Green Heat

What could be more earth friendly to heat your home than the Earth itself? Traditional heat pumps use a heat exchange process to extract heat from the air during the Winter in order to warm your home, and reverses the process during the Summer to cool. A new class of products is even more efficient because it use the warmth of the Earth to heat your home.

As with traditional heat pumps, these geothermal pumps exchange heat from the Earth by circulating water through loops buried beneath the ground and then re-circulating the water back through the house to heat it. This system can also be connected with the water heater to preheat water. This attachment is called a “desuperheater”. This reduces the energy needed to heat the water to optimal use temperature thus also saving money. Studies show that these geothermal pumps are as much as 70 percent energy efficient and have low maintenance costs.

These systems have a higher installation cost than traditional pumps- about $7,500 as opposed to around $4,000 for a regular heat pump. Additionally, there are drilling costs for the piping which can be anywhere from $10,000-$30,000, depending on if new construction and terrain. Depending on the region, these costs can be recouped in about 5-10 years through energy savings. Additionally, there are government tax credits and rebates for the installation of these systems.

-Erik Richardson

http://www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?c=geo_heat.pr_geo_heat_pumps