in cold Idaho. LED lights don’t work outside in the cold either for like a house light over my door.

  Books!
  written by Wolf Kazumaru , January 05, 2008
  I dunno. I hope books never become obsolete. I, personally, like the feel of a book in my hands.

  Permission for using your article on glo
  written by Manas Rachh , January 06, 2008
  Sir,
  I am coordinator of a student festival, Techfest which is the Annual International Science And Technology Festival of IIT Bombay, India. This
  year in the festival we have a section dedicated to global warming. We also have a newsletter this year for which we wish to use your article for the
  same. These newsletters will be distributed to all the students who come to the festival. Please grant us the permission for the same.

  I know how to save the planet…....
  written by Travis , January 06, 2008
  ......a good ole’ plague resulting in the reduction of human population by about 80 %. Of course this would only be temporary as we would make the same mistakes all over again.

  Forever and ever amen
  written by David ben-Avram , January 25, 2008
  Terrific points. CFLs, like the Prius, sure seem like a band-aid to me. Something all of these have in common is the difficulty they’ll face in implimentation. Red-blooded Americans need to buy in. The greenie-weenies already do, but the Texas soccermoms idling their Escalades might have trouble swallowing some of these pills. As much as I hate using the word, we need to continue making green “sexy.”

  Aren’t technologies for tracking energy
  written by John Waiveris , February 20, 2008
  I think a technology missing from the list is “gauges” to track electrical, fuel, etc. usage. I’ve seen this in three areas in my life:

  1) Hybrid drivers drive more efficiently – partly because the fuel consumption graph can help them learn what consumes fuel.

  2) Household energy monitors (ex: www.TheEnergyDetective.com) show where energy is wasted in places you don’t expect.

  A study in in England installed thousands of these devices for free and people consumed an average of 20% less. We put one in and dropped our monthly bill from 0 to with almost no lifestyle change. (We already switched to CFL lights and any obvious improvements.)

  3) We installed a furnace tracking device and learned that plasticing the windows (10$ fix) dropped our fuel usage from 65%. (0/mo.!!) It was amazing to see the numbers change day to day as we made changes.

  Fullfilled: N/A

  Dated: 2008-03-24

My Rating:

by another guy in Texas (Plato, TX)

Well we can see that someone works for the competition

Fullfilled: N/A

Dated: 2008-03-20

My Rating:

by Arnold Jay (Washingtonh DC, DC)

March 19, 2008
The Mystery of Global Warming’s Missing Heat
Richard Harris, NPR.org
Some 3,000 scientific robots that are plying the ocean have sent home a puzzling message. These diving instruments suggest that the oceans have not warmed up at all over the past four or five years. That could mean global warming has taken a breather. Or it could mean scientists aren’t quite understanding what their robots are telling them.

March 18, 2008
Carbon Dioxide Up For Sale
David Funkhouser, Courant
For the first time in the U.S., carbon dioxide goes on sale in September — and the bidding will start at .86 a ton. A consortium of 10 states, including Connecticut, said Monday it will hold the first auction of carbon emissions “allowances” on Sept. 10, part of a plan to curb greenhouse gases from the region’s power plants and slow global warming.
March 17, 2008
Befouls Forcing World to Ration Food Aid
Dennis T. Avery and Alex A. Avery, Enter Stage Right
The World Food Program is preparing to ration food aid for the world’s hungriest poor. Why? Primarily because we’re burning food in our automobiles. The rich-country mandates for biofuels have doubled and tripled world food prices in less than three years
UK Gov’t Accused of Misleading People over Emissions
John Vidal, The Guardian
Britain’s climate change emissions may be 12% higher than officially stated, according to a National Audit Office investigation which has strongly criticised the government for using two different carbon accounting systems. There is “insufficient consistency and coordination” in the government’s approach, the NAO said.
Just in Case: Geo-Engineering
Bryan Walsh, Time
I’m going to tell you something I probably shouldn’t: we may not be able to stop global warming. The Arctic Ocean, which experienced record melting last year, could be ice-free in the summer as soon as 2013, decades ahead of what the earlier models told us. We need to begin curbing global greenhouse emissions right now, but more than a decade after the signing of the Kyoto Protocol, the world has utterly failed to do so.
Next President Needs to Uncap Debate on Cost of Emissions Curbs
Alan Murray, Wall Street Journal
The Cassandras of global warming blame President Bush for running a faith-based, not science-based, presidency. But it’s Mr. Bush’s successor who, by embracing the fight against global warming, will have to make the greatest leap of faith.
March 16, 2008
China: We Won’t Act Unless You Pay
Xinhua
Governments of developed countries should play major roles in leading technology transfer and enterprises’ financing in global efforts to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, a Chinese official said at an international forum here on Sunday.
The US Perspective: Remarks on Post 2012 Climate Regime
Dr. Paula J. Dobriansky, Under Secretary for Democracy and Global Affairs U.S. Department of State
Fourth Ministerial Meeting of the Gleneagles Dialogue on Climate Change, Clean Energy and Sustainable Development Chiba, Japan March 16, 2008 The US Perspective: Remarks on Post 2012 Climate RegimeAmong the achievements of the Gleneagles process is a broadened appreciation and understanding that climate change, energy security, and sustainable development are among the greatest challenges that we face.
Toyota Prius proves a gas guzzler in a race with the BMW 520d
TimesOnline
The Toyota hybrid is hailed as an eco-paragon, so how does it fare against a big BMW? To find out our correspondents go on a run to Geneva
Rich vs Poor: Nations Clash at Climate Talks
AFP
Disagreements between rich and developing countries came into the open Sunday as the world’s top 20 greenhouse gas emitters worked to lay the groundwork for a new deal on climate change.
March 15, 2008
EU Leaders Promise to Act Against USA, China in Carbon Crusade
John Lichfield, The Independent
European leaders have pledged to lead a world crusade for a “low-carbon” economy but promised that energy-hungry industries would not be sacrificed on the altar of climate change.
Concessions to Germany Threaten EU Climate Plan
Ian Traynor, The Guardian
Europe’s chances of spearheading a global post-Kyoto climate change accord were jeopardised yesterday when Germany secured pledges that several of its heavy industries could be protected from international competition and exempted from the EU’s plan to combat global warming.
Blair Pushing Bush Climate Policy
AFP
Tony Blair on Saturday urged the world’s heaviest polluters including the United States and China to agree to binding emissions cuts, saying failure to act on global warming would be “unforgivably irresponsible.”
March 14, 2008
France Isolated in Plan to Place Carbon Penalties on US, China
AP
According the EU’s Industrial Commissioner, Guenter Verheugen, France is isolated With its demand to impose penalty duties for climate sinners. At the Brussels summit of the heads of state, nobody supported the suggestion by French president Nicolas Sarkozy, Verheugen said on Friday in an interview with Deutsche Welle. Verheugen said that Sarkozy is standing alone with his idea and didn’t attempt to recruit anyone for his plan.
Tony Blair to Become Climate Diplomat
Patrick Wintour, The Guardian
Tony Blair is to lead a new international team to tackle the intractable problem of securing a global deal on climate change which would have the backing of China and America.
Climate Panel on the Hot Seat
H. Sterling Burnett, Washington Times
More than 20 years ago, climate scientists began to raise alarms over the possibility global temperatures were rising due to human activities, such as deforestation and the burning of fossil fuels.
EU Countries Clash on Climate Policy
David Charter and Greg Hurst, The Times
Brussels EU leaders clashed last night over how to cut greenhouse gases a year after making climate change their top priority with a series of tough targets.
Carbon Fiat
WSJ Online
True, the EPA’s ruling is a minor setback for the global warmists. But it may pour the bureaucratic foundation for their larger policy goal, which is economy-wide regulation of carbon dioxide. Worse, the Bush EPA may do so by rewriting current environmental law, with little or no political debate.
Global Warming Claims Unsupported by Facts
Phillip Brennen, Newsmax.com
Reports by the U.N.’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) that the earth is experiencing unprecedented global warming are flawed and cannot be supported, investigators now report. In a study reported in the Washington Times, a panel of statisticians, chaired by Edward J. Wegman of George Mason University, found significant problems with the methods of analysis used by the researchers and with the IPCC’s peer review process.
March 13, 2008
Japan climate talks to tackle industrial emissions
David Fogerty, Reuters
The world’s top greenhouse gas polluters will try to work out ways to curb carbon emissions from industries and fund cleaner energy projects for poorer nations when they gather in Japan from Friday. The G20, ranging from top polluters the United States and China to Indonesia, Brazil and South Africa, emit about 80 percent of mankind’s greenhouse gases.

