When I started writing this weekly column for the Brattleboro Reformer one year ago this week, the price of oil was spiraling to an all-time high of $147 per barrel. Residents were dealing with pre-buy heating oil contracts at over $4.50 per gallon. Panic was brewing.

Recently, I broke one of my long-standing rules and blogged about something BuildingGreen-related at my own blog. My Costanzian fears were indeed warranted, and I've been egged on to cross-post it to the Live blog. Here she is, warts and all: my unvarnished opinion on the very best parts of the BuildingGreen product GreenBuildingAdvisor.com./BF

Over the past several weeks, I've written about water conservation as a strategy for saving energy and examined a number of water heating options. This week, we'll look at the issue of water waste while waiting for hot water and what to do about it.

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Twenty-five years ago, if you had predicted that I might be suggesting that electric water heating could be a good option, I'd have asked what you were smoking. I agreed with the argument that it's dumb to use such a high-grade form of energy (electricity) for such a low-grade energy need--a need that can be satisfied with renewables, such as solar energy or wood heat. I was also aware--and still am--of the significant environmental impacts of many of our power-generation options.

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Continuing our series on water heating, this week we'll look at two options for heating water with the home's central boiler. First some terminology: boilers heat water or produce steam for distribution in baseboard units or steam radiators, while furnaces heat air for distribution through ducts and registers. Integrating water heating with a standard hot-air furnace is not possible; if you have a furnace, you have to stick with a stand-alone water heater.

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Last week I suggested some ways to reduce your hot water use. This is almost always the easiest way to save energy with water heating--it's the "low-hanging fruit" to be sure. Over the next few weeks, I'll get into water heating options. To start, let's look at the differences between "storage" and "tankless" water heaters.