The act of fusing glass tubes for solar thermal collectors is currently dominated by flame-based heating and melting technologies. The low coupling efficiency of the flame, in conjunction with long process times dependent on operator skill, leads to an enormous consumption of burner gases. Additionally the first strain annealing step on the glass lathe, without defined process algorithms, also increases the gas consumption. With the aid of CO2-Laser radiation and intelligent process management, the energy consumption during the heating process can be determined. Using this information each process step can be analyzed and optimized in terms of the energy required. This paper presents the possible energy savings for CO2-Laser-based fusing processes through detailed comparison between burner technology and laser technology.