March 13, 2008
Borrowing to fight a nonthreat
Orange County Register
Despite next year’s projected billion budget deficit, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is so intent on implementing costly regulations and mandates to “fight global warming” that he now wants to borrow money to pay for the crusade. This is bad policy on at least two fronts. Even Sacramento Democrats see the danger in resorting to another ill-conceived fiscal fix by borrowing million over two years from the state’s beverage container recycling fund, which is supposed to repay consumers who recycle bottles and cans. The loan would be repaid with interest.
GE’s Immelt: U.S. Energy “Policy” Is a Certain Kind of Hell
Keith Johnson, The Wall Street Journal
The chief executive of General Electric has emerged as one of the most outspoken advocates of government caps on carbon emissions. But it’s not that visions of saving the planet are filling his “Ecomagination,” nor has he given up on Hayek. In transforming one of the world’s biggest companies into a clean-tech juggernaut, he just smells the chance to make a lot of money—if the U.S. doesn’t miss the train altogether.
EU threatens to punish climate deal rebels
David Charter, The TimesOnline
America and China face trade protection measures from Europe if they fail to join a global climate deal to replace the Kyoto Protocol, EU leaders will caution at their summit in Brussels today. Nations that refuse to curb greenhouse gases will be told that they face “appropriate measures” — code for trade sanctions — if they try to gain a competitive advantage by continuing to allow cheap, high-pollution production.
Green Panic: No Climate Deal by 2009?
EU Business
European Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso vowed on Thursday to defend industry threatened by competition from countries with lower environmental standards if international climate change talks fail.
France must act fast to train nuclear energy staff
Muriel Boselli, International Herald Tribune
France, one of the world’s largest producers of atomic energy, must act fast to avoid a shortage of skilled staff to run its reactors and win a role at the heart of a global nuclear revival.
Govt using climate change to push N-deal?
Indrani Bagchi, Times of India
The appointment of former foreign secretary Shyam Saran as the PM’s special envoy on climate change is a signal of a government looking ahead to a new administration in the US that might seek to renegotiate the nuclear deal with India. India is increasingly using the climate change argument to push forward its nuclear deal.
March 12, 2008
New Ads Hit Gore’s Energy ‘Hypocrisy,’ Critic Says
Randy Hall, CNSNews.com
A national advertising campaign contrasting Al Gore’s “energy-consuming lifestyle” with the need for energy in developing countries was launched by a conservative think tank Tuesday despite charges from global warming activists that the new effort merely recycles old attacks on the former vice president.
The Southern Baptist Capitulation
Paul Chesser, The American Spectator
The Christian denomination that was so ostracized (or admired, depending on your perspective) for resisting liberal modern-day pleas to conform to contemporary culture has finally caved in on so-called “climate change.”
The Global Warming Gorilla: Getting the Developing World Aboard
Dana Matiolli, WSJ.com
European politicians at a carbon conference today in Copenhagen had an 800-pound gorilla on stage with them. Norway’s Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg and Denmark’s Minister for Climate and Energy Connia Hedegaard both hail from Scandinavian countries that have taken aggressive measures to fight climate change. They both made passionate pleas for the world to join together to cut emissions. But the gorilla remains—how to get developing countries and major emitters like India and China to join in?
One Cooler Head
Investor’s Business Daily
Until his Damascus moment, Miklos Zagoni, a physicist and environmental researcher, had been touted as his nation’s “most outspoken supporter of the Kyoto Protocol.” But then this activist saw the work of a fellow Hungarian scientist. His world was rocked. “I fell in love” with the theory, he told DailyTech.com.
The new road to serfdom
Peter Foster, Financial Post
Criticisms of Environment Minister John Baird for the vagueness of the moves announced this week to force oilsands to sequester CO2, and prevent construction of “dirty” coal plants reflects the Alice in Wonderland quality of the climate-change non-debate. Opposition parties brayed that he had not been “tough” enough. Media headlines suggested that big emitters had “won.”
China promotes new era of coal-fired energy, despite pollution
Scott Simpson, Vancouver Sun
Despite global alarm about the threat that fossil fuel combustion poses to Earth’s climate, coal appears poised to recover its 19th-century prominence as the world’s top energy source, delegates at the Globe 2008 conference heard on Wednesday.
Key senator predicts strong global-warming measure
Renee Schnoof, McClatchy-Tribune
Leaders from more than a dozen U.S. environmental groups stood beside Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., in solidarity Wednesday when she announced that the Senate will have a good chance in June to strengthen and pass a landmark bill to slash greenhouse-gas emissions.
‘Green’ storage in forests may be going up in smoke
Tom Knudsen, SacBee.com
A new study has found that California wildfires emit more greenhouse gases than previously believed largely through the post-fire decay of dead wood, a finding that is raising questions about how effective the state’s forests are at storing carbon and slowing global warming. “No matter what anybody does in California to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, as long as these forests are burning, they are wasting their time,” Bonnicksen said.
March 11, 2008
The mammoth global warming scam
Melanie Phillips, The Spectator.co.uk
More evidence from the International Conference on Climate change last month which produced the Manhattan Declaration (see post below) of the way in which scientists who are sceptical about man-made global warming find their work is suppressed.
Energy Ad Campaign Targets Al Gore’s House
Susan Davis, The Wall Street Journal
The global-warming skeptics at the Competitive Enterprise Institute launched a national ad today targeting — who else? — former Vice President Al Gore. The ,000 buy is small as far as national-ad campaigns go, but it will run on cable over the next two weeks in Boston, Phoenix, Orlando, Pittsburgh, and Washington, D.C.
Carbon Labels Will Arm California and U.S. Consumers in Fight Against Global Warming
Ira Ruskin, California Progress Report
“What if consumers could reduce carbon emissions by simply choosing one product over another at their local store? With a carbon label – similar to a nutrition label for the environment – we could all be armed with enough information to make a difference, not through regulation or taxation, but through the power of consumer choice.”
EU wants developing nations to do more on climate
Gerard Wynn, Reuters
The European Union wants developing countries to make more effort to cut their ballooning greenhouse gas emissions rather than rely on carbon offset schemes, a European Commission official said on Tuesday. The Kyoto Protocol on global warming allows rich countries to meet binding targets on greenhouse gas emissions by funding cuts in developing nations.
Experts deny link between floods and global warming
James Randerson, Guardian.co.uk
In a report published today by the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology in Wallingford, researchers analysed flooding trends across England for the last four decades and found there appears to be a trend for less summer flooding, but more rainfall in winter. Last July’s floods were highly unusual, the researchers said.
Ad hits Gore’s green lifestyle
Jennifer Harper, Washington Times
In question is an advertising campaign that begins today by the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI). The broadcast spot says Mr. Gore’s Tennessee residence uses 20 times more energy than the average American household — a claim based on damning information released last year by the Tennessee Center for Policy Research, which examined Mr. Gore’s utility bills.

March 10, 2008
Media Snowjob on Global Warming
Lorne Gunter, National Post
Just how pervasive the bias at most news outlets is in favour of climate alarmism—and how little interest most outlets have in reporting any research that diverges from the alarmist orthodoxy—can be seen in a Washington Post story on the Nongovernmental International Panel on Climate Change (NIPCC), announced last week in New York.

California’s cap-and-trade won’t work
The Los Angeles Times
California deregulated its electricity industry in 1998, and shortly afterward the lights went out. Apparently, regulators hadn’t realized how easy it would be for unscrupulous traders such as Enron to manipulate the state’s power market once it was open to competition; the results were rolling blackouts and skyrocketing electricity charges. Californians are for all this—in many areas, power bills are inflated with extra fees to cover bonds and other expenses incurred during the disastrous experiment.

Southern Baptists Go Green
Washington Times
In a major shift, a group of Southern Baptist leaders said their denomination has been “too timid” on environmental issues and has a biblical duty to stop global warming. The declaration, signed by the president of the Southern Baptist Convention among others and released today, shows a growing urgency about climate change even within groups that once dismissed claims of an overheating planet as a liberal ruse. The conservative denomination has 16.3 million members and is the largest Protestant group in the United States.

Polar bears caught in a heated eco-debate
Oren Dorrell, USA Today
Eskimos in Alaska and Canada have joined to stop polar bears from being designated as an endangered species, saying the move threatens their culture and livelihoods by relying on sketchy science for animals that are thriving.

Carbon Output Must Near Zero To Avert Danger, New Studies Say
Juliet Eilperin, Washington Post
The task of cutting greenhouse gas emissions enough to avert a dangerous rise in global temperatures may be far more difficult than previous research suggested, say scientists who have just published studies indicating that it would require the world to cease carbon emissions altogether within a matter of decades.

Project 21 Helps Expose Hypocrisy of Environmental Elite in the Third World
David Almasi, National Center Blog
CEI’s commercial shows that many in the Third World – particularly those in Africa – are literally dying due to a lack of adequate power, and the catastrophe that could result from imposing anti-global warming emissions regulations on power generation in these areas. Forcing these people to go without would be especially galling considering Gore and his ilk are living opulent lifestyles.

Editorial: Air Schwarzenegger The governor wings his way home daily
Sacramento Bee
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who once joked that Sacramento was “death,” apparently doesn’t want to spend many nights in the graveyard.As the Los Angeles Times reported last week, the governor has been spending nearly every night in his Brentwood mansion, shuttling between Sacramento and Southern California in his private jet.

China’s GHGs Rise 2x as Expected
Sarah Yang, Eurkalert
Berkeley – The growth in China’s carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions is far outpacing previous estimates, making the goal of stabilizing atmospheric greenhouse gases even more difficult, according to a new analysis by economists at the University of California, Berkeley, and UC San Diego.

California’s greenhouse-gas law: Who will pay?
Ben Arnoldy, The Christian Science Monitor
Somebody, somewhere will have to pay for California’s landmark law that would force dramatic cuts in greenhouse-gas emissions by 2020. Two years on, it’s not much clearer who. State lawmakers last week expressed frustration with a proposal by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger that would further defer that decision.

Cloud-Engineering to Reverse Global Warming?
http://www.sundayherald.com/news/heraldnews/display.var.2104840.0.cloudmaking_plan_to_reverse_global_warming.php
EVERY CLOUD could have a silver lining in the fight against global warming and the brighter, the better.

EU’s Latest Climate Scare Tactic: Immigration
Bruno Waterfield, The Daily Telegraph blog
A scary European Union report is doing the rounds here in Brussels. The seven page summary of all the main alarmist climate change scenarios is well timed.

Alarming growth in expected CO2 emissions in China, finds UC analysis
Eurekalert

Previous estimates, including those used by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, say the region that includes China will see a 2.5 to 5 percent annual increase in CO2 emissions, the largest contributor to atmospheric greenhouse gases, between 2004 and 2010. The new UC analysis puts that annual growth rate for China to at least 11 percent for the same time period.

March 9, 2008
Grand Gestures, Hot Air and Cold Water
Debra Saunders, RealClearPolitics
Who says that the issue of global warming is a matter of science, not faith?

Solar Energy Firms Leave Waste Behind in China
Ariana Eunjung Cha, Washington Post
The first time Li Gengxuan saw the dump trucks from the nearby factory pull into his village, he couldn’t believe what happened. Stopping between the cornfields and the primary school playground, the workers dumped buckets of bubbling white liquid onto the ground. Then they turned around and drove right back through the gates of their compound without a word.This ritual has been going on almost every day for nine months, Li and other villagers said.

