Tankless water heater manufacturer Rinnai Corp. was recently awarded the Super Nova Star Award by the Alliance to Save Energy, a nonprofit coalition that promotes the efficient and clean use of energy worldwide.

Tankless water heater manufacturer Rinnai Corp. was recently awarded the Super Nova Star Award by the Alliance to Save Energy, a nonprofit coalition of business, government, environmental and consumer leaders who promote the efficient and clean use of energy worldwide. The Super Nova Star Award is given to organizations with less than $150 million in annual revenue that have shown leadership in energy efficiency. Rinnai is only the second Japanese company after Toyota Motor Corp. to receive one of the Alliance’s prestigious awards.

According to Rinnai, tankless water heaters are up to 30 percent more energy efficient than a traditional natural gas water heater, and up to 50 percent more efficient than an electric tank water heater. Because they spend energy to heat water only when needed and shut off automatically when the water supply is closed, tankless water heaters provide users with significant energy savings.

“Our award also recognized Rinnai’s instrumental role in the U.S. Department of Energy’s February 2007 decision to establish an EnergyStar program for residential water heating ― the only major residential energy end use without an EnergyStar designation at that time,” said Alliance President Kateri Callahan.

The Alliance to Save Energy estimates that the average U.S. household will spend about $2,350 this year on home energy, and the U.S. Department of Energy says that 45 percent of home energy goes toward home heating and cooling costs.

In an effort to promote year-round energy efficiency, the Alliance to Save Energy offers consumers a variety of simple energy-saving tips, including:

1. Turn down the thermostat by just one degree to reduce home heating energy costs by four percent, which can be between $30 and $60 a year, depending on the fuel being used to heat the home.

2. Plug leaks or gaps around windows and doors with materials such as caulking, weather-stripping and foam sealants.

3. Install proper insulation, especially in the attic and crawl spaces, to reduce household energy costs from $70 to $460 per year.

4. Close vents in unoccupied rooms and use small space heaters to heat occupied areas to save a significant amount of energy and money. There is usually about 80 percent of space that is not being used at any given time in the home.

5. Set the water heater at 130 degrees.

6. Use pipe insulation to insulate the first six to 10 feet of the hot water supply pipe.

7. Wash clothes in cold water to save your household up to $83 a year.

8. Use a programmable thermostat to reduce your home heating and cooling bills by up to 10 percent a year.

9. Replace the four most used bulbs in your home with EnergyStar-qualified compact fluorescent bulbs to save about $195 over the lifetime of the bulbs.

10. Purchase new heating and cooling equipment, home electronics, appliances and many additional types of products with the EnergyStar label to save up to 30 percent on related electricity bills.

For more information about Rinnai, visit www.foreverhotwater.com. For more information about Alliance to Save Energy, visit www.ase.org.