QUOTE(lionfish77 @ Jun 13 2012, 05:05 PM)
storage water heater is a no no for me. consume a lot of electricity.
solar ... the problem with solar is that on rainy days when I need hot water, it 'doesn't work'. No sun. Need to use electric to heat up the water.
On normal days I dont shower with hot water.
Normal instant water heater like Joven etc are not nice ... I want something better. Stiebel Eltron seems perfect. It is safer also because you dont have to install the unit next to the shower. Plus I heard it is widely used in Germany. So, it cannot be that bad if it is a german product.
I am using storage water heater now.
Storage won't consume lots of electric, is only the initial warm up if you have not use it for few days or just install. Not sure from where you get the message that storage use more energy. It can even be much more efficient compare to instant.
Solar you want high efficient get micro solar.
Another one that is common use is rinnai gas water heater. Singapore and other country use it very frequent.