We’re a long way from warming ‘oblivion’
Paul MacRae, Canada.com
A Victoria environmental activist was quoted in the Times Colonist in January as saying he is trying to prevent “the demise of the planet.” No less a figure than UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon said, at the Bali environmental summit in December: “One path leads to a comprehensive climate change agreement, the other to oblivion. The choice is clear.”

Canada warns US over oil sands
Sheila McNulty, Financial Times
Canada has warned the US government that a narrow interpretation of new energy legislation would prohibit its neighbour buying fuel from Alberta’s vast oil sands, with “unintended consequences for both countries”. In a letter to Robert Gates, US defence secretary, Canada said that it “would not want to see an expansive interpretation” of the Energy Independence and Security Act 2007.

Climate dissent grows hotter as chill deepens
Christopher Booker, Telegraph.co.uk
Last week, virtually unreported in Britain, the extraordinary winter weather of 2008 elsewhere in the world continued. In the USA, there were blizzards as far south as Texas and Arkansas, while in northern states and Canada what they are calling “the winter from hell” has continued to break records going back in some cases to 1873. Meanwhile in Asia more details emerged of the catastrophe caused by the northern hemisphere’s greatest snow cover since 1966.

March 8, 2008
The Contrarian of Prague
Brian Carney, The Wall Street Journal
Being president of the Czech Republic is more like being England’s monarch than the president of the United States. While the Czech president has veto power over certain types of legislation, his role is supposed to be mostly ceremonial. But Vaclav Klaus—who was re-elected last month after being chosen by the Czech Parliament as head of state in 2003—has not been content to confine himself to ribbon cuttings and state dinners.

Ad to challenge Gore’s planet-saving image
Jennifer Harper, Washington Times
He has a mighty big carbon footprint.Al Gore’s opulent lifestyle and his virtuous plea to save the planet from global warming don’t mesh, according to the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI), which announced plans yesterday for a new national advertising campaign to showcase the contrast before the American public.

Fullfilled: N/A

Dated: 2008-03-20

My Rating:

by a guy in texas (plano, TX)

Titan makes the worst heater ever…I purchased a unit new and installed it to mfg specs…Water would get very hot and then cold, Had unit repaired (they said it was a control board) well that did not fix the problem..The unit would only run one shower and thats it!!! The shower had to be turned all the way hot on very very low pressure…TAKE A LOOK INSIDE THE TITAN UNIT AND THEN LOOK INSIDE A UNIT AT LOWES OR HOME DEPOT TANKLESS! THE TITAN IS CRAP WITH VERY FEW CHEAP COMPONETS…

Fullfilled: N/A

Dated: 2008-03-19

My Rating:

by Michael G. (LAS VEGAS, NV)

Horrible product, purchased from FLAFUNCOP on eBay, worst experience ever. Never repsonded to ANY emails and was DOA. He blamed me saying I did not install it properly. The wiring and cb’s were rated at above 60 amps and 8 gauge. Standby light came on and did not work at all. Took it apart and noticed the shoddy quality of the components. The reset button was even broken!

Fullfilled: N/A

Dated: 2008-03-17

My Rating:

by Save or planet (Bolder, CO)

We’ve written often recently off the challenges soon to be faced by the continuing melt of the Arctic. Without a doubt, there are resources up there that someone will attempt to get their grubby little hands on. And, with the price of oil continuing to skyrocket with each passing month, if oil is found in the north – not an unexpected possibility considering the nearby reservoirs – all hell is going to break loose.

Scott Borgerson of the Council on Foreign Relations, a former U.S. Coast Guard lieutenant commander, has just gone on record as saying that we could be facing a new cold war.

The analogy is both apt and humorously fitting, but is it in any way true? Instead of the historic face-off between the world’s two superpowers, we could be looking at something far different. Instead of just America and Russia, Arctic powers include Canada, Denmark and Norway, in addition to the original two.

Already tensions are rising, in a way that is eerily familiar. Russia is sending submarines and science ships north to investigate how far their continental shelf extends.

In a recent interview with UK website The Daily Mash, the Earth has revealed it isn’t worrying too much about global warming. In fact, it says that it will “…be absolutely fine.”

OK, first of all, stop writing me that email. I know that the Daily Mash is a satirical website. Secondly, stop writing me that other email, because this is still news. From the website;

‘Earth, 4,000,000,000, said last night: “I’ll be absolutely fine, seriously. I might get a bit warmer and a bit wetter, but to be honest, that actually sounds quite nice.
“Try living through an ice age. Pardon my French, but it’s absolutely fucking freezing.” ‘

The Earth is quoted as saying that it was “sick and tired” of being drawn in to the environmental equation. Our Earth wants us to stop trying to ‘Save the Planet’ and try changing out slogan too ‘Save Your Sorry Arse.’

“Look, I’m just a planet doing its thing, alright? If things want to live on me, that’s their business, but I’ve got important planet stuff to do, okay? Try being in elliptical orbit for five minutes, or balancing your gravitational pull with a medium-sized moon. Let me assure you, it’s no fucking picnic.”

I really laughed out loud when I read this, because it is in essence very true. I look back at my work over the past year and I think I can quite confidently say that much of my work has focused on the planet being habitable to humans in the future.

The simple fact is that, all the Earth has to worry about is whether the nearby Sun will decide to blow up anytime soon or not. For us though – humans on planet Earth – we have a different problem, and we should really begin to look at just what we’re screwing up. Are we screwing up the planet, or that which lives upon the planet?

“Who knows, I might end up being a haven for toads.”

Much of the time we focus primarily on the climate and how it is affecting our ecosystems. However, in doing so, we manage to overlook issues that we have brought with us as we’ve conquered other lands for centuries; invasive plants.

A new study to be published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences that non-native trees are encroaching upon rainforests. As a result, nutrients are lost to the non-natives which are often more aggressive, and thus change the rainforests natural ecological structure.

Led by Gregory Asner of the Carnegie Institution’s Department of Global Ecology, the research team used new remote sensing technology on aircraft to survey an area more than 220,000 hectares (850 square miles) in size of Hawaiian rainforest. Using instruments aboard the Carnegie Airborne Observatory (CAO) they were able to penetrate the forest canopy and essentially create a “CAT scan” of the ecosystem.

“Invasive tree species often show biochemical, physiological, and structural properties that are different from native species,” says Asner. “We can use these ‘fingerprints’ combined with the 3-D images to see how the invasives are changing the forest.”

This is the first time that technology such as this has been used to track invasives in Hawaii.

Hawaii’s ecosystem is roughly made up 50/50 of native and non-native flora, including 120 species of plan that are considered highly invasive. The ohia tree (Metrosideros polymorpha) makes up much of Hawaii’s undisturbed rainforests, but as time goes by, trees such as the tropical ash (Fraxinus uhdei) and the Canary Island fire tree (Morella faya) are intruding.

These two invasive species have a substantial detrimental effect on the native understory plants. Both the tropical ash and the Canary Island fire tree create a much heavier canopy than the ohia tree, and thus deprive the ground level plants of the much needed light.

“All of our invasive species detections were made in protected state and federal rainforest reserves,” says Asner. “These species can spread across protected areas without the help of land use changes or other human activities, suggesting that traditional conservation approaches on the ground aren’t enough for the long-term survival of Hawaii’s rainforests.”

“These new airborne technologies, which are sensitive enough to discern saplings and young trees, may make the problem more tractable,”comments study co-author Flint Hughes of the US Forest Service. “They allow scientists to probe the make-up of forests over large areas and detect invasions at earlier stages.”

Those steel tanks you see are some of the 177 that contain 53 million gallons of heavy metals, acids and solvents. They also contain plutonium, cesium, strontium and uranium. All are buried underground.

Of those 177, sixty-seven are confirmed leakers, meaning their contents are leaching into the soil and headed toward the Columbia River. Most have exceeded their anticipated 50 year life span, creating fear of a catastrophic tank failure.

Thousands of tons of radioactive and hazardous waste has been buried in unlined landfills and 450 billion gallons of liquid waste has been poured into ponds, ditches and drainfields at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation in the state of Washington.

These figures come from an article in today’s Washington Post, which I don’t intend to re-write. My purpose is only to call your attention to this article and hope you will read it and sense the gravity of the situation in that state.

More than a million people living downstream from Hanford are being threatened by a huge plume of groundwater contaminated with radiation and heavy metals moving their way.

The Bush administration’s proposed cleanup budget has trimmed 0 million from cleanup funding, and increased funding for nearly all other categories in the government’s nuclear program.

And they want to mine more uranium, build more nuclear power plants and pile up more spent radioactive material with no where to go, but possibly our drinking water and riding along with that breeze we inhale.

If you’d like to review some Government Accountability Office (GAO) reports on nuclear issues, I suggest you start with these eye openers.

Fullfilled: Stop Waste

Dated: 2008-03-12

My Rating:

by Steve Lunsford (Petersburg, VA)

This Heater Blew up my water lines on the COLD (inlet) side and flooded my house. I installed unit and turned it on and had hot water. I turned faucet and heater stayed on, boiling water in pipes and turning it into high pressure steam. My pipes were rated at 400 psi burst pressure and they burst. I had to replace my water lines in the wall and down under my house. I called the company and they knew the problem as soon as I told them what happened, so it must be a common problem. They said the flow valve inside the heater stuck. I called the guy on Ebay that I brought the heater from, and he said send it back at my cost and he would refund my money less shipping. He would not pay for damage to my house and plumbing. I went to Lowes and got a Powerstar by Bosch and it works great! Stay away from Titan!

