TWIDO - Efficient Hot Water at Home

Yesterday I went to a huge international show called Batimat - IdeoBain - InterClimat+Elec close to Paris to see Twido, an innovative product from 2&Go, a French company I have been following for 6 months now


Olivier Cocheteux, Founder & CEO


Their idea is simple: Lower your the Energy used for producing hot water at home



Why: Because regular Electric Water Heaters / Boilers are just not that efficient
These water heaters have been around for several decades and have not (or slightly) been improved ever since: They always heat up the full volume of water 200-300 liters of water, past 60°C to kill bacteria, whatever volume of hot water is actually used; The hot water that is not used slowly lowers in temperature, which is a waste of energy. The average static heat loss is 1.5 to 3 kWh every day, depending on the volume of the tank, even more if it is not a tempered room - witch is my case -

A New Idea : Heat up only the volume of water that will be used, not the rest !

How ? : In smaller tanks connected in series and heated or not depending on your needs ...




Like a Nest Thermostat in a way, it learns your habits from your Real Hot Water Consumption, and heats up the right amount of water throughout the week

WiFi Connected, you are in Control : The online Portal myTwido.com lets you follow the Energy dedicated to hot water, see the Temperature of each individual tank in real time, program manually the amount of water for the desired day/hour, and you can decide to heat up more water if some family or friends show up in the last minute to spend the night let's say (Boost Mode)



Design: Their slim design allows space saving, and now your water heater can even be decorative :)

Sturdy & Long lasting Design:
- Heavy duty frame/chassis
- Scalable: Tanks come in different sizes and you can get a 3 to 4-tank system, with 120 to 320 liters
- Stainless Steel Tanks : No Galvanic Corrosion (there is only water in a tank), No Limestone Deposit because heating is performed on the outside of the tank, no inside like it is done with regular water heaters' immersed heating elements, they come with a15 years warranty (tanks should last 30-40 years !, instead of 5 years on average)





But wait, there's more :)
Twido in its latest version becomes Solar !
The external heating pads of each tank can be powered from Solar Panels at low voltage under 50V - 1 panel or several wired in parallel - through regular MC4 connectors, and of course 230V AC like on the regular version (2  resistive wires in the same heating pad)



The more Solar you get through your panels, the more free hot water you get ...




After several years of using the Wattson Energy Monitor and the real time & daily graphs on the Energy Hive portal, I can see that my water heater is the most energy consuming appliance at home, by far
 Water heater Power used is 1500W during 4 or 5 hours at night

So a switch to their innovative technology would improve even more the overall modifications I made at home for the last 10 years:
- LED lights
- Heat Pump
- Electric Car & Scooter
- Solar Panels
- Energy Storage System
It's just the next step for me


Also I have to relocate my regular water heater downstairs (in 2008 it has been put in the building attic by mistake by my contractor too early because we were about to buy this extra space, and ended up not doing so and buying the apartment underneath instead), and the only spot I found in the upstairs kids bathroom is where the towel dryer is ... There is absolutely no room for a huge round water heater, and Twido's depth is only 25cm with a width of 86cm, just Perfect !




See the Full Photo Album of the Show (click the link)

Their website: http://www.twido.fr
Online Portal: http://mytwido.com


Video shot by French TV France2 team the day before:

TWIDO - A New French Smart Water Heater that should help lower your Energy Bill

Discovered through EDF Pulse newsletter two weeks ago, this southern France innovation sounds brilliant to me: Be able to have a space saving - flat &  slim - water heater, composed of several small tanks in series, heatable independently and connected to the internet

Intresting quotes from the CEO & Inventor:

"You knows what they're spending on hot water ?"

"The best way to save energy is to not use it at all"

"It's about time to re-invent hot water !"

"This could save a family 20 to 30 EUR per month"



This allows you to get control back on one of the most energy consuming device at home, that had been left as is for decades ....



Slim with 25 cm of depth only


Some options can be mounted onto it, like a toilet seat, a towel dryer, or just decorative lights


Also, as it does not use a sumerged heating element, but an outter heating element - around the container -, they said it could last 20 to 30 years, instead of 10 for a regular one



Follow your hot water energy consumption - Water heater is one of the most energy consuming device at home -


The dedicated App / Website - myTwido.com - allows to get back in control with your hot water use: Heat up only the amount of water you really need instead of the whole tank in a regular unit


Program your tanks heating depending on your real needs throughout the week
Star & Stop heating each tank one by one, you can get hot water faster this way, more economically too



This company's innovative product has been selected by EDF Pulse and is about to win


This is just great, I think, and I am interested in having it installed at home

But wait, there's more ... They have a Solar Twido in the works, that should be able to use your home generated solar surplus to make hot water - like the Energeno Optimmersion in a away -


Their website: http://www.twido.fr
Their Youtube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCv6T7-7cDgGQaB2lo410zYQ
Their Facbook Page: https://www.facebook.com/mytwido

Another video featuring their CEO Olivier Cocheteux / 2&Go.com

To Mandate or Not to Mandate Solar Hot Water, That Is the Question

While incentives alone have worked to grow the market for solar PV systems in California, the state's generous CSI Thermal rebates — plus the Federal 30% Investment Tax Credit — have yet to create a solar hot water boom in California. At least not yet. Is it time to lobby for some type of state solar thermal mandate?

