Gary Klein is in hot water and that’s a good thing. Hot water is the often-overlooked aspect of energy use in our homes and buildings and that makes zero sense. Energy for water heating is either the second largest, or in some cases the largest single energy use and does not get enough attention.

As if that were not motivation enough, hot water is also the place where convenience and energy savings align perfectly because no one wants to wait for hot water and no one (arguably) wants to needlessly waste energy. With all the product based attention on ways to heat water - air-water heat pumps, electric, gas, tankless - it may surprise you to learn that once you have hot water what you do with it can matter even more.  

Join us in this action packed interview with Gary Klien, a true national treasure in the realm of water heating and distribution as he applies simple logic again and again to break down the How and the Why of having hot water arrive efficiently When and Where you need it.   

Gary Klein

Gary Klein is the principal and founder of Gary Klein and Associates. Every day, across the United States, millions of gallons of water and millions of Btus of energy are lost in our hot-water systems through a combination of structural and behavioral waste. Ours is an era where efforts to conserve resources have led to ever-increasing complexity, be it in water heaters that are harder to understand and use, be it in the smart grid and electric meters that tell the utility all about our behavior. Given human nature, it is our responsibility to provide the infrastructure that supports efficient behaviors.

Gary Klein is tackling this issue in a different way, rejecting complexity and concentrating on elegant simplicity. He works to change building codes and to get architects and builders to use plumbing systems that, by their design, deliver hot water quickly and with minimal waste. He has looked at the structural and behavioral waste and believes great resource savings are to be had in both. When he gives a presentation, it's impossible to doze in the back row. He calls on people at random to serve as props, marks lines on the floor in tape, makes people think, and makes them laugh. It works.


Team

Hosted by Kristof Irwin
Produced by M. Walker
Edited by Nico Mignardi