Fullfilled: N/A

Dated: 2008-03-06

My Rating:

by Stephanie Mazzara (Phoenix, AZ)

I must admit I read the reviews on this page before I got my titan. I did my research and found that these titan units are really the one of the top selling unit around. I have had mine for five months now and it works great. Installation took about 1 hour and it even looks nice ( in the pastel colors they come in) hanging in my garage. I have endless hot water and love the savings. I did my research online and threw plumbing supplies to come to my conclusion and not this site. I work for a web hosting company and have designed many blogs like this. The one thing I tell my customers is to always use “email confirmation.” If not anyone (including the competition) just starts writing any garbage they want without reproductions. I see this type of “dirty pool” all over this site. I would urge the owners of this site to add “email confirmation protocols” to this site if they want people to take this site seriously.

www.ipowerweb.com

Fullfilled: N/A

Dated: 2008-02-29

My Rating:

by Jay (paducah, KY)

I have the Titan tankless hot water heater installed in my home and I Love it!, it takes a little longer to fill the tub but this is not a problem, I have also save on average .00 a month on my electric Bill. For more info. visit the online store that I purchased from www.ingramswaterandair.com they even give your money back if your not satisfied with the unit after 90 days , can’t beat that!

Fullfilled: N/A

Dated: 2008-02-20

My Rating:

by Richard (San Diego, CA)

We are happy tankless water heater users. We have a titan and switched in January of 2002 from a tank. We saw a 11% reduction in electric use despite high electric usage in winter months. You do wait a bit for hot water. However, we had that problem from pipes being distant from water heater before, so it’s not that different. It’s great to fill a bath, and to be able to add piping hot water in several seconds over the course of a long soak. We can ! run an appliance and still have hot enough water at the sink or shower. happy and tankless

Fullfilled: N/A

Dated: 2008-02-11

My Rating:

by brian forrest (forestville, NY)

we purchased a titan scr2 after having a house fire about two years ago. It was great taking showers for about the first week or two. After that there were many problems like either the water would be screaming hot or ice cold other times maybe you would get about a minute in the shower and then hear screaming because the hot water stopped working. Another big problem is we have 2 kids and they hate taking showers so when we rebuilt our house we installed a bath tub but little did we know the unit did not have enough power to give us a warm bath. It is also a big pain in the ass trying to use our dishwasher and getting the dishes clean due to the lack of hot water. Now just the other day unit stopped working all together so I tried contacting them by e mail and by phone with no result. I tried finding a troubleshooting guide on the internet and failed but then stumbled on to this site and was reading about a man that had enough and opened the unit and found that there was a reset button so I opened my unit up and there it was a red button on the heating chambers so I pushed it in and the unit was up and running again . But now I hardly get warm water out any of my faucets. It is bullshit that you spend good money these units and in return you get bent over and are forced to deal with the idiots at niagara if can ever get through. and from what I read they put the blame on us just to try to get us to buy anew one or the upgraded version. so in short if you love dealing with problems with your hot water system then I would say buy a titan if not stay far far away form this product and find a better heater to purchase thats what I am going to do.
Thanks,
Brian

Fullfilled: N/A

Dated: 2008-02-05

My Rating:

by Lucas McCain (Tucson, AZ)

Andrew Servino, Al Robinson, Fernando, Tom Dixon, Anthony Williams, Sheena Galloway, Mathew Hannas, Carolina Berton, Ernesto Vasques, Donald Clinton (DC Home Builders), Richard Hill, Patricia Collier, Shan Williams, Enwin Miesner and many other positive reviewers all exhibit the EXACT SAME spelling/grammar/punctuation mistakes, obviously someone in the company is fraudulently reviewing this product.

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Dated: 2008-01-13

My Rating:

by Arron Ashton (Ft. Worth, TX)

That is nothing I have been using mine for 5 years and the unit dropped my electric bill an average of 55-65 dollars a month. The unit (including installation) payed for itself in less then a year. That turns out to be two free tank full of gas for my car. Best money I ever spent.

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Dated: 2008-01-07

My Rating:

by Fred (Deltona, FL)

To all the negative feedback…..I’ve dealt with these folks for 15 years and I’ve learned a lot from these negative comments and most are true to some extant.

Yep, they do have terrible cust/serv skills. Yep, lots of times one can barely get an English speaking person. And yes I’ve come to realize that most times the problem with these tankless units can be a hit or miss.

My first house was about 1/4 mile from the factory so I had no problem exchanging them. I just went there in person. (They do check to see if one tampers with them which voids the warranty). My first one was exchanged 4 times in a 12-year history.

Each time I got a rebuild unit from the factory but the last one was sold to me for .00 because the technology was much more modern and so I agreed. (They could of easily given me an old one for free but I wasn’t unhappy. The price was so cheap I was sold). This last one hasn’t being exchanged in 7 years so I scored well with that one.

My knew house is far from them so I plumbed up my system so as it can easily be replaced with my regular tank. I felt that they do break down often so one should be ready just in case.

My knew SCR-2 failed 2 months after I purchased it back in 01/2006. I took it back and sure enough they gave me a knew one. I find myself here in 01/2008 and the unit is going tepid again. No problem, I’ll take a ride back to Miami in a couple of weeks and get a new one.

I feel bad for those people whom live far away and got poor service. This company really isn’t bad just poorly managed. The one thing I do know is that the product does work and those who stated otherwise are wrong, lying or just pissed with the poor service and aggravation.

Personally I wouldn’t of gone through with the aggravation if I didn’t like the end result. The product saved me tons of money. But than again I studied the install very carefully before purchasing the product, spoke with electricians, plumbers and the factory reps to get it right. (And the advantage of having them around the corner didn’t hurt).

Poor installs are about 50% of the problem. The other problem is probably poor quality control. Also, the company really does not like dealing with DIY’ers. It rather work with the trade. Too bad I think….but it’s understandable.

I don’t think that it’s a DIY thing, (even though I can comfortably state I am no professional).

I rated it above average but read my ramblings as to why. As for the average consumer…..be very careful or get a more expensive unit. God luck folks!

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Dated: 2008-01-07

My Rating:

by Dusty King (Leesville, LA)

I said that i would write a review again after i had the tankless water heater for a while. Well It hasn’t let me down yet. And my electric bill has went down an average of 40$ per month.. So far so good. Thanks for the reviews.

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Dated: 2008-01-01

My Rating:

by Mark Sigmond (Miami, FL)

Titan SCR-2 Scam? Niagara Industries a scam?

Looks like the NASA ‘collaboration’ is somewhat of a lie.
http://www.spacetechsolutions.com/story_print.asp?Story_ID=10001

The SATOP is a NASA funded program and Niagara had nothing to do with NASA. One person, Tim Thurston (not even from NASA) spent two weeks testing a chip design. That is it. No space shuttle, no Mars mission or anything that Niagara’s marketing about NASA involvement invokes.

The name Alex Bolivar comes up. He must be the Alex from the complaints below who provided such terrible service. He is a VP.

How has this company gone on so long with out being sued or investigated for fraud? Money must be cheap and easy in America; just buy another one… I can hear Niagara ‘executives’ say to themselves, ‘ignore the complaints, the people will just go away.’ Wow! And I was going to buy one of these things!

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Dated: 2007-12-22

My Rating:

by Mark Sigmond (Miami, FL)

With all of the complaints and possible employee introduced positive reviews, the BBB has only 4 complaints and rates this company with an F.
http://www.bbbsoutheastflorida.org/BBBWeb/Forms/Business/CompanyReportPage_Expository.aspx?CompanyID=26001346

How come the people who complain, don’t really do anything? Why not just send them your money? I am surprised there is no open complaint with the FL attorney general or other state attorney general offices.

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Dated: 2007-12-21

My Rating:

by Jared Miller (Sonoma, CA)

Good day,

I have been reading the reviews here and I wanted to add some information that I see will be of help to some here. First of all I have been using Titan units from years and I can tell you (as a master electrician) that they do work great.) I agree with a comment made that “you need a pro, or at least a person with electrical exp.” Here is some information that is vital to the correct installation of a tankless water heater.

Titan tankless water heaters and other electric tankless water heater fall under the NEC (National Electric Code) section 410 & 411. This section explains the function of this unit. Always point out this section to your installer so he understands how they work.

Here is the most IMPORTANT part that you need to know. When installing an electric tankless water heater you must do it using the following NEC sections.

1. For new dwellings you have to use section (NEC-220.30)

2. For excisting dwelling you have to use section (NEC-220.31)

These sections show you how to calculate the requirements for your unit and let you know if you have enough capacity in your panel for a unit. Failure to follow this will cause overheating in you electrical box and damage resistance heating devices like tankless water heater, stoves and dryers also.

Installation of heating devices like Titan tankless water heater and other high amp appliances must follow these rules or you run the risk of burning them up.

I have been using Titan’s for over 10 years and I have seen every “joe electrician” installation out there. The product is great just remember to get a pro (that is why we study.) If some one has a question please feel free to email me.

Regards,
Jared Miller
Pro-Tech Engineering
Pro-tech@engineer.com

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Dated: 2007-12-12

My Rating:

by Fred Simpson (Atlanta, GA)

I have been using them for over 7 years and I can not say enough good things about them.

I has a proven track record and with 23 years of expiriance they must be doing something good. Don’t take a chance on some fly by night company deal with an REAL company.

F.Simpson P.E.
Electrical Engineer
City Of Atlanta

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Dated: 2007-12-10

My Rating:

by Erwin Freeman (Houston, TX)

Great product, I have use it in all my rental properties and it has been great. I have had to put up with multiple failures in tank water heater due to the calcium in the water. This has cost me hundred in repairs and headaches from tenets.

With the Titan I have had great results, no leaks an not build up of calcium or other minerals in the units. I own 52 rental units and I will never use another tank again.