California already has one type of state mandate for solar, though not specifically for solar thermal. In 2012, the California Energy Commission (CEC) approved new Title 24 energy efficiency building code requirements. Starting in 2014, the code requires new homes, buildings, and major renovation projects to be “solar ready.”

What does “solar ready” mean? It means that builders must:
Orient the building toward the south,
Make sure the roof isn't shaded, and
Keep the roof as clear as possible so that chimneys, vents, air conditioning, etc don't inhibit the maximum number of solar panels.

As usual for the solar thermal industry, this mandate is geared toward solar PV, and so are two recent mandates from two California cities:

The city of Lancaster, California now mandates requiring solar PV on all new residential construction. Soon after their announcement, the city of Sebastopol mandated that solar be installed on new residential and commercial buildings, as well as on major additions and renovations.

It’s too early to tell whether these city mandates will be successfully implemented and accepted by the electorate, but these are small cities compared to the entire state of California.

If you want to talk about a larger scale, look no further than Hawaii, which by law requires all new home construction and renovations include installing solar hot water systems. While Hawaii's mandate has created a solar thermal boom in the state, there are also reports of new home developers trying to avoid the mandate through a loophole that allows tankless natural gas water heaters be substituted under a variance.



That being said, according to the Hawaii Solar Energy Association (HSEA), Hawaii now has the highest per capita solar hot water use in the nation, with over 90,000 solar hot water systems currently installed. That's a hugely successful program.

Given that success, will solar water heating mandates work for California too? I would love to say yes, but it’s far from clear. Hawaii depends on imported oil and gas for most of its utility energy, so it’s not surprising that solar energy savings would be embraced by residents, despite the upfront costs and lack of incentives beyond the 30% ITC.

But California is not an island and natural gas is plentiful and cheap right now. If the state allows fracking, natural gas will be even more plentiful. Consequently, Hawaii’s embrace of solar thermal is based on expensive oil economics. While Californians are progressive and environmentally proactive, seemingly expensive solar mandates may upset homeowners who are just recovering from the recession.

That's not the case for the commercial side, however. Even without mandates, installing solar hot water on California apartment buildings is now cost competitive with natural gas systems. Free Hot Water has shown that, and we even won an Intersolar Award recognizing that fact.

So, the solution for the lack of commercial solar thermal in California may not be solar mandates, but simply increasing consumer awareness about its cost competitiveness. That is, if Free Hot Water can design a solar thermal system for a renovated apartment building that is cost-competitive with natural gas before incentives, why wouldn’t any California architect or developer choose the solar solution and save on the building’s operating costs?




Most likely, they would, but they just don’t know the facts. Perhaps solar thermal mandates in California would at least bring attention to cost competitiveness. On the other hand, it may just demonize the solar thermal industry and cause a consumer or business backlash. So, let's all try the education and outreach solution first.



Source: Renewable Energy World

Author: Tor Valenza is a solar communications consultant for Free Hot Water, a solar thermal engineer and procurement company based in San Jose, California.

DIY ESS - AC Charger terminals modification for Water Heater

Before moving all the ESS components to the metal cabinet, I decided to make a last modification to the charger side relay and AC terminals; Instead of having 6 relays for 6 chargers, I removed the 6th one AC wires and left the relay terminal free for my water heater command line (220V, 2A max) that activates the coil of a 220V 20A line that feed the water heater at night during off-peak hours. A signal sent by the utility closes a relay in my utility meter at night and opens it in the morning, and this is how the water heater runs only on low rate electricity. Closing the 6th relay on the same command line, I will be able to switch ON or OFF the water heater as a "6th charger" in a way, meaning, when all the chargers from 1 to 5 will have been switched ON already

If you get my kit, have no water heater - or a gas one, like many in the USA - , use the 6th relay for a charger - like I used too all this time - continuing the AC charger line up to relay 6, the behaviour of the 6th relay has not been changed at all, it is still the 6th charger from teh Arduino point of view !

Then I add to move two chargers on the same AC terminal/ relay twice, like you can see on the photo since I have 7 chargers

I also changed the program so that when the 5th charger comes ON, and the arduino sees that it uses too much power compared to the net power, instead of switching it back OFF, it switches the 1st charger OFF instead, making it more precise (so always install several chargers on the same line towards the end: 4th, 5th)

EVTV Friday Show - February 22, 2013

- Azure Dynamics DMOC 845

- Cadillac Elescalade Hot Water Heat, Electric Ford Edge batteries 

- Announcing Electric Vehicle Conversion Convention, August 7-11, 2013




News

DMOC 845, DMOC 645's elder brother, explained : PCBs, Current Sensors, IGBTs, etc 

Cadillac e-Escalade electric heating system changed and reviewed by Jack

Interesting testing of the Nissan LEAF by Argonne Laboratories in different temperature conditions

Jack is back to his wife's Ford Edge cells upgrade: Mixing different capacity cells is somewhat possible !