E. Freeman

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Dated: 2007-12-03

My Rating:

by Ronnie (Winnsboro, LA)

I installed the SCR2 N120 unit, but do not like its performance. It works well at the kitchen sink and the bathroom lavatory faucets, but only because they have an aerator and water restriction device in them. It cannot keep up with the full flow feature at the bathtub and shower head. I considered sending it back, but will probably keep it as a backup unit in case my GE Smartwater 50 gallon heater ever fails. I kept it hooked up just in case. I have the Titan installed with isolation valves and an independent breaker so I can switch between the two as needed. This will be handy when company comes over for the weekend. We always run out of hot water then. I will use the Titan as backup and see how well it performs. For now I am keeping my fingers crossed. I am afraid to send it back becaus I don’t think I would get a refund, even within the 30 day return period. They did not reply to my email. I ordered it from the factory and did not get any kind of invoice or proof of purchase with it. I will put a flow restrictor shower head in, and will try to find one for the bathtub. In my opinion, from what I have seen, the unit’s heating element is much too small. It will not keep up, and should not be labled a “Whole House Water Heater”. I will rate it again later on, after trying it for a few months.

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Dated: 2007-11-16

My Rating:

by mike (san antonio, TX)

THIS IS A TERRIBLE PRODUCT. I have gone through three replacements in four years. Two of these have literally cooked themselves. The unit before this one had loose connections inside the case which led to a short in the circuit. Now this sounds like nothing serious but coming from a licensed electrician in Texas I assure you that this is very serious. Everyone knows how bad aluminum wiring in a house is, this is very much the same. I have now gone through two units in my house. This second unit failed for the same reason LOOSE CONNECTIONS FROM THE FACTORY!
The second unit actually exploded while I was at work. NOT EXHADURATING this thing actually blew up. My Wife called me and said there was an explosion and there was smoke all over the garage and my son was hiding under the dining room table (so help me god this is true). I have made 7 attempt to speak with someone at Titan but no one will call me back. If you are thinking of buying a Titan I will gladly send you pictures of what WILL happen that way you know what to expect. Also I will be attempting to file a class action suit and with the better business bureau so anyone done wrong by this company please let me know.

michael-woodson@sbcglobal.net

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Dated: 2007-11-16

My Rating:

by Larry (Daytona, FL)

The worst tankless water heater ever started smelling burning wires the element wire connections where completely burned and the screw’s were all rusted..will never do business with again..

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Dated: 2007-11-14

My Rating:

by don vuletic (e liverpool, OH)

first SCR2 broke with in 7 days, replacement broke with in 18 months, did remove cover to find burnt wires, and a hidden reset switch, repaired wire and cleaned connection, pushed reset button. had to push reset button often in a two week period,ordered a stiebel eltron to replace it.German design and built. the titan is claimed to be U.S. built,could be true as once its sold its did its job (MADE A PROFIT) stay away from TITAN not a good product

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Dated: 2007-11-13

My Rating:

by G (C, TX)

I bought from an Amazon.com etailer the SCR4 180 lasted two weeks.So I called Niagra they told me to contact the etailer to see what he could do about a replacement.He said no problem I’ll send you a new on good faith you return me the broke one.Now a week with no hot water and no response from the etailer I complain to Amazon they reverse the creditcard charge. Now that got his attention he emails me say’s he forgot so he makes good sends me the SCR4 210 for the same price
great I call the electrician to install bigger breakers and wire it works great.Today 8 months later no hot water called Niagra my option is to purchase another most likely rebuilt than they will return my money when they recieve the broken one.

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Dated: 2007-11-07

My Rating:

by Fred Aleman (Coral Gables, FL)

I have used my unit for years now and have been very happy with it. My electric bill did come down and my wife loves the endless hot water. I would say to anyone wanting one, get it it is worth it.

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Dated: 2007-10-25

My Rating:

by Shan Wilson (jackson, TN)

We installed a Titan Tankless Hot Water Heater several years ago. It has perfomed very well. We have never had any problems with getting hot water at all sites in the house. We certainly never run out of hot water.

A tankless hot water heater does require some getting used to. It takes from a few seconds to a few minutes, especially in winter when the ground water is very cold, to get hot water. Also, you must insure that you are drawing enough water or the system may stop heating the water and you get only cold water.

Overall the system works very well for us and we have recommended it to many or our friends. The initial investment seems to deter many people.

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Dated: 2007-10-25

My Rating:

by mike (san antonio, TX)

this thing is JUNK. Third unit in two years. All three from the FACTORY WERE FIRE HAZARDS!!!! I am a licensed electrician in Texas and I assure you loose electrical connections were the problem in all three of mine. I opened the last one october 12 2007 and there are burn marks inside just like the last ones. I will be looking to see if there is an existing suit against this company or if one needs to be filed. These things are pure FIRE HAZARD be careful.

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Dated: 2007-10-15

My Rating:

by Toni (Grine, GA)

Had mine for five months in a brand new house. Worked great until a month ago. Now it’s a nightmare. No customer services, no 24 hour help line, no one to work on them, no of a lot of things. I am trying one more time before I get my money back,(if I can). I love the idea, price and money saved. Just nees the support.

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Dated: 2007-10-06

My Rating:

by Ana Vardoromo (san Diego, CA)

My condo that I purchased about 6 years ago came with a titan unit in it and it really free’s up a closet that is much needed. I have not had any problems with it. I get all the hot water I need and as a mother of a teenage daughter I thank who invented to titan unit. I hope to be buying a house in the next coming 6 months and I will defenetly put a titan in it.

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Dated: 2007-10-04

My Rating:

by Dusty King (Leesville, LA)

Great, I love it. And Also my wife loves the new pantry (Left by the old big water heater). You have to run the water a little slower while filling the tub, But hot water still. Endless And HOT water at sinks. Until it quits (So I’ve read). But for now I’m happy w/it. May wake up to cold water in the morning…..LOL… Love the idea though. Had it in my home for one month so I can’t tell you if there is a decrease in electric bill. If it goes out I will definately post…This site has gotten me worried… Thanks for the posts..

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Dated: 2007-09-30

My Rating:

by John Lanager (Huntsville, AL)

I have had my titan tankless water heater for 8 years and I love it. My family and I get all the hot water we need and the unit paid for itself in less then one year. It is a great product and I have gotten all my family and members of my church hooked on it. There are so many in use here in Huntsville that I am about to tell the factory to open another plant here..lol

God Bless
John

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Dated: 2007-09-24

My Rating:

by Ennis Johnson (Jacksonville, FL)

I have been selling these units they years when I worked for Hughes and the main problem that I run into is inexpirainced installers (i.e. home owners) From whatever you have read the installation in NOT a do it yourself (unless you are highly skillled in both plumbing and electrical) We carried other models like eemax and powerstar but the titan was the preffered choice for the plumbers. When we would get a return it would always be from “joe public” who wanted to save money and connect it himself. I left hughes when home depot purchased them to start my own company. I still stick with the TItan because I know it works, those folks have over 20 years of expiraince they must be doing something right.

And take it from someone who has at least 15 years experiance in plumbing and HVAC and at last 8 years selling Titan unit, spend that little extra and get a pro.

E. Johnson Plumbing & A/C Corp
Jacksonville Fl, Lic. CC068490

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Dated: 2007-09-14

My Rating:

by Richard Killeen (Seneca, IL)

We are on our FOURTH home unit SCR-2. NIAGARA refused to respond to calls, letters or E-Mail. Out of frustration I filed a formal complaint with the Dade County States Attorney Consumer Fraud Div.). NIAGARA finally replied to them with one of the most outrageous answers you ever heard. Making some fantastic excuses and of course they were not at fault. They blamed everything except the Lord himself.

They said it was the climate, the installation, water pressure, power source, incoming water temperature, etc., etc.. Any reasonable person can read between the lines and take it from there. Having spent several hundred dollars to prove my point it was determined by plumbing and electronic expert professionals, that the units are of minimal quality in both electronics and water carrying components.

NIAGARA is not truly a manufacturer, that are ASSEMBLERS, all components are purchased outside and assembled in their plant by unskilled cheap labor. I checked and NASA has never bought a single unit from them. These cheap units are ok in very southern climates with warm incoming water temperatures. Get north of the Carolinas and you’re outta luck. They will work fairly well for short periods of time and then blewy, your outta luck. Here’s where you get it stuck to you. IF the failure takes place during their crappy warranty period, you must disconnect it and return it.

THINK aobut this, once you disconnect your water system is shut down and your electrical service is disadvantaged. And trust me it does not take a rocket scientist to install the unit. Any reasonably mechanically inclined individual could do it. I suggest you also install a breaker box near the unit to save time and effort instead of just runing the power direct from your power panel.

Our unit installed at the commercial location worked fine for several months because it does not make any lengthy or long demands for hot water. BUT after 6 months it began producing only tepid water and that’s the best it can do. In a home unit do not try to take a shower and do laundry at the same time. Shower and maybe do dishes is OK but not good.

Anyone with a problem of service or replacement I suggest WE all file another complaint with the Dade County States Attorney and/or the Florida Attorney General’s Consumer Fraud Division and maybe they can get NIAGRA straightened out and get some customer service.

The dealer I have dealt with has gone beyond his limits to be helpful in spite of the crap service of NIAGARA, contact me and I will furnihs his name and address. Meantime don’t waste your time or money with the “FACTORY” make formal and legal complaints and deal with the guy I deal with, he tries hard.

Dick Killeen
dick1019@sbcglobal.net

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Dated: 2007-09-02

My Rating:

by Charissa (Mondovi, WI)

I have read a few of these ratings and the people that got a year out of their Titan Tankless Water Heater should consider themselves very fortunate! My husband and I did massive amounts of research on tankless water heaters and found Titan to be within our expectations and price range, or so we thought. It arrived and my husband (who has a background in electronics and installation) hooked it up; this was a Friday evening. Of course the stupid thing didn’t work and we couldn’t get a hold of anyone at the office in Miami where we had purchased it from until Monday. My husband started tinkering around and finally got it working on Sunday. Wednesday evening he was taking a shower and came out with teeth chattering. The stupid thing had broken! The next morning we woke up and it was working again. By the time I left for work it wasn’t working again. I was very irritated by this so my husband, being the more even tempered of us, called the office in Miami. That was useless! They told him that we could either send them the money for a second unit and they would ship it out then we could return the first unit and they would refund us, or we could send the unit we already had back and they would repair it. When my husband called to tell me our options I about flipped! I was two and a half months pregnant at this point nauseous all the time, cranky, and extremely upset that I wasn’t going to have any hot water for at least a week. I called their office and told the gentleman who answered the phone the situation. He tried to blow me off by telling me that he had already explained our options to my husband and I needed to talk to him. This did not go over well with me! I admit I may be a bitch, but nobody treats me that way. I told him we were going to send our broken unit back to them and they were going to give us our money back. Something that they don’t tell you on the website is that you have thirty days to send it back for a full refund (if your looking into buying one of these pieces of crap remember this). Because we had seen this site before we sent the unit back and had read about the other woman’s troubles with sending things back we sent it priority mail and made sure that they would have to sign for it. So when a few days after we got conformation from the post office that they had received the package and we still hadn’t heard anything from them I made another phone call. The gentleman that answered the phone said that they hadn’t received the package (I thought you’ve got to be kidding me), but assured me that he would look into it and get back to me. I gave him all the tacking information I had and waited several hours for a return phone call. After no one called me back I got annoyed and called again. This time a woman with broken English answered the phone. I explained to her what was going on and she again insisted that they had never received the package. I have a very short temper and these people were pushing me over the edge. I explained to her that I knew someone at the address we had been told to ship it to had actually received to because it had been signed for. She told me that where they had us send the package to was an ups store and that they couldn’t find it. I told her that was not my problem. Then she got rude and started yelling at me so I, of course, yelled back. It went on like that for about ten to fifteen minutes with us yelling at each other. Me explaining that we had gone through all these steps to send the water heater back so they would have to sign for it because they had a tendency of loosing packages and her yelling that they had no such problems and that she needed more tracking information to find the package. Her assuring me she was doing her job and trying to find our package and me assuring her she sucked at her job. Finally I had had enough and told her that if I found out anymore information I would let her know otherwise I was calling the Better Business Bureau on their retarded asses! About forty five minutes later my husband called me and said that the lady had called him (even though I was the one who had talked/yelled/threw a fit at her earlier) and said that they had found our water heater and would start the process of refunding our money. Amazing that they swore up and down that our package had not been anywhere to be found until I threatened to call the Better Business Bureau. These people are shady and if you value your sanity you will not even bother trying to do business with them. We bought a Power Star by Bosch instead and have not had any problems with it. If you are looking into a tankless water heater check them out it wasn’t much more than the piece of shit we bought from Titan and worth every penny to not have to deal with the idiots in Miami.

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Dated: 2007-08-25

My Rating:

by Terry Miller (Orlando, FL)

I purchased my house with the titan tankless heater already installed. In has been working great for the last 3 years and I have no compaints. The whole community were I live which is over 500 homes, townhomes and condos were built with these units. I guess what I read was true, these units (like any electric/plumbing devices) must be installed by a pro. I have learn this the hard way over the years, a little bit extra now saves a big headache down the road. I recommed these units to anyone who wants to save energy and space

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Dated: 2007-08-08

My Rating:

by jenny (miami, FL)

My old standard water heater went out and i heard my co-worker talking about his ‘new’ niagra titan tankless water heater, and how great it is. Based on his review, i purchased mine and within 3 monhs the unit produced tepid water and then stopped heating water all together. I went back to my coworker and asked if he had any problems and he said that he was already on his second unit, but it seems to be working fine. Ive been calling niagra for repair and/or replacement and the service is terrible. You would think that this their ‘corporate’ (its manufacturing plant) office would do better. So far ive been stood up twice (on my days off, mind you) and nothing. because I live in the southern portion of miami dade “they are having a problem” getting someone to service it, so it doesnt surprise me that folks across the U.S.A are having customer service problems.
After spending seven hundred dollars, you think they would be more professional. I should not be surprised living in the most corrupt city in the united states, I shouldn’t be surprised.
I think that they purposefully install defective water heaters and I will be following up with my lawyers to see if this warrants a class action suite…
ill post back with info if there is any.

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Dated: 2007-07-19

My Rating:

by Fred Hatfield (Sunrise, FL)

I purchased my Titan from www.titantankless.com after doing a ton of research. Over 20 years in business, great warranty and very reputable. I received the unit the next day and since have fallen in love with this thing. I saved a ton of space making my wife happy, electric bill went down making my wife happier and have never ending hot hot water making her exstatic! You can fill a large jacuzzi tub without any change in water temp during the fill. I checked out gas units but found them to be extremely dangerous with potential carbon monoxide poisoning. One company recalled over 50,000 units for that reason so I would not even consider a gas model. Titantankless.com only makes electric models that are made in the USA, patented and UL listed. Make sure you get a good plumber to install it. I hope this helps!!

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Dated: 2007-07-08

My Rating:

by Fredrick Thorton (North Miami Beach, FL)

I have been using the titan units for years. I started when I lived on St. Croix in the Caribbean There kw was .25 per Kilowatt hour, you normal electric bill was 400 or more. The titan dropped over 100 off the bill and never gave me a lick of problems in over 5 years of living on the island. Recently my job with the U.S. Government has brought me back to the states and I continue to use the titan units and recommended them highly.

Fred Thorton, Captain U.S.N Retired

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Dated: 2007-07-05

My Rating:

by John Cross (Fort Lauderdale, FL)

I have own mine for 6 years now and needless to say it’s been wonderful, saving money and a lot of space. I have a large family so hot water used to run out very quickly, but not any more. Also I have several friends that I recommended it and most of them are very happy, just two had some problems which came related to the installation. They were trying to save money on the installation not doing things professionally and up to code, so after dealing with these so call “professional electricians and plumbers” that have never done it right or learn how to follow instructions by the manufacturer. They learned that there is only one way to do things, which is the right way. Beware of those “professional installers” and do things right, you’ll be very happy.

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Dated: 2007-07-05

My Rating:

by Van (Miami, FL)

As a handyman I have installed 6 of these in the last 6 years for different customers. Being in south Florida these units obviously don’t have to work as hard to heat water as northerners require so they work great…when they work. Of those I have installed i have had to return 4 for repairs. 2 of them were for leaks, one of which caused the electronics to short out. The other 2 just stopped working and one of these I have had to return twice.

Being in Miami I went straight to the factory, across from the Miami Int’l Airport, where I was less than impressed with the customer service given there. The atmosphere in the front office is reminiscent of a third world government office where I was treated antagonistically for even considering returning the unit to them. This treatment was consistent every time I returned.

Even though the Warranty states ”...comes wth a 10 year warranty on all water carrying components and all other parts are warrantied for one year,” I was charged approximately .00 each and every time I returned a water heater for repair regardless of reason. Upon inquiry into the reason for the charge I was given a vague excuse about the cause for repair.

After the first 2 vague explanations, I opened the cover on the third (a leaker), desite a sticker on the cover indication that the warranty would be void if the unit was opened. I figured, what did I have to lose, they were gonna charge no matter what. I used a little WD-40 to loosen the sticker without tearing it and found one of the two heating elements leaking at the top cap screw and rusting badly. The dripping water had run over some elctronics and caused a short. Obviously, nothing serviceable by me.

I closed the unit and careully replaced the “warranty void” sticker. Upon returning the unit to the factory, I was informed that I would have to leave it for inspection and it would cost me . When I asked them why they are charging for an obvious warrantied defect (a leak) I was again given a weak excuse.

Needless to say, the two problems I see with this product is the inconsistancy in product quality and, even more importantly, the lack of proper customer service and the application of a very claerly stated warranty.

I don’t recommend this product to anyone.

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Dated: 2007-07-03

My Rating:

by Kevin Mickens (Dickinson, TX)

I purchased one of these water heaters, installed it while doing a remodel. I tested it out everything seemed fine (water temp was hot, not neccessarily as hot as I like it but hot none the less) The night I moved back in after 6 weeks of constuction it quit durring the first shower. I have a small house and was really looking foward to the extra space but from the post here i might just wanna get me a tank or more expensive unit.

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Dated: 2007-06-23

My Rating:

by Peter DiSamino (West Palm Beach, FL)

Had one installed in my condo and it works great, I have a 3/2 and my electric bill has gone down. I got it from the factory and I those people are nice. I would tell everone to buy one

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Dated: 2007-06-18

My Rating:

by Gary Kemp (Middletown, CT)

I installed two Titan SCR2 units in the Summer of 2005, and was very pleased initially. Had to reduce hot and cold water flow to bath tubs, however, because the dual units would not flow sufficient hot water for even a single tub at a time.

The “standby” light began growing dim on one of the units shortly after installation. The manufacturer answered my e-mail during the warranty period, and explained there was no need for repairs, as long as the unit worked fine otherwise; which it did.

The units started malfunctioning after about a year and a half, and would simply stop heating periodically. I removed the covers and found the internal circuit breakers. Re-setting the breakers restores functioning whenever the units stop heating. After resetting the breakers every few weeks, I eventually checked more closely and found loose electrical connections in both units. One connection was so loose, the arcing left visible burns and carbon on the electrical terminals. I tightened all the connections, but the units still do not heat as well as when new. The manufacturer, Niagara Industries, will not respond to my e-mails.

The posts on this website suggest Niagara Industries has inconsistent quality control, at best, and extremely poor after-sale service. I enjoy the benefits of tankless technology and will eventually replace these units. I refuse to buy Titan heaters again, and intend to buy another brand; even if the cost is higher.

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Dated: 2007-05-25

My Rating:

by Greg Guth (Frisco, TX)

I bought 2 for a new house I was building. It works perfectly for showers and sinks but does not warm the water enough for baths. The water throughput is too fast for the flow of baths. Bosch units restrict water flow to fix this but simply not running the water full speed works the same with a Titan. People up North can use them but it is said putting 2 in a row is required to get the heating that is required. Buying 2 is still same price as a tank.

They install easy & work great! Best of all, they save tons of space.

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Dated: 2007-05-22

My Rating:

by Fredrick Jackson Jr. (Tallahassee, FL)

Got my unit installed a few months ago and I love it. Endless hot water what a concept and the people at tanklessplanet.com were great. My only problem is getting my wife out of the shower now..

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Dated: 2007-05-15

My Rating:

by Tankless Water Heater Homeowner (Kissimme, FL)

My Titan Tankless Water Heater works even better than the sales rep that assisted me described it. I’ve know about them for sometime now, and when my tank water heater gave out, I jumped on the chance to switch to tankless. I decided to use the larger SCR4 model N-210. I’ve had it for few months now and couldn’t be happier. Here is the link to the website http://www.TitanHeater.com

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Dated: 2007-05-14

My Rating:

by Catalina Lulley (Hallandale, FL)

I purchase this unit from titantankless.com and found it to be outstanding. My plumber put it in in about 1.5 hour. I have endless never ending hot water and my electric bill dropped like 35 bucks a month. The water is also much healthier than a tank model that harbors bacteria and sediment. My family can take 5 showers in a row and have the same hot water and we can run two things at once no prob. It has a ten year warranty and I checked out the factory in Miami Florida and it is professional and they have been building them for over two decades. If you live in a cold area you need the bigger SCR-4 though. This thing is OUTSTANDING and don’t be fooled by bad ratings on here, its just competitors trying to sell some cheap Japanese brand lol..

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Dated: 2007-05-09

My Rating:

by Enwin Miesner (tampa, FL)

These units are great, I was using one from a so called “manufacturer” in Florida after the third replacment in less then 6 months I took it myself to then, found out the guy build them in a garage. I have been using the Titan for over 4 1/2 years and I am very happy with it. During a trip to Miami I stoped by the plant and it is a place of wonder, got a great education and even got a free t-shirt. These are good folks..

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Dated: 2007-05-08

My Rating:

by robet cook (worton, MD)

I purchased this system june 06 and it worked great until today no power at the unit you know stand by light but breaker is on I am concerned that my once great find is a bust I hope not because I love the concept and want to install another and repair the old one. but that sounds like the company does not take customer service very well. I hope my experience is different! I like the small size have a family of 12 and never had a problem until today!

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Dated: 2007-05-08

My Rating:

by Shan Williams (Knoxville, TN)

I have had my N-120 for over 4 years without problem. I understand that for colder climates they have come out with a more powerfull unit called the titan-scr4. I have the titan-scr2 and for my area it works fine. Check out there website..

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Dated: 2007-04-26

My Rating:

by Roland Latreille (Athlestan, QC)

hi all i got a tankless tank .in the see good in bad about it .but i like to know your water is how cold before it come in the unit .i understand if you like in florida or califirnia the water tempetur in alot higher ben saw like canada the water tempatur in about in the 40f before it go in the unit . i like to know in more feedback about the unit form a person u live more north like vermont boston ect in the country side thank u Roland .roland_latreille@hotmail.com

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Dated: 2007-04-23

My Rating:

by Monty (Sedalia, MO)

Just purchased my unit from Woodchuck off ebay. I won the auction Wednesday afternoon and my unit was on my porch Thursday afternoon. On Friday I installed it with the help of a professional electrician. So far, it is outstanding. I am using it for my entire household and it works wonderful. After a short wait (10 seconds) I have hot water that doesnt fade with time. I can take a long shower and not loose hot water.

Now, as a family we only use hot water in one source at a time (shower or sink or dishwasher or washer). It does not handle multiple sources well, and if you need to have multiple sources running at once, I would suggest that you purchase two. But for me, one worked great. I have a family of three, two baths and a 2500 sq ft home. It works great for me.

My concerns are:
Will it last?
The instructions say use a 6 gauge wire, but an 8 gauge wire is what comes out of the unit. Why?

Today I am rating it a 4. I will keep you updated.

If you have had a unit for more than 5 years, please post your experience. We would all like to know.

Thanks,

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Dated: 2007-04-16

My Rating:

by Ernesto Vargas (Orlando, FL)

Being a developer and I have them installed in all my houses. Great systems but like all plumbing and electrical units always get a pro to do it. You would not not beleive what I have seen when people want to save a buck

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Dated: 2007-04-04

My Rating:

by Jose Johnson (Cape Coral, FL)

Going on 4 years and I love it. It payed for itself in the first 8 months from then on it has been saving. The way FPL keeps bumping up our electrical cost everyone needs one of these titan units.

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Dated: 2007-04-03

My Rating:

by Javier Jimenez (Miami, FL)

Had the SCR 2 Titan heater installed by a Niagara technician in March of 2006. It worked well when one person was using hot water. When two or more the pressure dropped substantially and hot water was very limited. A few months passed and the breaker started going off periodically. The technician said to decrease the heating capacity and/or open the unit up an loosen a white screw. I thought this was weird.
Recently the breaker went off again and I smelled something burning in the garage. It turns out some of the wires burned and now I’m very concerned. Niagara’s cutomer service sucks and so does this piece of crap equipment. They sold me on the NASA technology and Japaneses parts and it all turns out to be a bunch of BS. This thing was malfunctioning from the very beginning and has now died one year later. My electric bill did not decrease. I’m going to buy an electric water heater tomorrow and through this piece of crap away.

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Dated: 2007-03-25

My Rating:

by Fred Rancy (Oak City, TX)

Tried it, Loved it never go back..

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Dated: 2007-03-16

My Rating:

by Allen (Albany, OH)

I purchased the N-120 and it could not keep up with the hot water demands even at the faucet. Now I can’t get titantankless.com to respond back to me so i can return the product for a refund. Take my advice and don’t buy from this company. This product I think would work fine down south but not for anybody living in the northern states.

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Dated: 2007-03-13

My Rating:

by Andrew Rodgers (San Diego, CA)

If this company was public I would buy stock in it..Keep up the good work

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Dated: 2007-03-11

My Rating:

by Patricia Collier (Huntsville, AL)

Been using mine for 3 years and all my family is using them as well. I love the product and the customer service. When in Miami last week I visited the factory and they were nice enough to give me a tour. Very nice people and a great facility. After seeing the manufacturing plant I would recommened it more then ever.

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Dated: 2007-03-09

My Rating:

by Robert (Columbia, SC)

We installed our first unit when we bought this house in Jan 2002. It leaked when the water was turned on. The plumber tightened it up. In the winter it it has to be turned up in order to get the water hot enough to shower. spring of 2006 Ismelled burning plastic in the garage. The top of the electrodes and the wire that connects them had burned up. They sent a replacement. The replacement has now died after 11 months. The same burning plactic smell. I am wondering if this product is a fire hazzard in the home? This will be my last one.

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Dated: 2007-03-09

My Rating:

by Richard Hill (Vixon, TX)

I am on my fourth unit in my fourth house and I would not install any other system. For it’s size it puts out more power that ever one other model that I have used. I love using it and would recommened it o anyone.

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Dated: 2007-03-08

My Rating:

by Donald Clinton (DC Home Builders) (Atlanta, GA)

I use the Titan in all my homes and I find the size and power great. I normally build homes from 4000-8000 Sq. Ft. and these units are great installing them in multiple points. What is perfect amout dealing with a manufacturer is that they have been able to custom build units to my spec’s. I recommemd them to any builder and homeowner.

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Dated: 2007-03-07

My Rating:

by Ernesto Vasques (Fernandina Beach, FL)

I have been installing Titan in the St. algustine area for over four years and I highly recommend them and the people at Niagara Ind. I have quite alot of expiriance in tankless I stated with eemax but the element problems were too much, I have not run into any problems except when I sell to a customer that want to install himself to save money. Unless you realy have a understanding of plumbing and electrical call a pro, A little more now will save a headache down the road

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Dated: 2007-03-06

My Rating:

by Carolina Berton (Ft. Lauderdale, FL)

I am a realtor in the Ft. Lauderdale area and have been using the Titan’s for over 5 years. I must say that they do work great and I recommened them to clients. I have not had a single complaint. I love them

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Dated: 2007-03-02

My Rating:

by B.W. Tipton (Euless, TX)

Unit installed professionally, lasted approx. 4 months. Stopped heating water. Sent back by UPS, received by Niagra Industries and signed for by employee last name of Lincheant. 4 weeks passed, no phone call, mail, e-mail, or warranted heater received back. Called 305-876-9010, answered by lady named Monica, who cannot understand the English language well at all. She had no idea what the status of my unit was and had no record of it ever being received. I hung up disgusted. Called back same number a day later, same woman, same situation. Asked for a supervisor, and finally got connected to Alex (who does speak English). Same as far a had no records of receiving the unit. I gave him the UPS tracking number and he said he would look into the matter. Two days later, I called back, Got Monica, asked for Alex, talked to Alex who said they couldn’t find my unit, but would send me a replacement . I gave him my address, phone number (again) and was told it would be shipped immediately. Four days passed, I got home from work and notice that that the now infamous 305 number had called me while I was out. I called that number, got Monica, and the first thing she said was she had been trying to contact me to get my address to send the unit (I was promised days ago). I asked for Alex, he was not there. I tried for 10 minutes to give her my address, spelling it out. When I got to the CIRCLE portion of my address, I was really hot. I asked if she could spell Circle and she replied “Sircal” What a mess. Still haven’t got the unit, suppose I’ll get aggrivated enough to use my SkyMiles and take a trip down to 4120 N. W 28th Street, Miami Florida 33142. Alex, if you are a supervisor, you certainly should provide us (the customer) with someone who can read and write the English language.

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Dated: 2007-03-02

My Rating:

by David Ivy (Russellville, AR)

I purchased a Titan SCR2 in the fall of 2005 through Lowes for our 1500 square foot home. The first one was installed and was defective. I called Niagara and had to send the unit back and I recieved another “new” unit. The second unit worked but in our showers the water only got warm never hot! We then installed a small 30 gallon water heater, due to space restrictions, and fed it with the Titan so that it didn’t have to work so hard. We never ran out of hot water. It worked great for about 18 months. We started to shower the other day and ran out of hot water. I checked and this second unit has now died. I have called Niagara probably 15 times over the last three days. I did reach them on the first couple of tries and they indicated someone would call me back. That hasn’t happened and probably won’t. I will definitely not buy another one of these products nor recommend them to anyone I know! I can be reached at 479-747-3561. Thanks, David

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Dated: 2007-02-26

My Rating:

by Mathew Hannas (Fulton, MS)

I purchsed mine and put it in myself. I have to say it has saved me money on my electrical cost. i love it and I would recomened it.

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Dated: 2007-02-15

My Rating:

by John Carpenter (Clearwater, FL)

I had one of these (Titan N-120) installed in my unit of an 8 story condo building. Nothing but trouble since. Tepid water, and it went out a week ago and the installer keeps giving me the runaround about parts. I’m going back to a tank. There must be a reason Americans have water tanks and Europeans use these things. Never again.

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Dated: 2007-02-11

My Rating:

by Shena Galloway (Atlanta, GA)

I got my unit threw a company called etankless.com They specialize in Titan tankless water heaters and they have technical support. I was very happy with my purchase. I had one in my barn for over two years and finaly got one for my house..

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Dated: 2007-02-09

My Rating:

by Anthony Williams (Tampa, FL)

I am a manufactures rep in the Central Florida area, I have been selling Titan units for over 5 years and there tech service and support have been outstanding. Also the product is the best my company has represented (and we have represented a few) I would recoment that you always contact the manufacturer if you have a questions at 305 876-9010. They do not have a 800# must likely those are internet sales people that you are purchasing from.

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Dated: 2007-02-08

My Rating:

by Stephanie (Pompano Beach, FL)

We had this product installed in Dec 04, and it worked great until about three weeks ago. We are not getting any hot water in one shower and the hot water we are getting in the other faucets is not as hot as it was before. The salesman who sold us the product advised us to replace the faucets which we have done and still no hot water. I have emailed Niagara to see if they could advise us on what to do next and I still haven’t heard back from them. I will try the 8886978456 number I got off of the internet.

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Dated: 2007-02-06

My Rating:

by Joe Nemie, Jr. (Portsmouth, VA)

I purchased 2 of these and they were installed by a professional plumber and wired by a professional electrician. I am not a DIY type. Both men cautioned me that these were poor substitutes and that if I wanted tankless then I’d need to spend about 0.00 per unit on Japanese units converted to the American market.
I wish I has listened to there advise. After spending over 0.00 to purchase and have them both installed both units dies within a month of each other. I got 2 months of service out of the first and 3 months on the second unit.

Calling Niagra I got nothing but smartass attitude. These guys are first class JERKS and I caution anyone to avoid them and their product. This was new construction and I had the closets where they were to be installed customized just for these tanks.

I’ve had to go back to standard tanks and as expected no problems.

BUY THESE TANKS AT YOUR OWN PERIL.

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Dated: 2007-01-23

My Rating:

by John Belvin (Courtois, MO)

The 1 year Warranty Service is a joke. If you get a bad unit forget about Niagara Industries repairing or replacing the unit. They never even reply to any emails or letters and once you receive the Titan N-120 you are stuck with it no matter if the unit is defective or not. Niagara Industries is a rotten company to try and deal with. They seem to think any problem with any of their units is always an ID-10-T Error. I suggest reporting problems here:

https://odr.bbb.org/odrweb/public/GetStarted.aspx
And here:
https://rn.ftc.gov/pls/dod/wsolcq$.startup?Z_ORG_CODE=PU01

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Dated: 2007-01-04

My Rating:

by John Belvin (Courtois, MO)

I purchased a “New” N-120 in June 2006 with a Full Warranty and have gotten no use whatsoever out of the unit because of very poor performance which I had gone into written detail along with returning it. The ability to reinstall my older Titan N-120 in place of the new one and get very satisfactory results makes it clearly obvious the fault in with the “New, and now (Falsely) “Repaired” unit.” As per Warranty in effect, I expected this unit to be repaired and returned speedily and with certainty or to be replaced with another “New Unit.” NO SO HERE.

After receiving the Titan N-120 back from Niagara in Florida as “Repaired,” and upon removing my older unit again and reinstalling the new one once more on 12/29/2006, and having found nothing at all repaired, it looks to me that the manufacturer will attempt to overwhelm me with a series of unsatisfactory results in order to wear me out and avoid their responsibility.

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Dated: 2007-01-02

My Rating:

by John Williamson (Memphis, TN)

I have had mine working for the last 4 months and my bill has gone down by about a month. Not bad for a 5.00 investment. I got mine threw the factory at www.tanklesswaterheater.com

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Dated: 2006-12-19

My Rating:

by C. McCray (Cleveland, TN)

Bought the unit about a year ago – worked wonderfully and saved us around .00 per month on our electric/water bill. It has suddenly stopped working completely. No one will service.

Guess we are stuck buying another unit or back to the regular hot water tank.

It would have to go out on the weekend – 9 days before Christmas!!

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Dated: 2006-12-16

My Rating:

by Carll (Cincinnati, OH)

Just turned it on tonight for the first time and I get plenty of hot water everywhere but in the shower currently, I don’t know if there is a period of getting used to it but right now for some reason it is great at all faucets but not in the shower. Maybe the water flow is too high in the shower, I am not sure, I will update later.

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Dated: 2006-12-16

My Rating:

by Tom Dixon (Pensicola, FL)

GREAT PRODUCT!!!! I can realy say that this unit has saved on my electric bill.

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Dated: 2006-11-28

My Rating:

by Michelle Ortiz (Houston, TX)

Have had the unit for 2 1/2 years and would never go back to a tank (or even gas tankless) The small size and power is great. One important thing is always get a qualified person to do any installation. I found out the hard way with my washer…

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Dated: 2006-11-20

My Rating:

by Sunny Roberts (Sylacauga, AL)

I live in a small house so the space saving advantage is great and it really does give endless hot water. I have four kids and one bathroom so that is luxurious! BUT, I recently had a major plumbing mishap and my unit stopped working perhaps because it was in use when it lost the pressure, I don’t know. Something went wrong , probably to do with the warning label on the front that says to disconnect power before servicing. Okay, it’s not working. So, now what do I do. We’re trying to be environmentally friendly here, so shouldn’t I be able to find someone who can fix it??? Or do I have to toss it and buy a new one? From the sound of the other posts, I don’t feel to confident about the former.

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Dated: 2006-10-27

My Rating:

by Ernesto Davila (Ft. Lauderdale, FL)

Been using the Titan units for over 10 years now and I would never go back to a conventional tank. With the saving I could have purchased another dozen units.

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Dated: 2006-10-23

My Rating:

by Fernando (North Hollywood, CA)

I can’t speak about the gentalman that left the other comments but as for me I have been selling Titan units for over 12 years without a problem. The only difference might be that we sell to plumbers and contractors. I see this alot in my line of work. There are alot of items that are no “DIY” you need a pro to but them in. What happends later is problems.

Fernando
Hughes Supply
California

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Dated: 2006-10-20

My Rating:

by Richard Killeen (Seneca, IL)

Purchased 2 units 3 years ago, one residential and one for commercial use, both were Titan SCR-2 units. In less than 6 months the household unit went out completely. The seller insisted that I return the defective unit and he would replace it. Swell you know what that means as far as water and electrical connections are concerned.

The commercial unit lasted about 13 months and it went out also, same story send in the defective one. When working these units are great. However if you have a problem it’s a nightmare getting servicce. NIAGARA never replies to email and letters don’t get answers either.

You have to depend on the seller (distributor) and hope he is honest and reliable, most are not. Or to protect yourself buy two units so when one goes down you can replace it immediately and send the defective one in for repair or replacement. Once you discard your old system you’re at the mercy of NIAGRA or your vendor . . . . be careful and be prepared.

From discussions with our vendor I would say the SCR-2 units are good for about 9 to 12 months before they start going bad, then it’s anybodys guess how long it will take to get satisfaction of any kind.

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Dated: 2006-10-18

My Rating:

by Jerry (Orlando, FL)

I am on my third house and my third Titan. I have been using them since they started manufacturing them over 20 years ago. Trust me this is the way to go.

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Dated: 2006-09-14

My Rating:

by Shen (Austin, TX)

I had a Titan installed about 2 years ago, came home to tepid water the other day. We are in a drought and water pressure has been dropped- would this effect performance. Water is tepid, not cold, so it seems like its doing something but not much. Having issues with repair and getting a response from someone at Titan. Could not find a customer service number and have had no response to email. Was ok with it until now, but poor service after the sale says a LOT. Think twice before dealing with these folks and get everything in writing.

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Dated: 2006-09-09

My Rating:

by Al Robinson (Gulfport, MS)

I muus say this unit is great. i put in in my newly remodeled house (that Katrina leveled) and I love it. The temperature is great and I never run out. I guess good things do come in small packages.

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Dated: 2006-08-31

My Rating:

by Floyd Reed (Steelville, MO)

I am needing to know where a dealer is located in my area. Steelville, Missouri. I have one of the Titan water heaters that no longer is in working order. Would appreciate any help you could give me. (smreed_51@hotmail.com) thanks for your assistance.

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Dated: 2006-08-30

My Rating:

by Andrew Servino (Hollywood, FL)

I purchased the unit in June 2006, I must say I had my doughts but after istalling it all doughts were gone. This thing works great. I have endless hot water and my first electric bill went down .00 in summer.

Highly recommend to anyone wanting to lower there electric bill and enjoy the luxury of endless hot water.

A. Servino

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Dated: 2006-08-16

My Rating:

by Judy (Concord, NC)

I bought a Niagara Titan-SCR2 but fired the installer before it got installed. He took off with installation instructions plus the diagram.
Please send me the installation instructions + diagram.
Thanks,
Judy

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Dated: 2006-06-09

Product Specifications